Stuart William PAYNE (1895–1918)
© Images & Voices, Oxon County Council
See also Stuart’s older brother, Charles Austin Payne
Stuart William Payne was born in Oxford in 1895, the son of Charles Thomas Payne (born in Oxford and baptised at St Aldate’s Church on 7 July 1867) and Stella Austin (born in Ambrosden in c.1865). His parents were married in the Headington Registration District (which includes the St Giles’ area ) in the fourth quarter of 1889 and had four children:
- Charles Austin Payne (born in Oxford in 1890 (registered third quarter)
- Jessie Kate Payne (born at St Giles’ Cottage, Oxford on 19 September 1891, baptised at SS Philip & James Church on 15 November 1891)
- Stuart William Payne (born in Oxford on 13 April 1895, baptised at SS Philip & James Church on 2 May 1895)
- Florence Margaret Payne (born in Oxford on 18 July 1899, baptised at St Margaret’s Church on 27 August 1899).
Stuart’s father is described as a gardener in the 1891 census, when the family was living at St Giles Cottage on the corner of Banbury and Bardwell Roads. Within a year the family had moved to at 78 Kingston Road (then in SS Philip & James parish, but in St Margaret’s parish from 1896). (This house had until then been occupied by the Pacey family, who were also to lose a son in the war.) Stuart’s father was now a dairyman, as his own father had been before him. The 1901 census, when Stuart was five, shows the family at 78 Kingston Road.
In 1911 Stuart was a college servant aged 15, still living at 78 Kingston Road with his parents.
In the First World War Stuart William Payne first served in the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Service No. 14569), and then as as a Lance Corporal in the 7th Battalion of the Duke of Edinburgh’s (Wiltshire Regiment) (Service No. 14010).
He was killed in action in France at the age of 23 on 7 October 1918 and is buried at the Guizancourt Farm Cemetery, Gouy (A.30). He is remembered on the war memorial outside St Margaret’s Church in north Oxford and in the roll of honour of Christ Church, where he worked as a servant.
Stuart’s older brother Charles Austin Payne (28) died of wounds in France just thirteen days later, on 20 October 1918.
Left: Photograph of S. W. Payne’s grave in France, kindly supplied by British War Graves. The text reads:
[Emblem of the Wiltshire Regiment]
14010 LANCE CPL.
S. W. PAYNE
WILTSHIRE REGIMENT
7TH OCTOBER 1918 AGE 23
†
IN LOVING MEMORY
OF MY DEAR SON
NEVER FORGOTTEN
The words “my dear son” on Stuart’s grave shows that Mrs Payne chose the words after the death of her husband near the beginning of 1920.
Right: Stuart William Payne’s name on the First World War Memorial in Christ Church cathedral. It is listed in the section at the end for college servants.
After the War
Stuart’s parents
- Charles Thomas Payne continues to be listed in directories as a dairyman at 78 Kingston Road until 1921, although in fact his death was registered in the Headington registration district at the age of 53 in the first quarter of 1920
- Mrs Stella Payne is listed at 78 Kingston Road until 1927: she is probably the Stella Payne who died at the age of 84 in 1947 (fourth quarter in the Oxford Registration District).
Stuart’s sister
- Florence Margaret Payne (born 1899) married Frederick George Barttrum at St Margaret’s Church on 9 April 1923.
See also
- CWGC: Payne, Stuart William
- Oxford Journal Illustrated, 27 November 1918 , “Heroes of the War”: photograph of Stuart Payne, who had died seven weeks earlier
- Postcard: Kingston Road in 1906 (No. 78, where Stuart lived, was at the north-west end)
- Wikipedia: Wiltshire Regiment