First World War Memorial, St Margaret’s Church, Oxford

Percy Leslie Stephen PHIPPS (1892–1916)

© Images & Voices, Oxon County Council

Percy Leslie Stephen Phipps was born in St Giles, Oxford in 1892, the son of Percy Joseph Phipps (born in Oxford, registered Oxford first quarter of 1864) and Lenna Louisa Feldon (born in Oxford in c.1864). Percy’s parents were married in the Headington Registration District in the fourth quarter of 1888 and had eight children:

• Lenna Louisa Dorothy Phipps (born in Oxford, registered in Headington district second quarter of 1889; died the following year)
• Harry Joseph Theodore Phipps (born in Oxford on 4 April 1890, baptised at SS Philip & James Church on 11 May 1890)
• Percy Leslie Stephen Phipps (born in Oxford on 26 April 1892, baptised at SS Philip & James Church on 17 June 1892)
• Alice Lily Lucy Phipps (born in Stone, Kent in 1893, registered in Dartford district third quarter).
• Annie Kathleen L. Phipps (born in Oxford in 1895, registered in Oxford district second quarter)
• William Cyril. B. F. Phipps (born in Oxford in 1897, registered in Headington district third quarter)
• Frank Walter Phipps (born in Oxford on 29 October 1900 and baptised at St Margaret’s Church on 2 December 1900)
• Constance Lenna M. Phipps (born in Oxford in 1907, registered third quarter, and baptised at St Margaret’s Church on 25 October 1907).

Percy’s father, Percy Joseph Phipps, was originally a plumber, gas fitter, and bell hanger, but latterly simply a gasfitter. He began married life in Oxford, and can be seen in the 1891 census living at 53 St John’s Road (now renamed St Bernard’s Road) in St Giles with his wife Lenna, their son Harry, and Lenna’s brother William Henry Feldon (19), a stone carver.

The family must have moved to Stone in Kent shortly after Percy’s birth in 1892, as their next child Alice was born there in 1893. They were back in Oxford the following year, and by 1899 were living at 53 Juxon Street in Jericho.

In about 1900 the family moved to their first address in St Margaret’s parish at 40 Hayfield Road, where they can be seen in the 1901 census with their first six children. Percy was then 8 years old. He later attended the City of Oxford High School for Boys in George Street.

By 1907 the family lived at 51 Plantation Road in St Margaret’s parish. At the time of the 1911 census, Percy (18) was not at home: he was a school teacher, boarding in Henley with his uncle, the wheelwright G. Rawlings. In 1912 he became a non-collegiate student at the University of Oxford (St Catherine’s Society).

In the First World War Percy Leslie Stephen Phipps served as a Lance Corporal in the 9th Battalion of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Service No. 22719). He died of fever in hospital in Weymouth at the age of 23 on 1 March 1916, possibly while still training. He is buried in Weymouth Cemetery (B “C” 2057).

 

As well as on the war memorial outside St Margaret’s Church, Phipps is remembered on a plaque in the Old Boys’ High School, George Street (left).