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

Arthur John WOOLDRIDGE (1894–1917)

© Images & Voices, Oxon County Council

Arthur John Wooldridge was born at 35 Princes Street, Oxford on 4 November 1894, the son of William Wooldridge (born in Burford in c.1868) and Alice Painter (born in Witney in 1861, registered third quarter).

His parents were married in the Headington Registration District in the third quarter of 1891 and had four children:

• Ernest William Wooldridge (born in Oxford in 1892, registered fourth quarter)
• Arthur John Wooldridge (born at 39 Princes Street, Oxford on 4 November 1894, baptised at SS Mary & John Church on 30 December 1894)
• Edward Charles Wooldridge (born at 76 Southmoor Road, Oxford on 29 March 1902, baptised at SS Philip & James Church on 15 May 1902)
• Alice Dorothy May Wooldridge (born in Oxford on 20 April 1903 and baptised at St Margaret’s Church on 25 May 1903).

In the mid-1890s the family were living at 35 Princes Street, St Clement’s, but by 1899 they had moved to 14 Hertford Street in SS Mary & John parish. The 1901 census shows the family living there: Arthur’s father was a carpenter, and Arthur himself was aged six.

By 1902 the family had moved to 76 Southmoor Road, and then from 1903 to 1908 Arthur’s father ran a lodging house at 22 Southmoor Road. By July 1903 Arthur was attending SS Philip & James School. He was highly commended for the Diocesan Prize on that date, and went on to win a Diocesdan Ceritficate in 1904, a prize for Divinity in 1905, and the classwork prize for Standard 7 in 1906. At Tumbling Bay on 27 July 1905 he came second in a race at the school swimming sports. When he was about 11, he moved on to the City of Oxford High School for Boys in George Street.

By 1909 Arthur’s family had moved across the road to an eight-roomed house at 37 Southmoor Road in St Margaret’s parish. They were there at the time of the 1911 census, when young Arthur (16) was still attending school. His father was now described as a builder’s general labourer.

In 1913 when he was 19 Wooldridge became a non-collegiate student at the University of Oxford (St Catherine’s Society).

In the First World War, Arthur John Wooldridge first served in the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Service No. 6030), and then as a Sapper in the 1st Field Survey Company (Forest Group) of the Royal Engineers (Service No. 246813). He was killed in action in France at the age of 22 on 21 August 1917 and is buried in the Mazingarbe Communal Cemetery extension (II.F.7).

 

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