Poppy

First World War in Headington and Marston, Oxford

Albert Joseph KISLINGBURY (1894–1918)

Albert Kislingbury

Albert Joseph Kislingbury (originally named Joseph Albert Kislingbury) was born in Headington Quarry in 1894, the son of William Henry Kislingbury (born at Ipsden in Berkshire in 1851 and baptised there on 31 August) and Lucy Hockin or Hawkins (born in Jericho, Oxford in 1861).

Albert’s mother Lucy Hawkins gave birth to her first child just before her wedding to William Kislingbury, which took place in the Headington registration district in the fourth quarter of 1880. They had eleven children in all:

  • Lucy Kislingbury (born in Headington Quarry in about October 1880 and baptised as Lucy Kislingbury Hawkins at Holy Trinity Church on 28 November, the daughter of Lucy Hawkins, single woman, but registered after the wedding as Lucy Kislingbury and usually known as Lucy Hockin)
  • Eliza Kislingbury (born in Headington Quarry in 1883, reg. second quarter)
  • Matilda Ann Kislingbury, known as Tilly (born in Headington Quarry on 8 August 1885 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 27 September)
  • Edith Kislingbury (born in Headington Quarry in 1887 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 26 June)
  • Ernest Kislingbury (born in Headington Quarry in 1889 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 28 July)
  • William Kislingbury (born in Headington Quarry in 1891 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 20 May)
  • Albert Joseph Kislingbury (born in Headington Quarry in 1894 and registered as “Joseph Albert Kislingbury” and baptised with that name at Holy Trinity Church on 24 June)
  • Edward George Kislingbury (born in Headington Quarry on 7 July 1896 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 9 August)
  • Leslie Arthur Kislingbury (born in Headington Quarry on 7 June 1898 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 31 July)
  • Henry Kislingbury (born in Headington Quarry in about February 1901 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 7 April);
    died aged 21 months, buried in the churchyard on 8 December 1902)
  • Hannah Mary Kislingbury (born in Headington Quarry in 1903/4 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 31 January 1904).

Albert’s father was a bricklayer, who at the time of the 1881 census he was living at The Pitts in Headington Quarry with his wife and their first child Lucy (with her surname recorded as Hockin rather than Hawkins), who was six months old.

By the time of the 1891 census Albert’s parents were living at Quarry High Street (then called Main Road) with their next four children: Eliza (8), Matilda (6), Edith (3), and Ernest (1). Albert Joseph Kislingbury himself was born in 1894. Their eldest daughter Lucy Hockin (10) had gone to live in Colchester with her childless uncle and aunt Bartholomew & Matilda Hockin.

At the time of the 1901 census Albert (6), still known as Joseph Albert, was at school (almost certainly Headington Quarry National School) and was living at Quarry High Street with his father William (44), who was a brickmaker, his mother Lucy (40), and his seven siblings Matilda (15), Edith (13), Ernest (11), William (8), Edward (4), Leslie (2), and Henry (one month). His sister Eliza (19) was now working as a between-maid at Stamford House in Radcliffe Square, Oxford.

At the time of the 1911 census Albert (16), again recorded as Joseph, was a brickyard labourer and living in Quarry High Street with his father William (54), who was still a brickmaker, his mother Lucy (50), and six of his eight surviving siblings: Matilda (25); Ernest (21) and William (19) who were carters; Edward (14), who was a printer’s labourer; and Leslie (12), and Hannah (7). Eliza (29) was now married, and Edith (23) was the general servant of the grocer & wine merchant Ernest Underhill of 15 St Clement’s. Albert's eldest sibling Lucy Hockin, had died.

By 1915 the Kislingbury family had moved to the part of Old Road that lies in Quarry parish, probably the present No. 97 (where they were living in the 1920s).

Poppy In the First World War Albert Kislingbury volunteered in 1915, along with his brothers Ernest, William and Edward. He served as a Private in the 2nd/4th Battalion of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Service No. 200927), and was killed in action in France aged 24 on 21 March 1918.

Kislingbury was buried at the Chapelle British Cemetery, Holnon (V. E. 10), and his war grave there has the added words “A LOVED ONE SLEEPING”. (Only 40% of war headstones bear an inscription such as this near their base: the main inscription was free, but families had to pay 3½d per letter for a personal message.)

He is remembered on the stone plaque in the porch of Holy Trinity Church in Headington Quarry.

Kislingbury brothersFour Kislingbury brothers who all served in the same battalion of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.
Albert (on the left) died; Ernest, Edward, and William survived

About twenty years after his death, the following words were added to his parents’ grave (shown below), with Albert Joseph Kislingbury’s age wrongly given as 23 instead of 24:

ALSO OF ALBERT JOSEPH,
SON OF THE ABOVE,
KILLED AT ST. QUINTON MARCH 21ST 1918
AGED 23 YEARS

Kislingbury grave, Holy Trinity

Postscript

Quarry memorial

Albert’s parents

At the time of the 1921 census William Kislingbury (64) was a brickmaker, working for the brick merchant Watson, and living at 103 Old Road (then numbered 89) with his wife Lucy (61) and their three unmarried children Matilda (35), Edward (24), and Leslie (23).

  • William Kislingbury died at the age of 72 and was buried at Holy Trinity churchyard on 11 February 1929.
  • Lucy Kislingbury died at the age of 76 and was buried with him on 5 May 1938.
Some of Albert’s siblings
  • Eliza Kislingbury (born 1883) married the carriage proprietor Edward George Green in the Headington registration district in the third quarter of 1909. They initially lived in Pubrook, Hampshire, but had moved back to Titup by 1919. They had five children: Edith Mary Green (born in Pubrook on 8 October 1909 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church in Quarry on 31 October; Renee L. Green (born 1912/13), Florence F. Green (born 1914), Edward L. J. Green (born 1915); and Albert Joseph William Green (probably named after Eliza's dead brother, born in Titup on 26 January 1919 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 23 March).
  • Matilda Ann Kislingbury (born 1885) never married. At the tie of the 1921 census when she was 35 she was still living with her parents and helping in the house. She later ran a shop at 123 Old Road. The 1939 Register shows Matilda, described as a the manager of a general store, living at 123 (then 109) Old Road with Hanna Kislingbury (born 1903) who helped in the house. Matilda died at 262 Iffley Road at the age of 88 on 26 April 1975 and was buried in the same grave as Harry Bedoes Lambert, who had died at 123 Old Road at the age of 46 on 11 March 1929. He was the illegitimate son of Mary Anne Lambert, baptised at Holy Trinity on 24 September 1882 and adopted by Richard & Jane Kimber of Titup.
  • Edith Kislingbury (born 1887) married William F. Cooper in the Headington registration district in the second quarter of 1913. They had two sons whose births were registered in the Headington district: William F. Cooper (1913) and Reginald C. Cooper (1914).
  • Ernest Kislingbury (born 1889) married Mary Kerry at St Mary's Church, Banbury on 5 April 1917. The births of their two children were reg. in the Oxford district: Louisa L. Kislingbury (1936) and Lorna L. L. Kislingbury (1938). Ernest Kislingbury was landlord of the Six Bells in Headington Quarry from 1926 to 1929. He died on 2 May 1950 at the age of 50 and was buried in Holy Trinity churchyard and his wife Mary died at the age of 86 on 17 August 1979 and was buried with him.
  • William Kislingbury junior (born 1891) married Laura Ann Surman at Horspath on 2 August 1919. They lived in Titup and had two children baptised at Holy Trinity Church: Joseph Alfred William Kislingbury (baptised on 25 April 1920) and Doris May Kislingbury (born on 25 February 1921 and baptised on 9 March 1921). William was stukk living at his parents' old home at 103 Old Road when he died in the Radcliffe Infirmary on 6 January 1965.
  • Edward George Kislingbury (born 1896) was a 24-year-ld printer (monotype attendant) at Oxford University Press in Walton Street at the time of the 1921 census and still living with his parents. He married Rose Poole at Holy Trinity Church on 21 April 1924, and the birth of their daughter Eileen R. K. Poole was registered in the Leighton Buzzard district in the fourth quarter of 1924. At the time of the 1939 census he was still described as a printer's monotype caster attendant and was living at 17 Collingwood Road, Risinghurst with his wife Rose and probably their daughter. He died at that address on 19 December 1969 at the age of 73 and was buried in Headington Cemetery.
  • Leslie Arthur Kislingbury (born 1898) was a 23-year-od compositor at Oxford University Press at the time of the 1921 census and was still living with his parents. He married Louisa Maude Bradford in Oxford near the beginning of 1932 At the time of the 1939 Register he was still a compositor, living at 97 Old Road (then numbered 83) with his wife and Audrey Kislingbury (6). He died at 97 Old Road on 28 June 1985.
See also

Back to Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry roll of honour

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