Roll of Honour of St Andrew’s Church, Old Headington

John Edward CRAWFORD (1897–1916)

Middle initial wrongly printed

John Edward Crawford was born in New Headington (probably Bateman Street) on 7 December 1897, the only surviving son of Thomas James St Swithin Crawford (born at Shotover in 1873 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry on 30 November) and Ada Kate Cordrey (born in Iffley in 1873 and baptised there on 8 June).

At the time of the 1891 census, a year before their marriage, John’s parents were living near each other in Church Street, Temple Cowley: Thomas Crawford (17) was at No. 1 with his parents and working as a carter on a farm, while his future wife Ada Cordrey (18) was a live-in domestic servant three doors down at No. 4. Shortly after the census Thomas’s parents moved with him to Seed Piece Road in Headington Quarry, and he married Ada at Holy Trinity Church on 12 March 1892, with their first child Ann already on the way.

Thomas and Ada had the following children:

• Ann Matilda Crawford (born in Headington Quarry in 1892 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 30 October ); died aged 5 and buried at Headington Cemetery on 4 July 1898
• Kate Elizabeth Alice Crawford (born in Headington Quarry in 1895 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church in Old Headington on 25 August; died aged ten and buried at Headington Cemetery on 7 October 1905
• Thomas James William Crawford (born in Headington in 1896 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 29 November);
  died age 14 weeks and buried at Headington Cemetery on 19 January 1897
• John Edward Crawford (born in Headington in 1898 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 6 February)
• Phyllis Gertrude Crawford (born in Headington on 6 February 1900 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 22 April)
• Rose Crawford (born in Old Headington on 9 June 1902 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 31 August).

John's parents Thomas & Ada Crawford lived in Headington Quarry for the first few years of their marriage, probably with Thomas’s parents, but in about 1895 they moved to a house of their own in New Headington. The 1901 census shows the family living in Bateman Street (then called East Street) in New Headington. John’s father, who was a builder’s carter, was not at home and Ada Kate Crawford (27) was looking after her daughter Kate (6), John himself (3), and Phyllis (1).

By the time that Crawford’s youngest sister Rose was born in June 1902, the family had moved to St Andrew's Lane in Old Headington.

John’s father Thomas James St Swithin Crawford died in 1904 at the age of 31 and was buried in Holy Trinity churchyard on 4 September (no headstone). The next year, in 1905, John’s sister Kate (10) also died.

The 1911 census shows John’s widowed mother Ada Kate Crawford (37) working as a laundress and looking after her three surviving children: John (13) was already at work as a printer's boy, while his sisters Phyllis (11) and Rose (8) were still at school. Their address is given as Jeffcoat Cottages, which ran between St Andrew’s Lane and Larkin’s Lane in Old Headington.

John Edward Crawford served as a Private in the 1st/4th Battalion of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Service No. 5075). He died at the Somme in France on 19 July 1916 at the age of 18. (He may have lied to the army about his age, as in 1916 men had to be aged 19 to be sent to the Front.)

John Crawford has no known grave, but is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial (Pier and Face 10A and 10D) and on the roll of honour of St Andrew’s Church in Old Headington.

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Postscript

John’s mother

• Ada Kate Crawford married the widower Walter Louch (whose son Albert Louch is also on the St Andrew’s war memorial) at Oxford Registry Office on 4 August 1919. At the time of the 1921 census Ada (48) was living at 13 St Andrew's Lane in Old Headington with her second husband, who worked as a builder's labourer for Benfield & Loxley, and her daughter Rose Crawford (19). By the time of the 1939 Register she was living at 5 Atkinson Close on the Barton estate with her husband, who was still working as a builder's labourer. Ada Kate Louch died at the age of 77 and was buried in Headington Cemetery on 18 November 1950 and Walter Louch died at the age of 80 and was buried with his wife on 29 March 1955.

John’s surviving siblings

• Phyllis Gertrude Crawford (born 1900) married Frank Gunstone Wiggins in the Headington registration district in 1919, and their daughter Lilian Maud Victoria Wiggins was born on 16 November 1920 and baptised at St Andrew's Church on 2 January 1921. At the time of the 1921 census the three of them were living in part of the Black Boy pub at 91 Old High Street (then numbered 55), and Phyllis's husband was described as a builder's labourer with Benfield & Loxley. Their son Edward Frank Herbert Wiggins was born at 13 St Andrew's Lane (Phyllis's mother's house) on 16 February 1926 and baptised at St Andrew's on 4 April 1926. At the time of the 1939 Register they were living at 21 Barton Road and Frank was now a scaffolder and their daughter Lilian a laundry maid.
• Rose Crawford (born 1902) married Herbert Thomas Hibberd, a car fitter of Gardiner Street, at St Andrew’s Church on 19 April 1924. She was then 21 and working as a shirt maker, and living with her mother at 13 St Andrew's Lane Lane in Old Headington. They lived at the present 285 London Road, and had two children: John William Hibberd (born on 1 October 1926 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 5 December 1926) and Gill Rosemary Hibberd (born on 31 December 1938 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 2 April 1939). At the time of the 1939 Register the family was still living at 285 London Road and Rose's husband was now a car assembler/fitter. Rose died in Oxford at the age of 93 in 1995.