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

Harold Thomas DENNIS (1882–1918)

(Dennis is also remembered on the All Saints’ Church Roll of Honour and thus appears twice in the “tour”)

Harold Thomas Dennis was born in Oxford in 1882, the son of Henry Absalom Dennis (born in Headington in 1857 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 5 July) and Ellen Thomas (born in Kidlington in 1854 and baptised there on 10 December).

His parents were married at St Andrew’s Church in Headington on 29 March 1880, and had the following children:

• Florence Gertrude Dennis (born in Headington in 1880 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 31 October)
• Harold Thomas Dennis (born in Rectory Road, Oxford in 1882 and baptised at SS Mary & John Church on 25 December)
• Ernest George Dennis (born at Rectory Road, Oxford on 28 December 1889 and baptised at SS Mary & John Church on 23 February 1890).

At the time of his marriage in 1880, Harold’s father was described as a clerk in a brewery, and the census the next year shows him in the same job, living in Old High Street in Headington with his wife and baby daughter.

By the time of Harold’s birth in 1882 his parents had moved down to east Oxford and were living at Rectory Road (then called Pembroke Street). They were still there in 1890, but by the time of the 1891 census had moved to Hurst Street. Harold (8) was then at school, and his father was now a booking clerk & cab proprietor.

Things must have gone very wrong for the Dennis family shortly after the census, as early the next year they appear to have been in Headington Workhouse, where Harold’s mother Ellen Dennis died at the age of 36. She was buried at Headington Cemetery on 27 February 1892.

Harold probably went to live with his paternal grandparents at this point. He attended Headington National School (now St Andrew’s), and in both April 1893 and August 1894 he was commended for the Diocesan Prize. He would have been one of the first group of children to move into the new school buildings, below, opened in 1894.

Harold's father Henry Absolom Dennis (39) was working as a clerk at St Bartholomew's in Reading when on Christmas Day 1897 at St Saviour's Church in Preston near Brighton he married his second wife, Annie Page (born in Guildford in 1865/6, the daughter of the draper William Whiter Page. They settled in Newbury and had three children:

• Violet Winifred A. Dennis (born in Newbury in 1898, reg. fourth quarter)
• Richard Douglas B. Dennis (born in Newbury in 1900, reg. second quarter)
• Herbert Henry Dennis (born in Newbury in 1901/2, reg. first quarter of 1902).

At the time of the 1901 census Harold (18) was a tailor’s apprentice, living back in Old Headington (in Jeffcoat’s Row, which ran between St Andrew’s Lane and Larkins Lane) with his grandparents Thomas and Mary Ann Dennis. His younger brother Ernest (11) was also living with relations in Old Headington, his uncle and aunt, George & Mary Anne Cousins (formerly Dennis), in Church Lane (probably also Jeffcoat’s Row). Meanwhile Harold's father Henry was working as a sewing machine agent and living at 29 Northbrook Street in Newbury with his new wife Annie, who was a sewing machine saleswoman, and their two children, plus Florence (20) from his first marriage, who was working as a nursery governess at a school.

In 1911 Harold (28) was a tailor, still living in Jeffcoat’s Row with his grandparents: both Thomas (78) and Mary Ann (82) were now described as old age pensioners. His father was still working as a sewing machine salesman, and was living at at 8 Park Street, Horsham with his second family.

♥ On 21 March 1913 at St Peter-le-Bailey Church in Oxford, Harold Thomas Dennis (30) married Annie Elsie Violet Stanton (25) of Frewin Hall. Annie was born in Horton-cum-Studley on 9 February 1889 and was the daughter of the farmer John Stanton. At the time of the 1911 census she had been a housemaid at Frewin Hall, the home of Charles Oman, Professor of Modern History.

Harold and Annie Dennis lived at 36 Holyoake Road (then 14 Western Road, the west side of which was in Highfield parish) and had one child:

• Carola Mary Dennis (born in Headington on 16 December 1913).

Harold’s grandfather, Thomas Dennis, died in Church Lane at the age of 82, and was buried in Headington Cemetery on 7 January 1914.

In the First World War Harold Dennis served as a Serjeant in the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Service No. 200012). He died at the age of 35 on 4 July 1918 in the Dudley Road Military Hospital in Birmingham.

Administration was granted in Oxford to his widow, Annie Elsie Violet Dennis, on 13 December 1918. He left £204 11s. 6d. His last address was given as 21 Western Road.

His body was brought back home to Headington. His funeral at St Andrew's Church was on 10 July 1918, and he was buried in Headington Cemetery (9. X. I).

Above: Grave of Harold Thomas Dennis in Headington Cemetery, photographed in 2010.
The text along the right side of the grave (facing the camera) reads: HAROLD THOMAS DENNIS, WHO DIED AT THE 2/1ST SOUTHERN GENERAL MILITARY HOSPITAL, BIRMINGHAM, JULY 4TH, 1918, AGED 35 YEARS.
The text along the front side reads IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY DEAR HUSBAND and the words on the
cross read LOVED ONE SLEEPING.

Above: postcard showing the grave of Harold Thomas Dennis covered with wreaths.
Below: The text printed on the reverse of the postcard

Harold Dennis is remembered on the roll of honour of two Headington parishes: Highfield (where he lived in with his wife in Holyoake Road) and Old Headington (where he grew up with his grandparents in Jeffcoat’s Row).