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

Thomas Tomkins PARKER (1895–1918)

Thomas Tomkins Parker was born in Old Headington on 19 October 1895, the son of James Parker (born in Old Headington on 30 August 1857 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 17 October) and Ada Patience Smith (born in Old Headington in 1871, reg. second quarter).

His parents were married (evidently in haste) at St Giles Church in Oxford on 1 June 1895: his father was described as a bricklayer of Headington, and his mother as the daughter of a labourer of 4 Keble Road. They had the following children:

• Thomas Tomkins Parker (born in Old Headington on 19 October 1895 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 5 January 1896)
• [A stillborn child of James & Ada Parker was born in 1897 and buried in Headington Cemetery on 11 November]
• Sylvia Edith Parker (born in the Croft in Old Headington on 21 March 1899 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 3 June)
• Edward James Parker (born in the Croft in Old Headington on 30 July 1901 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 22 September).

At the time of the 1901 census Thomas (5) was at school and living in The Croft (probably at No. 11) with his parents. His Parker grandparents lived next door (probably at No. 11A).

11 and 11A The Croft, Old Headington

By the time of the 1911 census Thomas (15) was an apprentice to a plumber, while Sylvia (12) and Edward (9) were still at school.

Thomas’s grandmother Mary Parker died at her home in The Croft at the age of 83 and was buried at Headington Cemetery on 14 March 1914; his grandfather, Thomas Tomkins Parker senior, died there at the same age the following year, and was buried with his wife on 5 October 1915.

In the First World War Thomas Tomkins Parker served as a Private in the 2nd/8th Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment (Service No. 42643). He was killed in action in France at the age of 22 on 31 March 1918.

Thomas Tomkins Parker has no known grave, but is remembered on the Pozières Memorial in the Somme (Panel 41) and on the roll of honour of St Andrew’s Church in Old Headington.

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Postscript

Thomas’s parents

James Parker (64) was an out-of-work bricklayer who had been working for Wooldridge & Simpson at the time of the 1921 census, living at 11 The Croft with his wife Ada (51) and their two surviving children.

• Mrs Ada Patience Parker died at 11 The Croft at the age of 61 in 1931 and was buried at Headington Cemetery on 7 December.
• James Parker died at 11 The Croft at the age of 82 in 1939 and was buried with his wife on 30 November.

Thomas’s siblings

• Edward James Parker (born 1901) was a general labourer for Mr Walker at Magdalen Road in 1921 and still living with his parents at 11 The Croft. In 1939 he was a sheet metal worker assembler and was still living there with his father and sister. died at the age of 49 and was buried at Headington Cemetery on 18 July 1951.
• Sylvia Edith Parker (born 1899) was a tailoress for Hookham & Co in Cornmarket Street at the time of the 1921 census, when she was living with her parents at 11 The Croft. She was still a tailoress and living there with her father and brother at the time of the 1939 Register. She remained at that address until at least 1973. She died at Longworth Hospital on 9 May 1981, and her effects came to £14,020.