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

Arthur George TOLLEY (1884–1916)

Arthur George Tolley was born in Headington on 1 December 1884, the son of George Tolley (born in Headington in 1851 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 15 June) and Mary Ann Hockin (born in Oxford in 1854 and baptised at St Peter-le-Bailey Church on 2 September).

At the time of the 1861 census Arthur’s father George Tolley was living in Old High Street and already at the age of nine working as a plough boy.

By 1871 Arthur’s mother, Mary Ann Hockin, who grew up at 30 Union Street in St Thomas parish, Oxford, had moved to the present 48 New High Street (then 4 South Hill Cottages) with her widower father, who was a Chelsea pensioner.

His parents were married at St Andrew’s Church in Old Headington on 26 December 1875 and had five children:

• Annie Eliza Tolley (born in Headington in 1876 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 6 August)
• Bertha Maria Tolley (born in Headington in 1878 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 26 May)
• Frances Alice Tolley, known as Alice (born in Headington on 10 July 1881 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 28 August)
• Harriet Tolley (born in Headington on 12 April 1883 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 27 May)
• Arthur George Tolley (born in Headington on 1 December 1884 and baptised at St Andrew’s Church on 25 January 1885).

The 1881 census shows Arthur’s father George Tolley working as a labourer and living in “The Lodge” in the Croft in Old Headington with his wife and their first two children, Annie (4) and Bertha (3), who were already at school; and Arthur’s maternal uncle Thomas Hockin (18), a Headington-born carpenter, was boarding with them. Arthur himself was born at the end of 1884.

By the time of the 1891 census Arthur (6) was living in the Croft with his father George (38), who was working as a domestic servant (gardener), probably at one of Old Headington’s larger houses, his mother Mary Ann (36), and his siblings Bertha (13), Alice (9), and Harriet (7). Arthur would now have been attending Old Headington Infant School, which was then still in North Place.

The 1901 census shows the family still living in the Croft, and Arthur (16) was now a gardener's labourer. His eldest sister Annie had married and left home; Bertha (22) and Frances (19) appear to have had no occupation; and Harriet (17) was a dressmaker’s apprentice.

By the time of the 1911 census Arthur (26) had left home and was working as a domestic gardener in Shillingford and boarding with Charles & Agnes Hawting. Meanwhile the young widow Dora Warner, née Wells, whose husband John Warner had died at the age of 31 in 1908, was working as a servant in the home of a publisher in Shillingford.

♥ On 8 July 1911 at Cholsey Church, Arthur George Tolley (27) married the widow Dora Warner (25), the daughter of the plate layer James Wells, who was born in Cholsey, Berkshire near the beginning of 1886. They continued to live at Shillingford, and had two children:

• Albert James Tolley (born in Shillingford on 18 January 1912 and baptised at Warborough on 17 March)
• Dorothy Tolley (born in Shillingford on 10 November 1914 and baptised at Warborough on 27 December).

Meanwhile by 1911 Arthur's parents had moved to Holyoake Road (then Western Road, on the south side of the London Road but still in St Andrew’s parish), and only their daughter Harriet (27), who worked at home as a dressmaker, was still living with them. Bertha (33) was now working as a cook for a brewer’s family in Essex.

 

In the First World War Arthur George Tolley served as a Private in 1st/4th Battalion of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Service No: 4486).

He was killed in action in in France at the age of 32 on 5 May 1916, and is buried in the Hébuterne Military Cemetery (E.22). The photograph of his grave (left) was kindly supplied by British War Graves. The inscription reads:

[Emblem of the OBLI]

4486 PRIVATE
A. TOLLEY
OXFORD & BUCKS. LIGHT INF.
5TH MAY 1916. AGE 32

†

He is remembered on the roll of honour of St Andrew’s Church in Old Headington.

Arthur Tolley’s cousin George Tolley of St Andrew’s parish also died in the war, as well as three of his second cousins in Quarry parish: John Tolley and brothers Harry Smith and William Smith. They were all descended from Samuel Tolley, who married Sarah Turner at St Andrew’s Church on 12 October 1812.