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Thomas Ray
 
 
Thomas Ray
Asset Unique ID No: 7000017
  Title: Thomas Ray
     
  Description: He was baptised in Holton Church on 20 November 1887, the son of George Ray, woodman and labourer born in Headington, and Sarah born in Forest Hill. In 1891 the family were living at Holton Lodge. At the 1901 Census, Thomas was living at the Missionary College, Dorchester-on-Thames, working there as a servant. Ten years later he was the sole occupant of an un-named house in Holton, employed as a groom on a farm. He married Amelia Ellen Nutt of Great Milton on 24 June 1911, his occupation being...
     
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  Contributor: Wheatley Society
     
  Title: The Wheatley First World War Centenary Project
   
  Website: http://www.wheatleyarchive.org.uk/
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Baptised Richard James Munt in Wheatley Church on 1 November 1895, son of James Munt, gardener's labourer also born in Wheatley, in 1874, and Annie nee Jeffrey, born in Barton, Middlesex in 1869. The family were living at 1 Shotover View, also listed as 11 Littleworth, in 1901 and 1911. Richard was a market gardener, too, working for his parents on the land behind the house (see photo of father and son in the Origins of the War chapter). He served as a Private in the Royal Field Artillery and possibly also in the Royal Flying Corps: the WW1 Medal Rolls Index shows him as a Driver, No. 170972. He married Daisy Gertrude Heels in Wheatley: she was an upholstress, born in Hackney, London in 1893. He was listed on the Register of Electors in 1921 as living in Littleworth. He died on 20 January 1972. <br/><br/>He lived in Littleworth, probably at No. 25.
33688 Private William Clements, Wiltshire Regiment, (according to his Commonwealth War Graves Commission gravestone in St Mary's churchyard) was transferred to 605 Agricultural Company of the Labour Corps, with Service No 263037. Formed in January 1917, the Labour Corps grew to some 389,900 men (more than 10 of the total size of the Army) by the Armistice. Some 175,000 of these worked in the United Kingdom, the rest in theatres of war. The Corps was manned by officers and other ranks, many of them previously wounded or medically rated below the 'A1' condition necessary for front-line service. Labour Corps units were often deployed within range of enemy guns, sometimes for long periods. In the crises of March and April 1918 on the Western Front, they became emergency infantry. The Corps suffered from being regarded as a second class organisation: for example, William Clements is commemorated under his original regiment, followed by his Labour Corps details. Researching them is difficult because so few records remain of the daily activities and locations of Corps units. Today they are the fully-fledged Royal Pioneer Corps, until recently based at Bicester Garrison. William died on 11 November 1918 in Aldershot Hospital, 'of pneumonia' as family tradition has it - possibly due to the Spanish 'Flu epidemic of 1918-19. <br/><br/>Born in 1885 In Long Crendon, Buckinghamshire, he was the second son of William Clements, an agricultural labourer born in Wheatley in 1851 and Elizabeth Bowler, born in 1852 in Sandford, Nuneham Courtenay, Oxon. Between 1891 and 1911 the family were living in Littleworth. At 15 William was listed in the 1911 Census as a farm labourer, like his father. Later listed as a groom/gardener ('good with horses', his grandsons remember), he had married Agnes Slaymaker in 1907/8: they lived at the west end of The George in what was a separate house, reopened to the main building in the 1980s. William and Agnes' daughter, Phyllis Claudine Clements, was the mother of Roy, Colin and Vic West, living respectively in Wheatley, Little Milton and Swindon today. See also reference to him in the Wheatley in a World at War chapter.
207285 Private Walter Ernest Thomas Crick appears to have served with 3rd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment, rather than the Gloucestershire as indicated on the List of Wheatley men who served. At the end of May 1918, 3rd Battalion fought on the Aisne river in several battles - St Quentin and Bapaume in late March, Messines, Bailleul and the First Battle of Kemmel Ridge in April, and the Aisne in May-June. Walter lost his life on 27 May 1918, the first day of the Battle of the Aisne, and was buried at Marfaux British Cemetery, Marne (ref. X. D. 6). <br/><br/>He was a younger son of John and Margaret Crick, brother of Maurice Crick and of Reuben Leonard Crick. Baptised 6 November 1897 at St Mary's, he was attending Wheatley Elementary school in 1911.
26259 Private Christopher Robert Green first enlisted with the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry after July 1916 when his appeal against conscription failed. Later he transferred to 9 Battalion, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry), Regimental No. 66836, Private. The railway station at Vichte, east of Ypres and Courtrai, was captured on 20 October 1918, and the village two days later. German positions across the Selle River had been attacked on 17 October British forces crossed the river in fog on 20 October and pressed their advantage in the next few days against a disciplined German rearguard and retreat east. Christopher died on 25 October, Day 79 of the 100 Days Offensive. He is buried in Vichte Military Cemetery, Anzegem, West Flanders, Belgium (ref. I. A. 19). <br/><br/>Christopher was born in Headington in 1893, the second son of Henry Green, bricklayer, born also in Headington, in 1857/9, and Elizabeth Court, laundress, born in Oxford in 1855. In 1911 the family was living on Windmill Road, Headington Quarry, and Christopher was following his father as an apprentice bricklayer. He married Emily Alice Smith of Horspath in 1915 and when appeal was made to the Tribunal in 1916, he was licensee of the Cricketer's Arms, Littleworth. The license was transferred to Emily on 13 January 1919.
40035 Private Charles Jennings enlisted at Oxford in 1917 with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, but either before sailing for France, or in France, was posted to C Company, 2nd Battalion the Royal Berkshire Regiment, Service number 50620. His nephew and great nephew, Ray Johnson and Steve Morrison, have provided information: a photograph hangs at 26 The Avenue and Steve has visited Crucifix Corner Cemetery three times. <br/><br/>Charles' sister - Steve's grandmother - passed on the family version: Charles had been killed by a sniper, buried with full military honours, but the grave was destroyed by artillery bombardment. Doubtless that version was designed to soften the blow to families back home. In fact, it seems that no-one knew how or when Charles was killed during the British retreat in spring 1918. 2nd Battalion, Berkshire Regiment, was heavily engaged between 20 and 27/28 April 1918 after the advancing Germans took Villers-Bretonneux village between Amiens and St Quentin. Battalion War Diary records that four companies of the Battalion relieved Australian troops overnight on 20 April outside the village and on 24/25 April recaptured it with 35 German machine guns and 300 prisoners. Charles is reported to have been killed by shellfire during the taking of the village, 24 April. He was 18 years and 10 months old. Battalion casualties (Other Ranks) that month were 55 killed or dead of wounds, 166 wounded, 19 gassed and 10 missing. They came out of the line for recuperation overnight on 27/28 April. Probably buried in a communal grave, he has an individual gravestone in Crucifix Corner Cemetery (ref: plot 111, row A, grave 13), Villers- Bretonneux, which holds more than 650 men and is close to where he died. <br/><br/>'Private Charles Jennings has been killed in action in France. He joined up in June 1917 and went to France on 30 March past and was killed instantly by a shell, 24 April 1917. In writing of his death, his sergeant says It is a great loss to us. He was such a willing man. Nothing was ever too much for him'' (Oxford Times, 8 June 1918). <br/><br/>Charles was born on 8 May 1899. His parents and sister lived on Crown Road and at some point on Bell Lane. His father James Jennings came from Cuddesdon and was a private coachman his mother Elizabeth Ann Jennings nee Langston was from Beckley. The Wheatley Elementary school Log Book reveals that in 1913 the Rev. R. de M. Niven, General Diocesan Inspector of Schools, found the school 'thoroughly satisfactory' on inspection, 23 July: Charles was awarded the Bishop's Prize from the Inspector. He was in the church choir for seven years. Before joining the Army he worked at the Cowley Steam Plough Works. <br/><br/>He had lived at 9 Bell Lane.
T2/016739 Driver Lawrence Samuel Johnson, Army Service Corps (prefixed Royal in late 1918) enlisted with Kitchener's New Army, 9 August 1914 (Oxford Times, 26 September). <br/><br/>He was the first Wheatley man to die on active service, serving with a Labour Company, Army Service Corps. Most of the food, equipment and ammunition for a vast army on widely distant fronts was supplied from Britain. Using horse-drawn and increasingly motorised vehicles, railways and waterways, the ASC managed the logistics of supply and organisation. (Today they form part of the Royal Logistical Corps). In 1914 westerly French ports were safer landing points for supplies and personnel than the Channel ports which faced immediate German threat. Samuel died aged 21 of enteric - typhoid - fever on 21 October 1914 at 9 General Hospital RAMC, Nantes, and was buried in La Bouteillerie Cemetery, Nantes (ref. H. 4. 1). <br/><br/>Born in 1893 in Horspath, he was the youngest of three sons of Thomas Johnson, packer on line and later plate-layer with the Great Western Railway, born in Cowley, Oxford in 1864 and Harriet nee Munt, born in Littleworth the same year. In 1901 the family were living on High Street, in 1911 on Farm Close Lane. He was a brother of Thomas Johnson junior and of Walter Johnson, both of whom also served, and returned. Samuel was a farm carter before enlisting. See also reference to him in the Wheatley in a World at War chapter. <br/><br/>He had lived at 5 Crown Square.
27910 Private (later Lance Corporal) Harry Jones enlisted with 2nd Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry 14 August 1914. The bulk of the Battalion was sent to Belgium within weeks and fought through 'First Ypres' October-November 1914, which established an Allied defence line across Belgium centred on the town of Ypres which resisted German attack until the end of the war. In May 1915 at Festubert, Harry had stayed to accompany Thomas Harding as he died from a sniper's 'snapshot'. Harry ended his service with OBLI, Service No 7653, in January 1916. He later enlisted with 2nd Battalion, South Wales Borderers, Regimental No. 40788. The Battalion arrived in France in March 1916, fought through the Somme offensive in which it took severe casualties. In the Arras offensive, April-May 1917, it fought in the Second of three Battles within weeks for the Scarpe River (23-24 April 1917). In the evening of 22 April, the Battalion moved into forward trenches east of Monchy-le-Preux village. <br/><br/>'At 4.45 on the morning of the 23rd the Battalion went over the top and successfully captured the first line German trench. A and B Companies constructed strong points about 300 yards beyond the captured German positions. The covering barrage for the attack fell very short and caused a number of casualties to our own men. After the attack and during the consolidation, hostile sniping was very active'. (Battalion War Diary). <br/><br/>Harry Jones died of wounds on 24 April 1917 and was buried in the British Cemetery at Duisans, Etrun, west of Arras, Pas de Calais (ref. IV. A. 24). (Life resume, Oxford Times, 11 May 1917). <br/><br/>He was born in Wheatley in 1890, a son of Wheatley-born Francis George Jones, carpenter, and Angelina nee Messenger. They lived on Church Road in 1911. His brothers were Alfred, Frank and William Jones who also served, and returned. He was a labourer. In 1911 he was living with James and Harriett Shorter, his aunt and uncle, at Rock Cottage, Westfield Road. He had married a Miss Gillam of 21 Lillian Road, Barnes, London. See also reference to him in the Wheatley in a World at War chapter.
01573 Private William Thomas Naish served with 1/4 Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. He enlisted at Oxford in April 1915 and went to France early in 1916. The Battalion fought with 143 Brigade, 48th (South Midland) Division, on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Somme offensive, and the day when over 57,000 casualties were sustained - the largest number suffered in one day by the British Army. William lost his life on 14 August when 48th Division was engaged in the battle of Pozieres. His body was not found, but he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial (Pier and Face 10A and 10D). <br/><br/>William Thomas Naish was baptised in Wheatley on 4 October 1896, son of Arthur Thomas Naish, painter and glazier, decorator and builder, also born in Wheatley, in 1871, and Catherine Horwood born 1872 in Tingewick, Buckinghamshire. In 1901 and 1911 the family were living in a cottage next to the school on Church Road. William was at school in Wheatley in 1903 and attended the Night School 1910, 1911 and 1912. He had been a sales boy in a general grocery store. See also references to him in the Wheatley in a World at War chapter. <br/><br/>The 1910 survey does not distinguish between the houses 29-35 Church Road, so he may have lived at any of these addresses.
9974 Private George Smith served with 5th (Service) Battalion, Dorsetshire Regiment, which embarked for Gallipoli from Liverpool on 3 July 1915, bound for Mudros, the base facility on the island of Imbros. It took part in the landing at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli, on 6 August, engaging with Turkish forces to take Sari Bair and adjoining ridges to link up with the ANZAC beach heads further south. It was a costly failure: many died needlessly including George Smith, and the GOC Gallipoli, Sir Ian Hamilton, himself a mediocre commander, dismissed several generals and brigadiers immediately. George died on 21 August, aged 19, as his Battalion stormed slopes behind Suvla in thick mist. His body was not found, but his name is commemorated on the Cape Helles monument at the southern end of the peninsula (ref: Panel 136-139). On 16 December 1915 the Battalion was evacuated from Gallipoli, among the first away, due to severe casualties. <br/><br/>'Pte G. Smith, son of Mr F. Smith, Farm Close Lane, Wheatley, was reported missing during the Gallipoli campaign and official information has now been received that he was killed. His brother, Pte M. [Mark] Smith, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire L.I. is reported wounded and missing'. <br/><br/>The records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission state that he was the son of Frederick and Clara Ann Smith nee Putt born in Oxford in 1873, who lived on Crown Road. George's birth was registered in Hammersmith in 1894. On his Attestation Form (August 1914) he gave his occupation as kitchen porter. He also stated that he had previously served with the Royal Navy but had been discharged as medically unfit. On 10 October 1914 he was confined to camp for seven days for using obscene language to an NCO. <br/><br/>He was reported missing on 22 August 1915 24 June 1916 was the date of his death as assumed for official purposes. On 1 July 1919 private property, i.e. 22 photographs, were returned to George's father Frederick, who was living in Wheatley. See also reference to George in the Wheatley in a World at War chapter.
39021 Private Richard Summers enlisted 1 September, 1914, with 2/4 Battalion Hampshire Regiment, Kitchener's New Army. After 46 days' service he was discharged in October 1914. He re-joined in January 1916, at the commencement of national conscription, Regimental No. 28461, apparently with the Worcestershire Regiment, then transferred to the Warwickshire Regiment and finally back to his old 2/4 Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, with which he served in Egypt from March 1916. His Battalion was drafted from Egypt to 186 Brigade, 62nd (2nd West Riding) Division, to reinforce Allied divisions on the Marne (at Tardenois) holding their ground and no longer retreating, as the April Ludendorff offensive ran out of steam. 62 Division came under temporary French command in support of the French Fifth Army. Richard died on 23 July 1918, aged 23. His body was not found but he is commemorated on the Soissons Memorial near the Aisne and Marne rivers, with 3900 others whose graves are not known. French Fifth Army advanced 4 miles on a 4 mile long front. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission lists Richard's Regimental No. as 39021. <br/><br/>Richard was born in 1894 in Wheatley, the elder son of Hugh Summers, builder's labourer, himself also born in the village in 1864, and Annie Maria Joyner, born in Worminghall in 1861. In 1901 and 1911 the family were living at 7 Bell Lane and in 1911 father and son were general labourers. The casualty report (Oxford Times, 7 September 1918), said he was 'a keen cricketer and footballer and played for Wheatley at both games'. See also reference to him in the Wheatley in a World at War chapter. <br/><br/>He had lived at 7 Bell Lane.
Probably born in 1863, son of Elizabeth White. Brother of John White. In 1881 Thomas was a groom, living with his mother and John at Breach Yard. By 1891 he was married to Ann, born in Thame. They continued to live on High Street in 1901 and 1911. His name appeared on the Roll of Honour carried in the Oxford Chronicle of 18 September 1914 as having enlisted in Kitchener's Army. As we have seen, the Machine Gun Corps was formed in October 1915, from battalion machine gun and motorised machine gun companies. See also a reference to him in the Wheatley Tribunal chapter.
Full name, according to the 1911 Census, Lionel Harry Gordon Collinson, born 1 April 1896 in Birmingham, son of Harry Collinson and Amelia nee Smith. In 1901 he was boarding at the Crown Road, Wheatley home of Charles and Sarah A. Gomm. Ten years later he was still a boarder there, but now employed as a telegraph messenger. It seems that his third forename was Weedon rather than Gordon and that he was later known as Lionel Gomm. The Oxford Chronicle of 17 December 1914 reported that he had been accepted into the Royal Navy. He was closely acquainted with Lady Ottoline Morrell and her circle at Garsington: photos of him, including one in Naval uniform (H.M. S. Minesweepers) and two taken by her, are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. In the 1921 Register of Electors a Lionel Collinson was living at The Chequers, Wheatley. Described as a builder, he died in 1922. See also references to him in the Wheatley in a World at War chapter.
Full name Edward Richard James Hilsdon, born on 4 November 1887 in Woodstock, Oxon. Son of Edward Hilsdon and Emma Biggs. Brother of Cyril Hilsdon and Walter Hilsdon. They lived on Friday Lane and Edward junior was attending Wheatley Night School in 1911. He was a labourer on farm in 1901 and at a steam sawmills in 1911. He originally enlisted in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment on 11 December 1915 at Oxford. He was transferred to the Royal Army Service Corps. The Oxford Journal Illustrated reported on 16 May 1917 that he had been wounded. He became non-effective by 8 November 1918, being no longer fit for active service: Regimental No. on discharge M/353609. In September 1917 he had married Elsie L. Turner in Croydon, Surrey. He died in March 1975 in the Bullingdon Registration District. See also reference to him in the Wheatley in a World at War chapter. <br/><br/>He lived at Friday Cottage, 1 Friday Lane, with brothers Cyril and Walter.
Full name Walter Herbert Hilsdon, born in 1898 in Denchworth, near Wantage, son of and nbsp Edward Hilsdon and Emma Biggs. Brother of Cyril and Edward Hilsdon. He was attending Wheatley Elementary school in 1910. In 1911 he was employed as a farm boy scaring birds. He joined the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry on 24 June 1916 and was discharged as wounded on 4 March 1918: in May of the previous year the Oxford newspapers had referred to his wounding He married Agnes M. Blake, in the Headington Registration District in 1925 and died in the same district in 1927. See also reference to him in the Wheatley in a World at War chapter. <br/><br/>He lived at Friday Cottage, 1 Friday Lane, with brothers Cyril and Edward.
Born in Aberdare, Glamorganshire in 1889, son of Thomas/James Jackson, engine driver with the Great Western Railway, and Alice nee Jackson. They lived in Fulham, London in 1901. Llewellyn attended the Night School in Wheatley from 1911 - in the Census of that same year, he was enumerated at Station Road: he was a signalman with the GWR. The Oxford Chronicle noted that, together with Frederick Merritt, he had been recruited to Royal Garrison Artillery's Heavy Battery: he rose to the rank of Sergeant, with the Regimental No. 75, 291387. He married Oxford-born Edith Ethel Abraham on 27 December 1919: she was a servant at Wheatley Vicarage. Llewellyn and Edith were living at The Firs in 1921. Llewellyn died in December 1962 at the Cowley Road Hospital and Edith died aged 82 in June 1964. See also references to him in the Wheatley in a World at War chapter.
Baptised Richard James Munt in Wheatley Church on 1 November 1895, son of James Munt, gardener's labourer also born in Wheatley, in 1874, and Annie nee Jeffrey, born in Barton, Middlesex in 1869. The family were living at 1 Shotover View, also listed as 11 Littleworth, in 1901 and 1911. Richard was a market gardener, too, working for his parents on the land behind the house (see photo of father and son in the Origins of the War chapter). He served as a Private in the Royal Field Artillery and possibly also in the Royal Flying Corps: the WW1 Medal Rolls Index shows him as a Driver, No. 170972. He married Daisy Gertrude Heels in Wheatley: she was an upholstress, born in Hackney, London in 1893. He was listed on the Register of Electors in 1921 as living in Littleworth. He died on 20 January 1972. <br/><br/>He lived in Littleworth, probably at No. 25.
He was baptised in Holton Church on 20 November 1887, the son of George Ray, woodman and labourer born in Headington, and Sarah born in Forest Hill. In 1891 the family were living at Holton Lodge. At the 1901 Census, Thomas was living at the Missionary College, Dorchester-on-Thames, working there as a servant. Ten years later he was the sole occupant of an un-named house in Holton, employed as a groom on a farm. He married Amelia Ellen Nutt of Great Milton on 24 June 1911, his occupation being described as labourer. <br/><br/>He served with 4th Battalion, Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Regimental no. 204617) and was later transferred to the Royal Berkshire Regiment (No. 220378). His Attestation Certificate shows his address as The Green, Wheatley. The date on the document is not clear, apart from the year which is 1915, but his Silver War Badge citation gives his enlistment date as 30 October of that year. He was discharged from the Army on 29 March 1919 having been wounded, for which he received a scroll signed by King George V. He later moved to live in Great Milton and was the licensee of The Bull public house. He died in June 1970, the death being registered at the Wallingford Register Office.
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