Born in Thame in the summer of 1893, Ralph Eaton was one of 11 children of Elizabeth and Charles Eaton, living in Park Street. In late 1913, he enlisted with the 4th (Territorial) Battalion of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (service number 1893). Landing in Boulogne, on the 30th March 1915, the battalion, now […]
Bernard George Turner was born on 28th November 1893 at The Gables, Bledlow Ridge, Bucks, the son of John William and Emily Turner, an elementary school teacher. He was a boarder at Lord Williams’s Grammar School, Thame from 1908 and also attended High Wycombe Grammar School. After leaving school he gained a position with the […]
Eric Leon Boiling was born in Thame in 1893. His mother, Jane Elizabeth Boiling, had 3 older children, Ethel, born in 1884, Agnes, born in 1887, and William, born in 1889. They were all living in the Red Cow on the Aylesbury Road, before she married James Burnard in 1895, when they moved to 46 […]
Lewis Rhymes was Private (7657) with the 1st Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment, and participated in the Battle of the Aisne and the 1st Battle of Ypres, before being severely wounded in action at Festubert, near Givenchy, France, on 20 December 1914. He was evacuated to the rear and died of his wounds in hospital at […]
John Alexander Summerhayes, known as Jack, was born at Quetta in India in 1898, third child and eldest son of Dr J O Summerhayes, a GP living in High Street, Thame from 1908 to 1924. As a result of a childhood illness, contracted in India, Jack had poor eyesight and was not medically fit for […]
Hugh Kidman was one of four children of George Edward Kidman and Clara (née Newton). He was born in 1889 in East Adderbury, near Banbury, Oxfordshire where his parents were farmers and was baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Adderbury on 8th January 1890. By 1901 the family had taken over […]
Born in Old Bradwell, Buckinghamshire on the 26th July 1887, Reginald George Farmbrough was the youngest of nine children of Marian (nee Clapham) and Charles Griffes Farmbrough, a farmer. By 1911 he had left home, and moved to Rycote, where he was assisting in the business of farmer Frank Chapman at Lobbersdown Hill Farm. In […]
Edward Benoni Burgess was born in Transvaal, South Africa on the 17th June 1892. His father was Alfred Augustus Burgess, a gentleman, and his mother Ada Eliza (nee Jones). Travelling to England at a few months of age, he was baptised at St John the Baptist church, Bisley, Surrey, on 28th August 1893. After his […]
Harry John Shrimpton was one of four sons of Joshua and Mary Shrimpton living at East Street, Thame. He was born in 1882, but it was not until July 1909 that he was baptised in Lewknor, at the age of 27. This was probably in preparation for his marriage to Gladys Gwendoline Smith a few […]
John Howlett was the son of John and Hannah Howlett of 15 Park Street, Thame. Born in 1889, the youngest of 7 children, he had three brothers, and three sisters. After a short spell with the local Territorial Force, the Queens Own Oxfordshire Hussars, he enlisted with the Royal Engineers in 1907. Obtaining trade proficiency as a […]