Louis Alfred DUKE (1898–1917)
Louis Alfred Duke (known as Alfred Duke) was born at 16 Edith Road, St Aldate’s, Oxford in 1898.
Louis's father was Louis Douglas Duke, born in Ship Street, Oxford in 1873 and baptised at St Michael's Church on 1 June, and his paternal grandfather was William Duke, the Common Room Man of Exeter College. Louis's father was a cook living with his parents at 43 Leckford Road in 1897.
Louis's mother was Mary Ellen Griffiths, who was born at St Bernard's Road, Oxford in 1868 and baptised at Ss Philip & James's Church on 4 October. She was the daughter of the carpenter Thomas Griffiths and his wife Anna, and living at 118 Kingston Road in 1897.
Louis's parents were married at Ss Philip & James's Church, Oxford on 3 July 1897 and had two children:
- (Louis) Alfred Duke (born at 16 Edith Road, St Aldate’s, Oxford on 27 April 1898 and baptised at Ss Philip & James's Church on 12 June)
- Evelyn Mary Duke (born at St Stephen’s, Dublin in c.1905).
By 1901 Alfred's father was Steward of the Clarendon Club and living upstairs at 54 Cornmarket with his wife and Alfred (2).
By 1905 Alfred’s parents were evidently in Dublin, where Alfred’s younger sister was born.
At the time of the 1911 census Louis's parents were in London, managing the Naval & Military Hotel in Harrington Road; but Alfred (12), who was still at school, was living with the family of his uncle, the compositor Thomas Griffiths, and his wife Emily at 30 Southmoor Road in St Margaret’s parish, while his sister Evelyn was parked with her widowed grandmother Hannah Griffiths (78) who lived nearby at 86 Kingston Road.
Alfred Duke is recorded as living in Chelsea when he enlisted in the army, and given that he became a Corporal at a young age, he may have been a career soldier before the war.
In the First World War (Louis) Alfred Duke served as a Corporal in the 2nd/18th Battalion of the London Regiment (London Irish Rifles) (Service No. 590537). He was killed in action in Egypt at the age of 19 on 23 December 1917. He is buried at the Jerusalem War Cemetery in Israel (T.50), and his parents paid for the additional inscription HEB.XII.CHAP. VERSES 22–24 I HAVE GONE HOME” to be added to his headstone.
He is remembered on the war memorial outside St Margaret’s Church in north Oxford.
After the War
Alfred Duke’s parents
At the time of the 1921 census Louis Douglas Duke (48) was the hotel proprietor of the French Horn Hotel, Sonning, Berkshire, and his wife Mary (32) was the manageress. Their daughter Mary (15), who was attending the Abbey School in Reading, was described as boarding there.
Louis emigrated to Canada at the age of 48, arriving on 28 July 1921 with the intention of becoming a farmer. He was not accompanied by his wife, but he named her as his next of kin and stated that she then lived in Sonning-on-Thames.
Louis Douglas Duke died at the age of 70 and was buried in Wolvercote Cemetery on 15 October 1943, and his wife Mary Ellen Duke died at the age of 83 and was buried with her husband on 3 July 1952.
See also
- CWGC: DUKE, Louis Alfred
- Wikipedia: London Irish Rifles
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