First World War Memorial, St Margaret’s Church, Oxford

Arthur Hubert MORRIS (1899–1918)

Arthur Hubert Morris was born at 74 Hayfield Road, Oxford in 1899, the son of Charles Morris (baptised at Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire on 15 July 1860) and Ellen Louisa Peverell (baptised at Bletchingdon on 10 March 1861).

Arthur’s parents were married in the Bicester Registration District (but apparently not at Bletchingdon) in the third quarter of 1882, and their first child was born shortly after the wedding. They had eighteen children in all, of whom eleven survived infancy. They included the following:

• Ellen Louisa Morris (born in Bletchingdon in 1882 and baptised there on 28 January 1883)
• Edith May Morris (born in Oxford and baptised at St Giles’ Church on 26 October 1884)
• Constance Charlotte Morris (born in Oxford and baptised at St Giles’ Church on 17 April 1886)
• Charles Edward Morris (born in Oxford and baptised at St Giles’ Church on 17 June 1888)
• Harry Morris (born in Oxford and baptised at St Giles’ Church on 29 December 1889; died aged one, funeral at that church on 24 October 1890)
• Ethel Blanche Morris, known as Blanche (born in Oxford and baptised at St Giles’ Church on 11 July 1891)
• Winnifred M. Morris (born in Oxford in 1894)
• Elsie Morris (born in St Giles’ parish, Oxford on 16 April 1895)
• Frank Morris (born in St Giles parish, Oxford in late 1895)
• Jack Morris (born in Oxford in c.1897;
  died age five, with funeral at St Giles’ Church on 30 April 1903)
• Arthur Hubert Morris (born in St Margaret’s parish, Oxford in 1899, registered second quarter)
• Annie Morris (born in St Margaret’s parish, Oxford in early 1901, registered second quarter)
• William Peverell Morris (born in St Margaret’s parish, Oxford on 28 September 1904).

Arthur’s father was a general labourer. His parents evidently started off their married life in their home village of Bletchingdon, but had moved to Oxford by 1884 and lived in St Giles’ parish in Radcliffe Row (which was presumably in the Woodstock Road, near the Radcliffe Infirmary). They were there at the time of the 1891 census, and remained until at least the middle of that decade.

In about 1898 the family moved to 74 Hayfield Road in St Margaret’s parish.

At the time of the 1901 census Arthur (1) was living at 74 Hayfield Road with his father Charles (40), described as a general labourer, his mother Ellen (41), and his siblings Charles (12), Blanche (9), Elsie (7), Winnifred (6), Frank (5), and Jack (3). Arthur's sister Annie was born later in 1901, his brother Jack died in 1903, and his brother William was born in 1904.

Arthur’s mother Ellen Louisa Morris died at the age of 47 around the time of his eighth birthday, and her funeral was at St Giles’ Church on 1 March 1907. Arthur was a sickly child, but had several older sisters to help look after him.

At the time of the 1911 census Arthur (11) was still living at 74 Hayfield Road with his widower father Charles (50), who was now more precisely described as an Oxford corporation labourer, and his siblings Ellen (28), Edith (26), Charles (23), who was a greengrocer, Elsie (17), Frank (15), and Annie (10).

By 1913 the family's address was given as 70 Hayfield Road.

In the First World War Arthur Hubert Morris served as a Private in the 2nd Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment (Service No. 49198). He went to the front in March 1918 (having barely recovered from an operation at the Radcliffe Infirmary for appendicitis) and died less than three weeks later at the age of 19 at 47 Casualty Clearing Station in France on 25 April 1918, following a shrapnel wound to his abdomen. He is buried in the Crouy British Cemetery, Crouy-sur-Somme (I.B.16) and is remembered on the war memorial outside St Margaret’s Church in north Oxford.

The telegram received by Arthur’s father on 6 May 1918, twelve days after his death, is shown below:

Right: Photograph of A. H. Morris’s grave in France, kindly supplied by British War Graves. The text reads:

[Emblem of the
Northamptonshire Regiment]

49198 PRIVATE
A. H. MORRIS
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE REGT
25TH APRIL 1918

†

ONE OF THE BRAVEST
ONE OF THE BEST
DOING HIS DUTY
WAS CALLED TO REST

This is one of the 40% of war graves that bears a personal message at the end (for which the family had to pay 3½d per letter).

 

Below left: Arthur Morris’s war medal, inscribed with his name and HE DIED FOR FREEDOM AND HONOUR.

 

Below right: Arthur Morris’s original wooden cross, erected in the field that was to become the Crouy British Cemetery. The embossed metal strips give his service number, name, regiment, and date of death.