George Richard MORRIS (1881–1917)

George Morris
© Images & Voices,
Oxfordshire County Council
(middle initial wrong in newspaper)

George Richard Morris (usually known as Richard Morris) was born in Headington Quarry in 1881, the son of James Richard Morris (born at China Lane, Headington Quarry and baptised at Holy Trinity Church there on 26 July 1857) and Matilda Elizabeth Goodgame (born at Headington Quarry and baptised at Holy Trinity Church there on 14 August 1859).

His parents were married at Holy Trinity Church in Headington Quarry on 16 April 1881 and had four children:

George Richard Morris (born in Headington Quarry in 1881
and baptised at Holy Trinity Church there on 25 September)
Matilda May Morris (born in Headington Quarry on 16 April 1883
and baptised at Holy Trinity Church there on 24 June)
Frank Morris (born in Headington Quarry on 6 October 1886
and baptised at New Inn Hall Street Methodist Chapel in Oxford on 5 January 1887)
Walter Morris (born in Headington Quarry on 13 August 1890
and baptised in New Inn Hall Street Wesleyan Chapel in Oxford on 8 October).

At the time of the 1891 census George Richard Morris (9) was living in Quarry with his father James Richard (33), his mother Matilda (31), and his younger siblings Matilda (7), Frank (4), and Walter (seven months).

At the time of the 1901 census George Richard (19), described as a gardener (“not domestic”), was living at The Pits in Headington Quarry with his father (James) Richard (43), who was a builder's labourer, his mother Matilda (41) and his three younger siblings: Matilda (17) helped in the house, Frank (14) was also a gardener, and Walter (10) was still at school.

On 7 May 1904 at Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry, George Richard Morris (22) married Florence Annie Cooper (21), who was born in Headington Quarry on 23 August 1882 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church there on 29 October. They had six children:

Gertrude May Morris (born in Headington Quarry on 23 June 1905 and baptised at the Methodist Chapel in Tyndale Road, East Oxford on 25 July)
Arthur Richard Morris (born in Headington Quarry in 1906, registered fourth quarter)
Frederick Morris (born on 14 November 1908 at 20 Harpes Road, Sunnymead and baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry on 5 March 1909)
Charles Edward Morris (born at 42 Hayfield Road, Oxford on 11 October 1911)
George William Morris (born at 42 Hayfield Road, Oxford on 11 May 1913)
Florence E. M. Morris (born iat 42 Hayfield Road, Oxford in September 1915;
died aged three weeks and buried at Wolvercote Cemetery on 29 September 1915.

Between 1906 and 1908 George and his family were living at 20 Harpes Road.

At the time of the 1911 census George (29) was living at 42 Hayfield Road in St Margaret’s parish with his wife Florence (28) and their first two sons Arthur (4) and Frederick (2). Their eldest daughter Gertie (5) spent census night back with her grandparents in Headington Quarry. He was working as a gardener at St John's College when he went to war.

In the First World War George Richard Morris volunteered and served as a Private in the ill-fated 2nd Battalion of the Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Service No. 24691). He was killed in action in France at the age of 35 on 28 February 1917. The Captain of his Company wrote as follows to his wife on 6 March 1917:

Dear Mrs. Morris

      I write to express my deepest sympathy with you in the loss of your husband, No. 24601 Private Morris, of my company.

      I am more sorry than I can express in words. He had not been with us very long but he proved himself to be a really good man, and one on whom I could always rely.

      The price of victory in this struggle will be very great but it is such men as your husband who make it inevitable sooner or later.   He died for a glorious cause. May God bless you in your trouble is my prayer.

Yours sincerely,
D. To Barnes,
Capt. Commanding 'D' Company

He has no known grave, but is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial (Pier and Face 10 A and 10 D), on the stone plaque in the porch of Holy Trinity Church in Headington Quarry, and on this memorial outside St Margaret’s Church in north Oxford.

After the War

George Richard Morris’s parents

The 1921 census shows (George) Richard Morris senior (64) working as a labourer for the builders T. H. Kingerlee & Sons of Queen Street, Oxford and living at the present 38 Pitts Road with his wife Matilda (61) and their two unmarried sons.

James Richard Morris died at the age of 77 at 14 Pitts Road (shortly afterwards renumbered 38) and was buried at Holy Trinity churchyard on 4 May 1935.
Mrs Matilda Morris died at 38 Pitts Road at the age of 79 and was buried with her husband on 30 May 1939.

George Richard Morris’s widow

Mrs Florence Annie Morris was living at 42 Hayfield Road in Oxford at the time of the 1921 census with her five surviving children and a lodger. She married her second husband James Phipps in 1922 (Headington registration district), and they continued to live at 42 Hayfield Road for the rest of their lives. Florence's second husband James Phipps died at the age of 50 in 1936. The 1939 Register shows Florence working as an office cleaner, and two of her children still lived with her. She died at the age of 63 in 1945.

George Richard Morris’s sons

Arthur Richard Morris (born 1906) died in Oxford in March 1963 at the age of 56.
Frederick Morris (born 1908) married Elsie Cooper, and they had four children: Peter, Sidney, Richard, and Sheila.
Charles Edward Morris (born 1911) was aged 24 and living at 42 Hayfield Road with his mother and stepfather when he married Dorothy May Thomas (26) of 65 Cardigan Street at St Margaret’s Church on 3 August 1936. Both were shop assistants. His father who was killed in the war was recorded on the marriage certificate as “deceased gardener”. At the time of the 1939 Register he was living at 48 Hayfield Road (very near his mother) with his wife and children and was working as a shop assistant in men's clothing.

George Richard Morris’s three siblings

Matilda May Morris (born 1883) married the blacksmith Owen V. Stimpson in the Headington registration district in the third quarter of 1910. At the time of the 1911 census they were living at 4 Westbourne Terrace (now 113 London Road, currently Finders Keepers). Their daughter Violet May Stimpson was born on 5 July 1911 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 27 August 1911. At the time of the 1921 census Matilda (39) was living at 9 Elms Road (now renamed Gladstone Road) in Quarry with her husband, who worked as a shoeing & general smith for the wheelwrights Smart & Smith at 20 Southfield Road, and their daughter Violet (11). They were at the same address at the time of the 1939 Register, and Owen Stimpson was now an assembly worker at an automobile engine radiators firm. Matilda died at the age of 74 and was buried in Headington Cemetery in her husband's grave on 30 December 1960. Their only child Violet May (Mrs King) was buried with them in 1988.
Frank Morris (born 1886) was still living with his parents in Pitts Road at the time of the 1921 census, when he was aged 34, and working as a gardener for the rose-grower John Mattock of Headington. He married Ethel M. Phipps in the Headington registration district in the third quarter of 1923. Their daughter Daphne Frances Morris was born on 25 May 1925 and baptised at Holy Trinity Church on 28 June 1925. They were then living at Quarry High Street, and Frank was still working as a rose gardener for Mattock’s.
Walter Morris (born 1890) was still living with his parents in Pitts Road at the time of the 1921 census, when he was aged 30 and working as a groundsman in the University Parks in Oxford.

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

George Richard MORRIS (1881–1917)

After the War

See also