Frank Harold JENKINS (1899–1916)
Oxford Journal Illustrated,
16 August 1916
Reproduced by kind
permission of Oxfordshire
County Council, Oxfordshire History Centre
Parents and siblings
- Father: Frank JENKINS: born in Holy Trinity parish, St Ebbe’s, Oxford in 1876 (reg. third quarter)
- Mother: Alice Elizabeth WHITE: born in New Hinksey on 27 July 1876 and baptised at St John the Evangelist Chapel, Vicarage Road on 3 September; died in 1917
Frank’s parents were married at St Margaret's Church, north Oxford on 3 September 1898. They had nine children (but the one shown in italic died in infancy:
- Frank Harold Jenkins: born in St Margaret’s parish, north Oxford in 1899 (reg. fourth quarter)
- Winifred Alice Jenkins: born in St Margaret’s parish, north Oxford in 1901 (reg. second quarter)
- Mabel Edith Jenkins: born in St Margaret’s parish, north Oxford in 1903 (reg. second quarter)
- Florence Rose Jenkins: born in St Margaret’s parish, north Oxford in 1905 (reg. third quarter)
- Hilda May Jenkins: born in St Margaret’s parish, north Oxford in 1907 (reg. third quarter)
- Lilian Esther Jenkins: born in St Margaret’s parish, north Oxford on 20 August 1909)
- Percival Albert Jenkins: born at Old Botley on 6 January 1912 and baptised at North Hinksey Church on 7 January
- Frederick William Jenkins: born at Old Botley on 23 February 1914 and baptised at North Hinksey Church on 12 April)
- Sidney W. Jenkins: born at 31 Henry Road in 1916 and baptised at St Frideswide’s Church on 3 September; died at 8 George Street Mews at the age of 20 months in 1918 (funeral at St Frideswide’s Church on 12 March)
Oxford Journal Illustrated, 4 October 1916
Reproduced by kind
permission of Oxfordshire
County Council, Oxfordshire History Centre
At the time of the 1901 census Frank’s parents were living at 26 Hayfield Road, and Frank, their eldest child, was one year old. His father then described himself as a carter. Also living with the family were Frank’s widowed maternal grandmother, Esther C. Jenkins (59); his married uncle Albert Jenkins (30); and his mother’s sister, Mary White (18), who worked as an ironer.
By 1911 their address was 67 Hayfield Road, and Frank (11), who was at school, now had five younger sisters; but Lilian (1) was not at home, as she was a patient in the Radcliffe Infirmary. His father was then a milk roundsman.
By 1912 they moved to Old Botley (which was then in Berkshire) and remined there until at least 1914. Frank's father now described himself as a farmer.
Between 1914 and 1915 the family moved to 31 Henry Road in Osney. They were still there in 1917.
In the First World War Frank Harold Jenkins served as a Private in the 1st/4th Battalion of the
Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry (Service No. 4504). He must have lied about his age in order to enlist, as the minimum age to enlist was 18, and soldiers were not sent abroad until they were 19. Frank died in France at the age of 16 on 23 July 1916. The Oxford Journal Illustrated of 4 October 1916 said that he was missing, and a different photograph was published on 4 October 1916 (top right) confirming that he was dead.
He was buried in the Pozières British Cemetery, Ovillers-La Boiselle, France (Grave I.B.33)
He is also remembered on the war memorial in St Laurence's Church, North Hinksey.
- CWGC: Jenkins, F. (confirmed by FindMyPast as being Frank H. Jenkins of Osney)
Frank was the nephew of Walter Jenkins, the man listed after him on the memorial
Aftermath
Frank Jenkins’s parents
- Alice Elizabeth Jenkins (born 1898) died at 31 Henry Road at the age of 40 in 1917 (funeral at St Frideswide’s Church on 4 April).
- Frank Jenkins (born 1876) moved to George Street Mews soon after his first wife’s death, and his baby son died there in March 1918. He married his second wife Isabel Mary Dorman (née Wakefield) later in 1918, and had more children. He was still at George Street Mews in 1928, but after his second wife's death returned to Osney, where he died in September 1954.
Frank Jenkins’s full siblings
- Winifred Alice Jenkins (born 1901) never married.
- Mabel Edith Jenkins (born 1903) married George Clarke in Oxford in the fourth quarter of 1922. Kenneth G. Clarke (birth reg. Headington district first quarter of 1926) may be their son.
- Florence Rose Jenkins (born 1905) married the baker Henry George Lee at St Frideswide's Church on 16 June 1928. He was buried at Botley Cemetery on 14 January 1976, and Forence was buried with him on 9 May 1978 (both presumably ashes, as only buried at a depth of two feet in an existing Lee grave).
- Hilda May Jenkins (born 1907) …
- Lilian Esther Jenkins (born 1909) married William J. Luker in the Headington district in the third quarter of 1928, and they had two sons: Ralph W. Luker and Richard Luker. Lilian died in the Abingdon registration district in 1991.
- Percival Albert Jenkins (1912) died in the Banbury district in 1983.
- Frederick William Jenkins (born 1914) died in Oxford in 1989.