Those remembered (M-S)
Eden Richard Morriss was the son of William and Annie Morriss of Bullingdon Road. He worked as an attendant at the County Asylum in Littlemore.
He became a Private 2nd class in the 3rd Kite Balloon Section of the Royal Air Force. He died from influenza on 4 December 1918 at the 37th casualty clearing station in Busigny, France, aged 30. He was buried in Busigny Communal Cemetery Extension.
William John Plumridge was the son of Harry and Annie Plumridge of William Street, New Marston. He worked as a porter. The Oxford Times recorded that he was a promising member of the Marston Village football team. He also attended the Brotherhood meetings at Wesley Hall.
William Plumridge served in France from 26 July 1915, being promoted to Bombardier with D Battalion, 84th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery.
He died in France on 31 December 1915, at the age of 26, following an accident when the German fuse he was examining exploded and wounded him in the legs. He was taken to the Casualty Clearing Station at Corbie, Somme and he was buried in the Corbie Communal Cemetery.
Reginald Thomas Richings was born in Oxford, the son of William and Charlotte Richings. William Richings, a plumber and house decorator who lived in Cowley Road, had been one of the original helpers in establishing Methodism in East Oxford. Reginald Richings attended the Sunday School at William Street Wesleyan Chapel, being awarded Sunday School prizes in 1893 and 1895.
Reginald Richings joined the 33rd Brigade HQ Royal Field Artillery as a driver and served in France from 10 March 1915. Back in England on leave, he married Frances Hopkins at Holy Innocents Church, South Norwood, London in December 1915. On 25 July 1917 he was promoted to corporal.
He was reported wounded and missing on 28 May 1918 at Soissons, Aisne, France. It was officially declared a year later that he was presumed to have died of wounds. He was 31 years old. He is commemorated on the Soissons Memorial which records the names of nearly 4000 members of the United Kingdom forces who died during the Battles of the Aisne and the Marne in 1918 and who have no known grave.
Albert Henry Shepherd was the eldest son of Henry and Ada Shepherd of Caroline Street, St Clements. He was baptised at St Clements Church on 26 July 1896. He attended the Sunday School at William Street Wesleyan Chapel, being awarded the infants class prize in 1902. After leaving school he worked in Dean’s Ironmongers in Cowley Road.
At the outbreak of war in August 1914 he was at camp with the Territorials and was mobilised. He landed in France in June 1915 and was wounded on 22 July 1916 but recovered. Having joined up as a bugler, he was promoted to Lance Corporal in the 1st/4th Battalion, Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry. He was wounded during an attack by the Battalion on the village of Ronssoy on the Somme on 5 April 1917 and he died on 11 April 1917 at the age of 20. The Oxford Times recorded that he had volunteered to lead a very dangerous patrol to discover the enemy position in order to enable the battalion to make a successful attack. He was buried at Bray Military Cemetery, Bray-sur-Somme, France which was the site of one of the Casualty Clearing Stations.
John Henry Shepherd was the second son of Henry and Ada Shepherd and the brother of Albert Shepherd. He was baptised at St Clements Church on 31 July 1898.
The Oxford Times recorded that John Shepherd was away at his first camp when war broke out in August 1914. He volunteered for overseas duties in May 1916 and was a Private in C Company, 2nd/4th Battalion Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry. He was wounded and reported missing on the Somme on 28 April 1917, when his Company were involved on a raid near St Quentin, but his death was not officially confirmed until January 1918. He was just 18 years old.
He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, the memorial to the Missing of the Somme, which bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces, who died on the Somme before March 1918 and have no known grave.
Henry and Ada Shepherd remembered their sons in the ‘in memoriam’ column of the Oxford Times on 20 April 1918 with this verse:
One year has passed and still we miss them.
Sleep on, dear ones, in far-off graves,
Graves we shall never see.
But as long as life and memory last
You’ll still remembered be.
