Those remembered (A-D)
These are the stories of some of those commemorated on the war memorial tablet at Cowley Road Methodist Church, Oxford.
Alan John Adamson attended the Sunday School at William Street Chapel and Wesley Hall, being awarded a Sunday School prize in 1901. He was well known in Oxford as a member of the Neptune Rowing Club. He was also a member of the YMCA Cricket Club and East Oxford Liberal Club.
He was in the first draft of Yeomanry sent to France. He was recommended for a commission which he received in 1916. He became a Captain in the 69th Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery. He was killed on active service on 20 September 1917 at the age of 27 and was buried in Coxyde Military Cemetery, Belgium.
Harry James Allen was the Sunday School secretary at Wesley Hall. He became a Private in the Royal Army Service Corps (Canteens). He died in hospital in Mesopotamia on 18 November 1918 at the age of 37. He was buried in Basra War Cemetery, Iraq.
James Connolly was the son of James and Kathleen Connolly of Hollow Way and was born in Oxford. According to the Oxford Times he was well known in football and cricket circles, being a ‘first rate wicket-keeper and promising batsman and sought-after footballer’.
James Connolly became a Lance-Corporal in the 17th (Footballers) Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment. During the Battle of the Somme, he was awarded the Military Medal for bravery on the field on 6 August 1916, during a week of heavy fighting for possession of the ruined village of Guillemont. Taking part in a brave, but unsuccessful, attack on the village on 8 August, he was reported missing in action. He was 22 years old. He was buried in Delville Wood Cemetery, Longueval, Somme, France.
Newton Champion Cotterell was baptised on 17 March 1895 at William Street Wesleyan Chapel. He was the son of Joseph Cotterell, who ran a grocer’s shop in Cowley Road and his wife, Louisa. He attended the Sunday School at William Street Wesleyan Chapel, being awarded Sunday School prizes in 1903 and 1904. In 1912 the Oxford Wesleyan Methodist Circuit Magazine reported that he had been appointed the Secretary of the Young Abstainers’ League as well as being in charge of the adult Abstainers’ League branch.
He served as a private in the 4th Battalion Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry. He served in France and Flanders from 21 February 1917. He suffered gunshot wounds to both hands and his right shoulder on 26 September 1917 which led to his right index finger having to be amputated. He was discharged from the army on 1 March 1918.
He died at home in Cowley Road on 30 October 1918 aged 23. The cause of death was given as influenza and pneumonia. The Oxford Wesleyan Methodist Circuit Magazine of November 1918 noted that ‘the congregation at Wesley Hall were again plunged into sorrow when they heard of the death of Newton Cotterell. It had been thought that there was no particular danger concerning his ill health but a change for the worst suddenly took place and he died, 12 months after being wounded in Flanders’.
Gerald William Duck was born in Oxford and attended the Wesleyan Higher Grade School. He emigrated to Cororooke in the state of Victoria, Australia at the age of 18 and worked on a farm.
Gerald first joined up in Melbourne in October 1914 but was later discharged as medically unfit. This did not deter him from wanting to serve as a soldier. Gerald and a friend were said to have ‘walked all the way to Melbourne across the Blue Mountains and then joined up in Sydney’. Gerald was accepted as a Private in the 18th Battalion, Australian Infantry, Australian Imperial Force.
He arrived at Gallipoli on 18 August 1915. On 27 August, he was wounded in action and was sent to hospital in London. In 1916 when he had recovered, he was sent to France.
He was wounded for a fourth time and died in hospital in Boulogne on 10 August 1918 aged 24. He was buried in Terlincthun British Cemetery, Wimille, near Boulogne, Pas de Calais, France. He is also commemorated on the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
