Arthur Edward DYER (1895–1918)
Arthur Edward Dyer was born in Sunningwell in 1895. His father was George Edward Dyer who was born in Wootton in 1871/2 (registered with forenames reversed), the son of the labourer John Dyer and his wife Amelia, and was baptised at St Peter’s Church there on 4 March 1872. His mother was Edith Laura Bennett, who was born in Garsington near the beginning of 1869, the daughter of the carpenter William Bennett and his wife Martha, and privately baptised there on 7 February.
Arthur's parents were married in the Wallingford registration district in 1891 and had four children:
- George William John Dyer (born in Marston on 14 October 1892 and baptised at St Nicholas’s Church there on 5 December)
- Arthur Edward Dyer (born in Sunningwell in 1895 and baptised at St Leonard’s Church there on 25 August)
- Elizabeth Laura Dyer (born in Bayworth, Sunningwell on 25 September 1896 and baptised at St Leonard’s Church there on 29 November).
- Dorothea Mary Dyer (born in Sunningwell on 9 September 1898, and baptised at St Leonard’s Church there on 30 September).
Arthur’s parents evidently started their married life in Marston, and moved to Sunningwell by mid-1895 (with the address specified as Bayworth in 1896). His father is usually described as a labourer or gardener, but in 1895 as a coachman.
The 1901 census shows the family living at White Barn Cottages, Boars Hill, Wootton, and Arthur was then five years old.
By 1911 the family had moved to North Hinksey. Arthur (15) was now working as an errand boy; his father was still a domestic gardener; and his older brother George was an invalid.
By the time Arthur enlisted in the army, he was living at Witney.
In the First World War Arthur Edward Dyer enlisted at Oxford and served as a Private in the 19th Battalion of the King’s (Liverpool) Regiment (Service No. 86423). He was killed in action in France at the age of 22 on 30 March 1918.
He has no known grave, but is remembered on the Pozières Memorial (Panel 21 to 23) and on the war memorial outside St Peter’s Church at Wootton.
POSTSCRIPT
Arthur Edward Dyer’s parents
At the time of the 1921 census George Edward Dyer (49) was working as a gardener on his own account and living at Boars Hill with his wife Edith (52) and their son George (28), who was a boot repairer, and their daughter Dorothea (22), plus three boarders. Their other surviving child, Elizabeth (24) was living at 13 Beaumont Street where she worked as the parlourmaid of the organist and music teacher Basil C. Allchin.
- Edith Dyer died at Wootton at the age of 63 and was buried in the churchyard there on 11 July 1932.
- George Edward Dyer died at Swithland Cottage, Boars Hill at the age of 77 on 12 August 1949. His effects came to £200, and his widowed daughter Dorothea Mary Douglas was his executrix.
Arthur's siblings
- George William John Dyer (born 1892) married Winifred M. Gooding in the Abingdon district near the beginning of 127. He was still working as a boot repairer at the time of the 1939 Register and living at 35 Marsh Baldon with his wife Winfred. He died at Marsh Baldon at the age of 64 in 1956.
- Elizabeth Laura Dyer (born 1896) married the sheet metal worker Alfred William Ellis at St Anne's Church, Wandsworth, London on 6 September 1924, and both gave their address as 6 The Grove, Wandsworth where Elizabeth had been working as a domestic servant. At the time of the 1939 Register Elizabeth was living at 13 Chilswell Road, Oxford with her husband.
- Dorothea Mary Dyer (born 1898) married Sydney A. Douglas in the Abingdon registration district in the second quarter of 1922. The 1939 Register shows Dorothea living with her husband, who was a grocer's assistant and van driver, at 21 Swinburne Road, Abingdon. She died at the age of 84 on 26 August 1983 and was buried at Spring Garden Cemetery, Abingdon.
