(i) R.E. Oliver was still at Witney Grammar School in the summer of 1942 (then in Form V) and still winning prizes ... the Form V Scripture prize and the How Essay Prize. Details are from report of School's prize-giving in the 'Oxford Times', 31 July 1942.
(ii) Edith Constance Oliver (then of Kingswood Farm, Woodstock) married Wilfred Thomas Barrett at STONESFIELD Methodist Church in late September 1943. The 'Oxford Times' of 8 October 1943 gives details: 'The bride wore a gown of white satin and carried a bouquet of red carnations.' Her bridesmaids were none other than Miss Ruth Oliver together with Joyce Gardener and Jean Tidmarsh. Mr Headley Barrett was best man. Interestingly the service was conducted by a Pastor Oliver.*
*An F.J. Oliver was first Pastor of the HANBOROUGH Methodist Church according to a history of that church in a scrapbook of Methodist-related newspaper cuttings at Witney & District Museum. He was there throughout the Second World War. By the time of the cutting (probably mid-1950s) he was in Stratford on Avon. Before his arrival the Hanborough Methodist church (and I guess also the Stonesfield one) were in the care of Witney Methodist ministers.
I hope all these little bits are of use to somebody out there.
I can now fill in a couple of bits of the jigsaw thanks to the "England marriage index 1916-2005" which has recently appeared on Ancestry.
Ruth E. Oliver married Trevor B. Benson in the Witney registration district in 1953. It looks as if they moved to Cheshire where Trevor died in 1984 and Ruth in 2004. The birth index 1916-2005 might reveal some children.
Edith C. Oliver (who was bridesmaid at Ruth's parents' wedding) may well be the person of the same name who married Wilfred T. Barrett in 1943 in the Chipping Norton registration district. They had several children born in that same district, some of whom themselves went on to marry in Oxfordshire. So perhaps there are descendants from this family somewhere nearby?
Well done Shane on piecing all that together. I just hope R.E. Oliver at the Grammar School does turn out to be Ruth Elizabeth after all your hard work.
I had another session in the school's archives today so took the opportunity to check admission records etc. for anything more on R.E. Oliver. Unfortunately the detailed admission records (the ones listing full names, parents' names/addresses, etc.) stop too soon. All I managed to find was some lists of pupils' names, class by class, up to 1940.
From these I can say R.E. Oliver joined the school as a first former in the summer term of 1937, then moved up into Form IIB the following autumn, then a year later into Form IIA, and then in autumn 1939 into Form III. She or he is still in Form III in the last surviving list, for the summer term of 1940. The later school registers are in another part of the school which is still being used for exams at the moment so I can't get in there for a while....
Another little snippet of info is that R.E. Oliver did not have a free place or scholarship: someone was paying her/his school fees.
I have got loads of stuff about what the school was like in the 1930s/40s which may turn out to be useful background info if R.E. Oliver does turn out to be one of yours.
I have done a spot more scratching around on this one and have established another peice of potential evidence to confirm the link into our Olivers.
The newpaper article on the wedding talks of 'Earnest' the brother and best man to the Bridegroom. It also talks of Edith, a Bridesmaid, who is a neice of the Bridegroom John Joseph - so potentially she could be the daughter of his best man and brother, Ernest?
Is she?, yes I think she is..
Enter fig. 2.
Ernest, the Bridegrooms brother and bext man was in fact married in 1917 to Ethel M Griffin, and the name of their first child born later that year .... Edith, and in 1924 aged 6 or 7 what a grand age to be a bridesmaid.
Now, if the marrige hit the newspapers like it did, there really must be some wedding photos in someones box of memories somewhere - Edith, are you still out there?!?!?!?!
Thanks for building the facts up on this one, how interesting, and what a gem to find such a detailed article in the newspaper - look forward to seeing that one in full.
Well, the newspaper article today seems to provide some good firm evidence of a Stonesfield link, through 'Earnest', who I would guess is actually 'Ernest'.
So, I've done some digging and can present what I think (at the moment) is the fuller picture back on this family, and I'd suggest that the 'English Prize winning Ruth.E.Oliver' and the very spoilt Bride and Groom 'John Joseph and Margery' are indeed 'our Olivers'.
Enter, fig 1.
So, where does John Joseph get his middle name from?, well, from Joseph our Waterloo hero no less, who was his grandfather.
Now, there are a few little additional things that need checking out i.e. there is a 15 year age difference between John Joseph and Marjory for example, but, look back at his Mum and Dad, there was a 15 year age gap between them also.
However, this John Joseph does have a brother Ernest per the newspaper article and in 1911 when he was 27 he was unmarried and I've yet to locate another John Joseph born in the area that would fit in this period - so, there is a strong possibility this link back is correct, a little more double and triple checking required though to be sure!
Definitely interested to see if there's anything of note in the school records now!
Thanks for sharing this find Jane, hope this helps put a little more light on the story, speak soon, Shane
I thought I’d check the ‘Witney Gazette’ to see if it gave any more information about the marriage of John J. Oliver and Marjorie P. Hill, who I think may have been the parents of R.E. Oliver. There wasn’t just a brief announcement … there was nearly a whole column!! Here’s a summary, from the ‘Gazette’ of 12 Dec 1924:
At Bampton parish church on 3 Dec 1924, Marjorie Phyllis Hill (whose parents were from Bampton) married John Joseph Oliver of The Mill, Hanborough. John’s brother ‘Earnest’ Oliver of Stonesfield was best man. An Edith Oliver (niece of the bridegroom) was one of the bridesmaids.
The dresses of the bride and bridesmaids are described, as are the flowers (very 1920s - brown chrysanthemums).
The write-up includes a wonderful list of who gave what as presents. It begins with the bridegroom’s present to the bride (a gold watch) and hers to him (fur gloves and pearl cufflinks). Then there are about 75 more! They did very well, though maybe got more jam spoons than they really needed. I’ve picked out the Olivers from the list of donors: -- the bridegroom’s mother gave a cheque (the bridegroom’s father isn’t mentioned so maybe he was dead?) -- Mr & Mrs E. Oliver gave a cruet -- Mr & Mrs T. Oliver gave a sugar bowl and sifter -- Mr J. Oliver gave a jam spoon Numerous others in the list are potentially John’s relatives so there could be some genealogical clues there.
Interestingly, the employees of Hanborough Mill clubbed together and bought a silver teapot.
Shane, I have a printout of the full article but it is probably too poor quality to post on this message board. You’re welcome to have it in paper form, though.
I see that there's a marriage of a John J. Oliver and Marjorie P. Hill in the Witney district in the last quarter of 1924. Perhaps these could be Ruth's parents? Is this the same John J. Oliver who was in Stonesfield in 1901?
If (like me!) you think your ancestors would have been too poor to go to Grammar School, you may have to think again.... Oxfordshire County Council gave grants for some children from elementary schools in the area to come to the Grammar School (there were competitive exams for these places). There were also various scholarships.
Next time I'm visiting the School's archives I'll see if there are admission records for R.E. Oliver. The records are pretty good for the 20th century and usually give details like date of birth, father's name/address/occupation, where the child was previously educated, whether they got a scholarship etc etc. There are also lots of back copies of the School's magazine ('The Witneian'), sports day programmes, and much more so I will keep a lookout for R.E. Oliver and any others.
Fabulous that you've joined the site - welcome to our band of merry Oliver hunters!
I must mention to everyone, Jane is a local historian and genealogist, she's runs genealogy workshops/courses, is part of a publishing company who produces local historical booklets and she provides freelance historian/genealogy services. incl. writing huge books as mentioned below - she's all in all 'a genealogy nut' I would say with contagious enthusiasm that had me hooked on the topic after about an hour of talking in library that day - and the rest literally is history as they say!
So, keep an eye on the site Jane, as you say, us Olivers pop us everywhere, I'm sure we might be able to help you with some research one day!
First I should say that I'm a bit of an impostor as I haven't got any Oxfordshire ancestors at all, as far as I know. I do have some Olivers in my tree a long way back, but they were in Northumberland.
About a year ago I was sitting in Witney Library trawling through some old editions of the 'Witney Gazette' when in came a very charming young man wanting to know how to trace his family tree. As you can see from this website, he has been a very good student! (Well done, Shane!!)
Now I keep seeing Olivers everywhere I look. Here's one I found today. I am researching the history of the former grammar school in Witney (now called The Henry Box School), for a book to celebrate its 350th birthday in 2010. I see from the 'Witney Gazette' of 4 August 1939 that an R. E. Oliver, in Form IIA, won an English prize that summer. I haven't yet been able to check the school's admission records to find out more. Perhaps this is the Ruth E. Oliver whose birth was registered in the Witney district in the third quarter of 1926 (mother's maiden name HILL).
If anyone can identify this R.E. Oliver do let me know ... l'd also love to hear any stories of the Grammar School or its pupils
