Millennium Project
These local newspaper pages are mainly from The Banbury Guardian* and The Banbury Advertiser. They were researched by John Plumbe for the Parish Archive and are stored on its Google Drive in pdf format varying in size from 500kb to 2Mb. They are in date order with the dates incorporated in the titles. The pdfs are of whole pages because there are so many other very interesting articles on the same page. They are of a very high quality so can be zoomed by 200% or more.The relevant article is highlit for convenience.
The Soudan (sic) Campaign
- 1885 The Banbury Advertiser published a letter (dated 27 March) on 23 April from Corporal Frederick Bennett containing graphic details of a gun-boat trip down the Nile followed by a bloody encounter with Sudanese rebels. Just the letter can be viewed HERE.
- 1898 The Banbury Advertiser published the names of the four Deddington men present at the battle of Omdurman. Corporal Bennet is now a Sergeant Major.
World War I (1914-18)
Deddington Servicemen
These 62 pages have been grouped together into sub-folders (no of pages in brackets) for
convenience. Individual titles within each subfolder are then self descriptive.
- Killed, Died & Missing in Action (28)
- Military Awards & Promotions (7)
- Rolls of Honour & Lists of Volunteers (4)
- Tribunals, Exemptions & Appeals (10)
- War Memorial (5)
- Wounded or ill (5)
- German Prisoners escape from PoW camp on Earls Lane
- Parcels sent to our Deddington soldier
- A letter to the Editor confirms the distribution of surplus 'United Services Funds' to Deddington ex servicemen
- Seige of Kut Anniversary Service 29 April 1953 The Ox & Bucks were one of four battalions who lost a total of 5746 men in the four month seige or in captivity afterwards.
World War II (1939-45)
The articles listed below have links going to the page itself.
Deddington Servicemen
- Pte Albert Harper, who was reported missing in action in 1940, is now known to be a PoW (Ed: very poor image)
- Pilot Officer Jackson DFC. The Liverpool Daily Post and Gloucestershire Echo both report on the bravery of this RAF officer in a night attack for which he was decorated. The articles cite Derek and his wife, the Hon.Pamela Mitford (2nd of the 6 Mitford sisters and 2nd of his 6 wives!) as living in Deddington. At first we thought that Derek's name and exploits escaped our previous research for A Parish at War; but the reason we had not found him, as John Plumbe unearthed from an old edition of 224 (the DDH&S' former magasine), was that they were actually living in Ragnell Hall. The Hall lies on the Barford/South Newington road and, while Barford is part of the same Ecclesiastical Benefice as Deddington, it is not in our parish. Although we cannot claim him as a Deddington man, it is well worth reading this summary of his biography. He was clearly an exceptional aviator, a noted nuclear physicist - and a notorious philanderer! A 1939 Tatler photograph also says he was a millionaire to boot.
- Pte Coulton, who had been been reported missing for seven months from his unit in Devon, is found dead and his funeral is reported.
Deddington General
- Deddington men register for National Service
- Evacuees hospital
- Deddington Mortuary & Fire Brigade
- RAF man drowns in Clifton Mill pool
- Flag Day collection
- ATS recruiting campaign in Foresters Hall
- Removal of railings at the Almshouses a danger to residents
- Collecting honey for submarines (Ed: my favourite as an ex submariner!)
- Visit of Air Chief Marshall
- Housing for agricultural workers
- A Welcome Home Fund for de-mobbed service people
Miscellanous Interest
- Fund raising to buy a Spitfire
- Misuse of petrol
- Theft of clothing coupons
- Much ado about very little
- Competitive show of vegetables (Ed: are not all vegetable shows very competitive!)
- Obtaining ration books
Malaya (1948-60)
- Pte Robin Hall was killed while on patrol in the jungle as a two year service National Serviceman on 10 June 1950. The full circumstances can be found HERE. His death was reported in The Banbury Advertiser and The Banbury Guardian
- Pte Horace French also served in Malaya as a National Serviceman as reported by The Banbury Guardian. Horace served in the same Regiment and Company as his friend Robin and had just returned from the previous patrol.
Useful links
Other newspaper references to Deddington
* Copyright applied for