Elsie Mary CLINKARD

Elsie was among the seven children of Alfred George and Annie Herbert CLINKARD. Her siblings were Dorothy G, Florence, Ethel, Alfred (younger), Hilda and Violet.

Elsie Mary was confirmed by the Bishop of Oxford in Christ Church Cathedral. She attended Witney Grammar School (now the Henry Box School) from the autumn term 1915 to the end of the spring term 1918, (and, before that St Mary's Church of England Girls School, Witney). When she left the Grammar School she expected to be a clerk. Her attended her school as "a Day-Scholar with Total Exemption from Tuition Fees Granted by the governors for Her School life". Interestingly, her date of birth in the Admissions Register is given as 12 July 1903.

The Headmaster of Witney Grammar School, Mr Haines, reported to the Governors on 26 July 1915: 'At a School meeting recently held the pupils decided unanimously that they would prefer that no prizes should be awarded this term, but that the donors of Prizes should be asked to give their value to a contribution from the School to the Red Cross Fund.' (Witney Grammar School 1660-1960, by Mary A Fleming, prepared for the Governors of the School - the Grocers' Company - at Oxford University Press, p. 121.) A document from St Mary's Church of England Girls School, Witney, which Elsie Mary left in the summer of 1915, certifies that she forewent her prize for the same reason.

Click on the portrait above to see the whole of a family portrait taken c.1917.

Elsie Mary CLINKARD

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