occupation

Wood machinist

dates

Born: 8 Jun 1898, Headington, Oxon

Married: Lilian Clara Elmore DURRAN

Died: 15 Apr 1969, Headington, Oxon

residence

Headington, Oxon

submitted by

Bernard STONE (son)

RELATED FACES

Francis STONE (great-grandfather)

RELEVANT WEBSITE

William F.C. STONE’s grandparents, Edwin and Ellen STONE, ran the Royal Standard public house in Headington. Edwin was a builder. There is some information about them and a photograph taken at the time of William F.C. STONE’s baptism at the Headington website at www.headington.org.uk/history/pubs/royal_standard.htm

Copyright information

The photographs of William F.C. STONE and of his mother with his brothers and sisters are in the collection of Bernard STONE. They should not be reproduced without permission.

Background information

William F.C. STONE was the son of William Francis Randall STONE, who was a builder in Headington. William F.C. STONE was one of a number of ‘boy soldiers’ from Headington who, in the early part of the First World War, full of patriotic fervour, lied about their age, making out they were older than they actually were so they could fight for their Country. William F.C. STONE enlisted in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry on
4 May 1915 at the age of sixteen. His mother wrote to him:

“My Dear Willie, Your letter upset me last Sunday. It’s unkind of you to put your age up to 19 after I did my best for you when at Broomfield by writing to your Captain and telling him your correct age. Of course my boy I don’t want to write to your present Captain as to your age if it means getting you into trouble but you know it will upset Dad and I if you are sent abroad and you ought to think of that”

The efforts of his mother were to no avail and he was soon on active service. By July 1916 he was in the 4th Battalion and facing the horrors of the Battle of the Somme. He was one of the lucky soldiers who survived this battle and continued, despite being gassed on at least one occasion, to serve in the front line for much of the war. From July 1917 to his discharge in 1919 he was in the 2nd Battalion as a Lewis Gunner.

Upon leaving the army he spent a large part of his working life as a wood machinist, firstly in the pattern shop at Morris Motors and then for many years at Minty Furniture.