Jacqueline Morrow
Penny Jacoby
John Sermon
William Jones 4th Light Dragoons
The grave of William’s parents (Richard and Mary Ann) in Hethe Churchyard.
The Whitehead Family
As a first step in continuing to identify the graves in St Edmund & St George churchyard, I have looked at the listed memorial which is interesting , not only because it is listed, but also because it reminds us of families who were, and some still are, property owners who lived and worked in the village for many years – the Whiteheads and Mansfields.
The memorial can be found on the right of the path leading to the church. It is a tombstone erected by John “Whithead” to commemorate the burial of his wife Friswed in 1682. The tombstone is Grade 2 Listed and described as being “Ironstone. Winged cherub’s head and Ionic columns in rustic style. Inscription to Friswed, wife of John Whithead”.
The name Friswed was probably derived from Frithuswith, although better known as Frideswide, the patron Saint of Oxford (who lived from 680 to 727).
John was a member of the “Whitehead” family and owned property in Hethe. He died in 1683.
In this period in our history, the Bideford Witch Trials in 1682 resulted in the last ever hangings for witchcraft in England. The Great Frost of 1683–84 was a frost across England, reported as the worst in its history. During the Frost, the surface of the River Thames was reported as frozen to the depth of one foot (0.30 m). King Charles II was the monarch up to 1685. He was succeeded by his brother, the Catholic James Stuart, Duke of York, who became King James II of England. He was king up to “the Glorious Revolution” in 1688.
John and Friswed’s descendants remained in Hethe and there are records for another John (born 1691), James (born 1696) and Elizabeth (born 1700). The younger John was a carpenter in Hethe who had at least three children all of whom benefited from the proceeds of their father’s will dated 1731. They were listed in the UK Poll Books for 1754 in “Heath” as “Freeholders of Oxfordshire” within the Ploughley Hundred:
James Whitehead – Buried in Hethe 24th November 1756
Robert Whitehead – Buried in Hethe 15th August 1757
John Whitehead – Buried in Hethe 3rd July 1765
The above John was a Wheelwright whose will stated that all of his property in Hethe would be sold to William Mansfield for £280 on, or before, 10th October 1765 (the year of his death), the proceeds to be divided between his four daughters and one son. The recipient of part of these proceeds, together with his household effects and a cottage in Tingewick, was his daughter Mary. The last record of the family found in the village records is for Mary who was buried in Hethe on 19th November 1782.
The surname Whitehead was recorded in a number of spellings including Whithead, Whitehed, Whithed, and Whitsed. It is derived from the Olde English word “hwit” meaning white, plus “heafod”, a head, combined to form a descriptive nickname for someone with white hair.
The Dagleys – a local family for over 200 years
The surnames Mansfield, Heydon, Laurence and Dagley have been known in Hethe for more than three centuries.
The Earliest Records
The first record for Dagley is for the burial of Clementia, the wife of John Dagley, in the Churchyard of St Edmund and St George in 1694.
The names of John Dagley and Alexander Petty, churchwardens in 1708, were at one time painted on the west wall of the church but can no longer be seen.
In 1797 James Dagley (a Cooper) married Mary Tame from Fringford.
Innkeeper to Baker
In 1775 a sale of farm stock belonging to the bankrupt Alex Petty was held at the “Maltman (Mr Dagley’s)”. The Maltman later became the Whitmore Arms and later the Muddy Duck.
Again in 1775, the Bankruptcy Commissioners met at the “Maltman Hethe (Hannah Dagley’s)” for the estate of James Butler of Bicester. In 1776 there was the sale of an Ardley farm estate at the “Maltman Hethe (widow Hannah Dagley’s)”. The pub was referred to as the “Maltman’s Arms (Hannah Dagley’s)” in 1777 at another sale of a house near to St George’s Well, Hethe.
Further records show that John Dagley was the innkeeper at the Maltser’s Arms in 1813 and 1815 (with his wife Mary). John died in 1817, aged 43. Thomas Petty was the innkeeper in 1819 and he was married to Ann (nee Dagley) who he married in 1799.
In 1826 William Dagley was one of only thirteen men in Hethe on the Electoral Register.
In the 19th Century James and Elizabeth Dagley were bakers in the village. In 1851 their son, also called James, was a baker in the village and had a wife Mary Ann. In 1881 their daughter Jane was living in Rose Cottage (in Main Street) on a pension. Mary Ann continued the business after her husband died and in 1881 was assisted by her sons Joseph and William. In 1911 her son Joseph was a Master Baker in Hethe assisted by his son Leonard. His wife was Susannah born in Sulgrave.
The Dagleys were resident and worked in The Bakehouse which was demolished and replaced by a new cottage in 1979. The last known occupant of the original cottage was Joseph and Susannah’s daughter Josephine who was born in 1883. In 1911 Josephine was the Governess for a family in Heston in the London Borough of Hounslow, West London. At some time she returned to Hethe, where she attended the Holy Trinity Church and was a music teacher. She died in 1965.
The following is an extract from the book “Hethe-with-Adderbury” by Joy Grant“:
“…on Saturdays Miss Josephine Dagley, daughter of Hethe’s village baker, a lady of information as well as musical talent (all the Dagley were able, and educated above the village norm), would mount her upright bicycle, plus capacious basket, and make her way through the lanes to the farm, where music in the morning and religion in the afternoon were the order of the day.” The farm was in Astwick, near Croughton. This was in the 1920s when there was still only a rough lane between Hethe and Hardwick.
“Viloet McGovern recalled that her parents mentioned that Italian craftsmen were responsible for the stencilling and paintwork in the church when it was restored in the 1920/1930s. Josephine Dagley, “choir-mistress, organist and pillar of the church” was vocal in criticising the startlingly bright decoration.
“Mrs Rosemary Sampson attended Holy Trinity in 1967, but her most vivid memory is of the organist, Josephine Dagley, still going strong in her eighties:
“She was very old and very deaf, and Miss Connick (Fr Connick’s sister) who always occupied the front pew, used to engage in a kind of semaphore with her, as, tucked away in the organ-loft and being so very deaf, she had no idea of what was going on. It was rather distracting at times”.
From Hethe resident Pauline O’Gorman:
“As a schoolgirl I went to Miss Dagley for piano lessons, as did other village girls. Looking back it was quite an experience. For one thing her house was partly fallen down. It always seemed dark in there, a bit like those television plays we view today, and everywhere there were stacked newspapers and other stuff. She probably never threw anything away.
“Miss Dagley was a very strict teacher and knew if you hadn’t done your practising between lessons. A tap across the knuckles with a ruler would be the punishment if you played a wrong note, but if you did well and pleased her she would reward you with a “gobstopper” made with toffee and puffed wheat which made it impossible to speak as I left!”.
Hospital Farm
In 1884 David Dagley was the tenant of Hospital Farm in the village. Hospital Farm was created from land given to St Bartholomew’s (Bart’s) Hospital in London, in the 11th Century by Lesceline, the wife of the “father of Hethe” Norman de Verdun.
The farm building was described in 1617 as measuring 40 by 18 feet. It had a hall, a “chamber herein”, a buttery and a garret above, divided into three rooms and reached by a pair of stairs. It’s barn measured 40 by 20 feet and it’s stable 60 by 12 feet.
In 1960 St Bart’s Hospital sold the last of their land in Hethe to the Squire of the Shelswell Estate, Mr John Dewar-Harrison. The farm, at the southeast corner of The Green, was absorbed into Montague Farm. The old farmhouse is now known as Hethe Cottage.
The Collingridge Family
In the 15th Century they were a “gentry family with aristocratic connections”, living in Buckinghamshire. They went down in the world and resurfaced in the 18th century as “plain country folk, tenant farmers and farm labourers on the Fermor estate”.
Thomas Collingridge (1772-1854), a farmer, helped build the Catholic Church in Hethe where many of the windows are dedicated to the family; in 1851 his address was Hethe House. His widow, Martha (1781-1865) was born in Stratton Audley, the mother of 11 children. Their son, William Attenbrow Collingridge (1813-1876) was also a farmer. In 1851 he lived in “Queen Square”, Hethe. His wife was Sarah (Shepherd).
In 1832 eight stained glass windows were placed in The Holy Trinity Church commemorating the family.
William and Sarah’s son, Thomas (1852-1933) gave up the family farm in Hethe at the time of the agricultural depression and entered the leather trade in Northampton. His wife was Sophy (1851-1938).
Thomas’ sister, Susan (1854-1940) became a nun.
The Bonner Family
The first record for one of the family in Hethe is for Jane Bonner who was baptised on 19th April 1807 in St Edmund & St George Church. This was followed by John in 1808 and James in 1810. James was a butcher in our village and probably lived at the “Old Butchers” opposite the pub.
James’ father and his wife were born in Fritwell but at some time moved to Hethe where he was a butcher and farmer.
There are records for the family in Stoke Lyne as well as Fritwell prior to the move to Hethe
There were seventeen Bonners on the census in 1841.
The photograph is of James Bonner (1810-1880), his wife Ann and their large family. The young girl in front of James Bonner is the Great Grandmother of Tom Whittaker, Louisa Sophia Bonner (1851-1917), who married William Charles Clifton in 1877. They moved to Wakefield, West Yorkshire, where he worked as a prison warder and raised his family. Louisa’s name lived on as that was Tom’s mother’s second name.
With thanks to Tom Whittaker for the photo and much of the above details.
The 1911 Census shows a Thomas Bonner (widowed), born 1835 in Hethe, an agricultural labourer. His wife was Ann. Thomas was the son of William Bonner (also an Agricultural Labourer).
Thomas lived in 1860/1870 with his father’s sister, Ann, who had married James Pollard. A Frederick Pollard was licenced victualler at the Whitmore Arms in the 1920s and C A Pollard ran a General Store in Hill Rise House (pictured below).
The Morgan Family
The Morgan family in Hethe; tailors who later took over the village post office from Miss Lucy Watts (somewhere between 1887 and 1891).
The earliest parish record for the family is for the marriage in 1742 of Edward Morgan (a tailor from Fringford) to Joanna Hall. They lived in Hethe where their daughter Hannah was baptised in 1748, followed by Mary, Joseph, William, Joanna, Benjamin and Thomas. Unfortunately there are entries for the burials of two of their children in Hethe Churchyard – in 1750 of Mary “a child” and in 1761 Thomas “an infant”.
Joseph Morgan was born in 1855 in Hethe, and became the first of the family to be a tailor and Postmaster. He was the son of Thomas who was also a tailor. Joseph died in 1921 and is buried in Hethe Churchyard. In 1881 Joseph married Eliza Mary Frances who was born in 1861 in Juniper Hill. In 1881 they were living with her mother at the Fox Inn, Juniper Hill (her mother, Frances Harris, being the publican). Eliza died in 1938.
Joseph and Eliza had ten children by 1911. Eight were still living at that time, two having died:
Thomas Joseph 1882-1892
Mary Frances (Ciss) 1883-1956
Caroline Elizabeth (Bessie) 1885-1974
Mary Agnes 1887-
William Harris 1889-1974
Hannah (Nancie) 1891-1936
Joseph Charles (Charlie) 1892-1921
Rose Emily 1894-1934
Dorothea Arabella (Dolly) 1896-1902
Francis Edward (Frank) 1901-1955
Hethe Post Office was run by members of the local Morgan family, except for a period between 1869 and 1887 when the “receiver” was Miss Lucy Watts. Records show that Joseph Morgan was the “receiver” in 1891.
Joseph was the sub-postmaster up to 1920 when Miss Elizabeth Morgan became the sub-post mistress. In 1939 Fraser Edward Morgan was in charge and in 1967 Charles F Morgan up to its closure in 1974. The Post Office, known as the “Old Shop”, remained with the Morgan family until it was sold in 2025.
Note from Sheila King:
My mother, Mary Morgan, was born in the village to William Harris Morgan (Joseph Charles Morgan’s brother) who subsequently became the photographer in the market square in Bicester for many years until his retirement. You might have come across my Uncle (Michael Morgan) who took over the business from my grandad when he retired.
The Winner & Wyatt Families
With thanks to Ken Wyatt for these photos.
From the 1939 count of villagers:
Mary Wyatt, born in 1873, and shown to be employed on domestic duties.
Living on The Green: Annie Winning born 1872 Domestic Duties; William Winning born 1913 General Labourer; Frank Winning born 1916 Builders Labourer. Frank later worked for Fred Hawkins on Montague Farm.
