Private Francis John JEFFREY (College staff)

1/4th Battalion, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry
Born 26th August 1894 in Headington Quarry
Died 27th September 1917, aged 23
Commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, West Flanders, Belgium.

Francis Jeffrey, known as Frank, was the son of John Jeffrey and Edith Mary, née Pratt, of 216 Queen’s Road, Buckland, Portsmouth. Frank’s mother sewed, ironed, and cooked for undergraduates in Merton College so that she could save up and buy a plot of land to build a shop, which she did in early 1911. He was married to Harriet (Hetty), née Kennedy, only seven months before he was killed.

He volunteered in 1915 and was sent to France with the Territorials, becoming a transport driver, and then served as a Private with the Oxon & Bucks Light Infantry. He came home on leave in January 1917 and returned three months later in April just after his marriage.

He was killed in Belgium, on 27 September 1917.