The Little brothers who gave such a major sacrifice to war

Only two returned, with three paying the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Their stories are among those discovered as part of the 66 Men of Grandpont exhibition which opened at St Matthew’s Church yesterday (Sun). It tells the stories of 66 men who died in the First World War.

Cousins Roger Little and Jenny Tucker’s grandfather William was one of the two brothers to return from the battle. They had no idea about the men who didn’t return but found out when an exhibition volunteer got in touch via a family history website.

• Great uncle Ernest, who was killed in the war

Mrs Tucker, who now lives in Chipping Norton, said: “We didn’t even know they existed. Neither of our fathers told us much about the previous generation and the war.”

Her great-grandfather, also called William Little, was a jobbing gardener and had eight children with his wife Mary, seven sons and a daughter.

One of the sons died in infancy before five went off to fight in the First World War.

Ernest, 30, Frederick, 27, and Hubert Little, 19, all died during the war.

Arthur and William Little survived but William eventually died from mustard gas poisoning which he picked up in the war.

Roger Little, who now lives in Devon, said: “I know it’s a cliché to say that they gave their lives for us, but this makes that very real.”

It was volunteer Adrian Colbrook who noticed that Roger Little was browsing the same family tree as he was.

Mr Colbrook said: “I was researching eight of the 66 soldiers, but the three Little brothers was the story that touched me most because of the level of loss.

“To have followed the story through, made contact with the family and met them here is quite emotional.”

Rev Mike Rayner, who currently lives at 198 Marlborough Road, the Little’s former home, said he was moved by the revelation and offered to give the family a tour.

Historian Liz Woolley, who organised the exhibition said: “It’s really important to give stories to the names on the memorial.

“On Marlborough Road alone 134 young men left and 20 of them died, it’s difficult to imagine a community or even a street with a generation of men missing.”

DEVOTED TO THEIR COUNTRY

THE eldest of the brothers, Ernest Little, was a Private in the 2nd Battalion of the Grenadier Guards.

Formerly an errand boy for Boots chemist in Queen Street, by 1911 he had enlisted with the army. 

He was wounded at the Battle of Loos on the Western Front in October 1915 and died of his wounds in Oxford in March 1916, aged 29.

Frederick Little worked as a college servant at Christ Church before joining the Queen’s Own Oxfordshire Hussars.

He later transferred to the 4th Squadron of the Machine Gun Corps, who were sent to fight at the Somme. 

He was killed March 26, 1918, aged 27, at the Battle of St Quentin. His body was never recovered but his name appears on the Pozieres memorial on the Somme.

The youngest of the three brothers to fight in the war, Hubert, served with the Machine Gun Corps, he was a Private with the 61st Company Machine Gun Corps.

He died of disease after the end of the war in February 1919, aged 19, in northern France.

William Little survived the war and returned to work at Christ Church in 1919 until his death aged 43 in the autumn of 1932. 
William’s son Cyril, Jenny Tucker’s father, also worked at the college firstly as a scout and then as head butler.

Jenny Tucker, nee Little, got married in Christ Church cathedral. 
Arthur Little married after returning from the war but his wife died young.

The former grocer married again on New Year’s Day 1925, when he was 31, to Ciceley Holloway, in St Matthew’s church.