OLIVER PRENTICE
From May through to September 2026, Andrew will be fulfilling his dream to hike the iconic Land’s End to John O’Groats! You are all warmly invited to follow Andrew’s epic journey on his Facebook page, “Andrew Beal LEJOG” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61577588795730
As Andrew hikes the 1,300+ miles, he will raise funds for the Ipswich War Memorial Project to help finance our future exhibitions and research of the brave Ipswich men and women who lost their lives in conflict. If you would like to make a small donation, please click on the link: https://gofund.me/5d4a50570
Thank you for your love and support. Andrew & Helen – I.W.M.P.
Images courtesy of David Gobbitt Flickr
Image from the Suffolk Chronicle and Mercury newspaper – 1918
Born: 4th January 1880, Ipswich.
Baptised on the 11th November 1888, at Holy Trinity Church, Ipswich, with his brother, Harold Prentice, born 21st March 1881, and sisters Mary Louisa Prentice, born 20th July 1883, and Amy Prentice, born 2nd January 1886 – family home at The Laurels, Rose Hill Road, Ipswich.
Died: 27th March 1918; age 38; KiA.
E.A.D.T. – Tuesday, 9th April 1918 – LIEUTENANT OLIVER PRENTICE – Lieutenant Oliver Prentice, whose death in action on the 27th March is announced, was the only remaining son of Mr. and Mrs. James Oliver Prentice, of Lower Brook Street, Ipswich. He was educated at the Middle School, and on leaving entered the office of the Ipswich Gas Company, where he was employed as cashier and accountant, when he joined the Inns of Court O.T.C. in November 1915. He was given his commission in the London Fusiliers, but lately had been attached to the Lancashire Fusiliers. There can be no doubt but that he will be greatly missed by the Company which he served so well for 24 years – the Directors had a very high opinion both of his ability and of his integrity. He will also be remembered as one who was very interested in the work at the Social Settlement, where his services as a lanternist were often in demand.
Residence: 10, Lower Brook Street, Ipswich.
Occupation: a Clerk with the Ipswich Gas Company.
Oliver joined the Inns of Court O.T.C. in November 1915.
Rank: 2nd Lieutenant; Service Number: 7276
Regiment: London Regiment, 1st (City of London) Battalion, (Royal Fusiliers) attached 7th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, T.F.
Medals Awarded: Victory & British War.
Memorial Reference:
Panel 85 & 86,
Somme,
France.
Relatives Notified & Address: Elder and only son of Mrs. Prentice, of 351, Nacton Road, Ipswich & the late Oliver Prentice.
CENSUS
1881 St. Helen’s Street, Ipswich.
Oliver was a year old and living with his parents & infant sibling.
James Oliver Prentice, 31, a Corn Merchant’s Clerk, born Ipswich.
Louisa Jane Prentice (nee Trodd), 21, born Ipswich.
unnamed infant (Harold Prentice), 1 month, born Ipswich.
1 general servant.
1 monthly nurse.
1891 9, Spring Road, Ipswich.
Oliver was 11 years old and living with his parents & siblings.
James, 41, a Corn Merchant’s Clerk.
Louisa, 31.
Harold, 10.
Mary Louisa Prentice, 7, born Ipswich.
Amy Olivia Prentice, 5, born Ipswich.
1901 93, Belle Vue Road, Ipswich.
Oliver was 21 years old, a Clerk – Gas Works. He was living with his parents & sisters.
James, 51, a Corn Merchant’s Clerk.
Mary, 17.
Amy, 15.
1911 268, Woodbridge Road, Ipswich.
Oliver was 31 years old, a Clerk – Gas Works. He was living with his parents & sister.
James, 61, a Secretary – Corn Trade & Malting Company.
Louisa, 51.
Mary, 27.
Oliver was educated at the Middle School in Ipswich.
Oliver’s brother Harold Prentice died September 1916, of Holly Road, Ipswich. Harold was a director of a limited company.
Oliver’s medals were sent to his mother on the 20th November 1922.
Soldiers’ Effects to James Oliver Prentice Esq. – father and Miss Amy Olivia Prentice – sister & Frank Prentice, a Gas Engineer.
Oliver is remembered on the war memorial at Northgate High School. Formerly Ipswich Grammar School for Boys.
Ipswich Gas Light Company.
PATERNAL GRANDFATHER
Oliver’s paternal grandfather, Oliver Prentice, was born into the prominent Prentice family of Stowmarket, Suffolk, in August 1820. The eldest child of William & Eliza Prentice, of Abbot’s Hall, a corn and timber merchant, farmer, malt brewer and highly respected and esteemed townsman.
In April 1850, Oliver Prentice opened a shop at No. 2, Corn Hill, where orders were taken for Hunwick Screened Coals at 16s. a ton, and for the sale of Flour, Corn, Malt, Hops, Seeds, Oil Cake, and Artificial Manures, etc.
Oliver was a member of the Board of Guardians, being first elected in 1851. Politically, Oliver was a Liberal; he served the town as a member of the Corporation, and he was first returned to the Town Council in 1860 for St. Clement’s ward, in conjunction with Mr. William Mason. But contentions of political life had not the charm for him, so Oliver retired in 1866, after his second term, when Mr. John Patteson Cobbold was nominated. He never after re-entered the Council.
The Prentice family were firm Nonconformists, and for many years Oliver was a deacon of the Independent church worshipping in St. Nicholas Street. When the St. Clement’s Congregational Chapel was erected, he and his family were drafted from the cause at St. Nicholas Street. Oliver greatly associated himself with St. Clement’s Congregational Chapel and soon filled the post of deacon.
On the 15th November 1849, Mr. Bailey established a Ragged School in Ipswich for the neglected and ragged children of the town. Oliver became an able administrator as well as a kind and estimable coadjutor; he lent his willing help in establishing a Ragged School Sunday School for 2 hours in the evening. A pleasing feature of the Sunday school was that its teachers came from nearly all sections of the Church – Evangelical, Independents, Baptists, Quakers, Wesleyans and so on. On the 19th November 1870, the Ipswich Ragged Sunday School celebrated its 21st anniversary. Teachers and friends of the Ragged School presented Oliver with a handsome timepiece and a Birthday Scripture Text Book in recognition of his service, which in no small measure contributed to the school’s success.
On the 1st September 1876, on the eve of his 56th birthday, Oliver died at Hamilton House, Felixstowe. After the funeral service at the St. Clement’s Congregational Chapel, about 100 children from the Ragged School joined the procession down Fore Street, Orwell Street, St. Margaret’s Street, Woodbridge Road and Christchurch Street. The children had earlier had a short service at their school. As the mourners left the graveside, the children from the Ragged School sang a hymn, “Here we suffer grief and pain,” which formed a fitting conclusion.
In May 1877, much of Oliver’s business premises were sold by auction, by Mr. John Fox, at the Golden Lion Hotel, Ipswich – including freehold waterside mercantile premises, comprising of two newly-erected maltings of 100 quarters steep, granary and warehouses capable of storing 16,000 quarters of corn, with extensive frontages upon the Wet Dock, Ipswich, with free right of wharfage. Also two dwelling houses, with shops and premises in Fore Street, St. Clement’s, Ipswich.
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