Banbury woman born as the First World War raged has died, days before Remembrance Sunday, aged 102

Beatrice Maud Edith Thompson was born on November 24, 1917. She died at Highmarket House Care Home on November 3. She would have been 103 a fortnight later.

Born Beatrice Maud Edith Jenkins and always known as Bea, the baby was seen only once - in this photograph - by her father who was killed in the war before he got a chance to hold her.

Bea's father, Percival Hayward Jenkins was a Royal Navy Submariner based in the Northern Irish port of Londonderry Bay from where the unit safeguarded supply ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

As Percival was not given leave to see his daughter, Bea's mother Maud sent him a photograph of her with their baby in her arms. On his 28th birthday, June 24, 1918 the young seaman left the port with his crew in their submarine which was torpedoed by a German submarine, with all the crew lost to the deep - five months before the end of WW1.

Following the death of her father, Bea spent a good deal of time with her grandparents who she loved dearly. Her grandfather had a modern shoe factory and one or two shoe shops in Newport and Cardiff and he would drive Bea to the beaches on the Gower coast which she loved.

As a young woman, Bea worked in Newport, south Wales, as a maths teacher. In 1942, when she was 26 years old she met Maurice Bertram Marsh when WW2 was at its height.

Maurice was a staff sergeant in the Paratroop Regiment with the Royal Army Medical Corps. The couple married in October 1943. But in June 1944 history repeated itself and tragically Maurice drowned in the Mediterranean while attempting attempted to parachute into Sicily.

In 1945, just before the end of the Second World War, Bea married Kenneth Thompson, a metallurgist and engineer. In 1954 he was transferred by Alcan Industries in South Wales to Banbury, where he was later awarded an MBE for services to the aerospace industry. The couple had a son, Robert Thompson, who still lives in Banbury and later three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Bea was very independent and lived in her house at Queensway, Banbury until she was 102, moving into Highmarket House care home in January this year.

Her son, Robert, said: “She will be sadly missed. Our thanks to those at Highmarket House for the respectful and genuine care given throughout.”

Edd Frost & Daughters Family Funeral Directors will hold a funeral service at 11am on November 24 at Banbury Crematorium. Donations will be given to the AS Society, Oxford in her memory - https://nass.co.uk/in-your-area/nass-oxford/