Nimrod Oakins was born in Studham near Dunstable, Bedfordshire towards the end of 1890 the third child and second son of George Oakins and Lucy Saunders. Nimrod had five siblings; Florence May and Leonard George who were older, as well as Reginald (Reg) and Dorothy (Dolly) who were younger. He had one other sibling who died young and for whom no name was recorded.

By his tenth birthday Nimrod was living with his family at 9 Two Waters Road, Boxmoor and attended Apsley Boys School which he left on the 30th September 1904 aged thirteen. He immediately started work as a Brush Maker at Kent’s Brush Works in Apsley where he worked until November 1912 when he enlisted in the regular Army. Nimrod was a tall man at six feet, with fair hair and blue eyes and weighed in at 12st 6lbs on enlistment.

He attested in London with the Royal Garrison Artillery an arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery and as Gunner Oakins joined his Regiment at the Citadel in Plymouth on the 28th November 1912. However, forty-one days later on the 6th January 1913, he was discharged after paying £10 to buy himself out of the Army.

The reasons are unclear but, shortly after leaving the Army, Nimrod sailed from Liverpool on the 12th March aboard “SS Ivernia” bound for Boston, Massachusetts. The “SS Ivernia” was one of Cunard's intermediate ships, that catered to the vast immigrant trade, so it seems that Nimrod had decided to seek opportunities in the U.S.A. rather than spend eight years in the Army.

His trip to the New World was of short duration however, and by 1914 Nimrod had returned to England and was working at Hill End Asylum, Colney Heath, St Alban’s. He was an attendant at Hill End at the outbreak of war, but he enlisted in the Colours at Hemel Hempstead in late August 1914 and joined the 2nd Battalion Bedfordshire Regiment.

Nimrod trained at Harwich between September 1914 and January 1915 and disembarked in France on the 2nd February 1915. He quickly joined his Regiment at Fleurbaix near Armentières and just over one month later he saw his first action at the Battle of Neuve Chapelle on the 10th March. He was also promoted Lance Corporal at around this time and having survived Neuve Chapelle carried his rank into action. A little over two months later Nimrod fell during the Battle of Festubert and his death was officially recorded as Monday, 17th May 1915.

It seems a comrade had notified his family initially, but official confirmation was not received until late in the year as reported in the Hemel Gazette in January 1916.

Nimrod is Remembered with Honour at Le Touret Memorial, Pas de Calais, France on Panel 10B.

He was 23 years old when he died.

Nimrod was eligible for the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.