These pages are in memory of my Grandfather

Rifleman 425910, Sydney William Loxton

who joined the 10th Battalion, The London Regiment in December 1917 and on arrival in France in 1918 was posted to the

8th Battalion, The London Regiment, "The Post Office Rifles"

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Sydney was wounded in a daylight trench raid near Mirvaux, a village in the area known to all as "The Somme" between Albert and Amiens, on 25th July 1918.  The raid is described in a little more detail, and his less fortunate, fallen comrades are remembered, on some of the other pages here.

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In his excellent history of The Post Office Rifles, "Terriers in the Trenches; The Post Office Rifles at War 1914 - 1918", the author Charles Messenger says:

    July was spent relatively quietly, apart from one major incident in the trenches at Mirvaux.  This involved a daylight trench raid carried out by the Battalion on 25 July.  No less than three hundred PORs went over the top, and initially it progressed well with the German trenches being entered, prisoners taken and casualties inflicted.  Unfortunately the smokescreen which was to cover the withdrawal did not materialise.  The raiders were taken in the flanks by heavy machine gun fire, which resulted in two officers killed, four wounded and 113 other rank casualties.  Many of the wounded had to be left behind in No Man's Land.

So, by getting back to his own line, being treated, shipped back to England for further treatment, and ultimately surviving, Grandad was certainly one of the lucky ones!

His Early Life
Sydney William Loxston(sic) was born on 27th September 1899, at 43 Hethpool Street, Paddington, the eldest son of William Ball Loxston and Daisy Eade (née May).  His mother was late registering his birth, leaving the task until 10th November and, fearing she would get into trouble for this, gave his date of birth as 30th September to the Registrar.  So it is this date that appears on Sydney's Birth Certificate!

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At some point in his childhood, Sydney was vaccinated three times, broke his left forearm in a greenstick fracture, and also underwent a successful left-side hernia operation.  He had three younger brothers, Ron born in 1905, Bill in 1907 and Charlie born in 1911.  Sadly his father William died in 1912.

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Sydney started work in the tailoring business, following the trade of his maternal Grandfather, John Tasker May, but decided the indoor life was not for him and so he left and joined the Great Western Railway Company, based at Paddington Station, as a Carman.  Almost a year before he eventually enlisted, his widowed and not yet re-married mother gave birth to his half-brother Harry.

Enlisting
On 5th September 1917, he had a medical examination at White City, West London, and was found to be 5' 6" tall and weighing 134lbs (9st 8lb), the most obvious outcome of the examination was that he was declared to be under age by approximately three weeks.  For whatever reason, his Medical History form states "Not Attested" - i.e. he did not swear the oath of allegiance to King and Country - unless of course this refers to 5th September rather than his eventual enlistment.

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On the 7th December 1917, having apparently shrunk by three quarters of an inch and put on two pounds, he enlisted "for the duration of the war" and,   He gave as his next of kin his mother, Daisy Loxton of 1 Dulford Street, Kensington.

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On 8th December he was posted to the 10th Battalion (Reserves) of the London Regiment and on the 9th he was "Posted for Duty" to Blackdown, near Aldershot.  He was graded A4, and qualified as a 1st Class Shot.  In this, he was indeed fortunate, as explained below.

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The A4 Boys
Prior to the major German offensive in the spring of 1918, the British Army had been able to maintain its level of manpower whilst insisting that only men of 19 or over could be sent to fight abroad.  The British Army would accept recruits at 18 in grade A4, who underwent training in this country until they were old enough to be sent to the front.

By the end of the spring offensive things had changed, and it was necessary to send 18-year old "A4 Boys" to fight in France and Flanders.  Such was the shortness of both their training and equipment that some A4 Boys had never fired a live round from their rifle until they reached the front line.  And tragically, some never got the chance even then.

Basic Training
Sydney's basic training took place at Blackdown, near Aldershot and included some sport as well as battle training and square bashing.  Roll your mouse over the picture to identify Sydney.

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Posted to France
On 29th June 1918 he sailed from Folkestone to Boulogne and was posted to the 2/10th London Regiment on arrival in France.  On the 1st July he switched battalions and was posted to the 8th London Regiment, The Post Office Rifles, at Le Havre and on the 2nd July proceeded to join his new unit at the front, arriving at Mirvaux, west of Albert, on 6th July 1918.

As Charles Messenger states, things appear to have been pretty quiet until the daylight raid on the 25th July.

Casualty Evacuation
The standard procedure for battlefield casualties at this time was to be treated first at a Regimental Aid Post in or just behind the front line, and then probably at an Advanced Dressing Station a few hundred yards further back, before being taken well back behind the lines to a Casualty Clearing Station.  Once the casualty's condition had been stabilised he was either sent back to his unit at the front or to a General Hospital to await recovery or shipment back to England.  To facilitate this process the Casualty Clearing Stations were usually sited near to a railway line.

Being wounded badly enough not to be sent back into action, but not terribly seriously, yet enough to need prolonged treatment at a Military Hospital in England, the men who "got a Blighty one" felt grateful.

There is no record of Sydney being treated at either a Regimental Aid Post or an Advanced Dressing Station but his medical papers state that he was injured "In action, on field service, on duty at Albert on 25th July 1918, receiving a gunshot wound to his right arm which caused a compound fracture of the right humerus.  Number 4 Casualty Clearing Station, run by the 1/2 Home Counties Field Ambulance (a body of men, not a vehicle!) at Pernois, between Amiens and Abbéville, confirmed the compound fracture of the humerus on 25th July.

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By 27th July he had been transported to the 47th General Hospital at Le Tréport which is on the coast between Dieppe and the mouth of the Somme, who reported a T&T (i.e. Through and Through; in other words in one side and out the other) wound to upper 1/3rd arm.  Sydney spent two weeks here at the hospital on the cliff overlooking the English Channel before being shipped back to England on the SS Essequibo on 11th August.

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Treatment in England
One is tempted to say that "with typical consideration for the circumstances", London boy Sydney arrived at the 1st Northern War Hospital at Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 12th August , but undoubtedly the war would have made special demands on the authorities' ability to do otherwise.

Even without half-brother Harry barely 18 months old and the other three aged between 6 and 13, it is doubtful whether his mother would have been able to visit him in hospital in Newcastle, a situation compounded by the fact that she was expecting another half-brother, Ted, who was born in January 1919.  She did eventually marry Harry and Ted's father, William Bottom, in July 1919, herself surviving to the age of 95 when she died in 1974.

According to Sydney's medical records, nothing much of note happened to him until April 1919 apart from a second T.A.B. (Typhoid/Paratyphoid A and B) vaccination (his first having been shortly after enlistment) and another unnamed vaccination, either side of Christmas.  He was however, able to send home a photograph of some of the patients and nurses, as well as the Christmas decorations.  Once again, roll your mouse over the picture to identify Sydney.

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On 2nd April Sydney was examined again at the 1st Northern and it was decided that he needed a Sequestrotomy (removal of fragments of dead bone which have separated from sound bone during the process of necrosis) operation, which was performed on 6th April 1919.  On 22nd April he was discharged from the 1st Northern War Hospital after 253 days and "Sent to Auxiliary Hospital".

There is an entry on his medical record quoting 22nd April and the 4th London General Hospital, but I suspect this may be a clerical error.

One cannot assume that Sydney eventually made it back to London at this point, although it is possible that he did.  On 2nd June he was admitted to what appears from the hand written records to be Fairburn Auxiliary Hospital.  If this is correct, the only Fairburn I can find is in North Yorkshire, near Castleford.  After 52 days at Fairburn he was transferred on 24th July to the 4th London General Hospital at Denmark Hill.  Despite being south of the river, at least he was back in London - almost exactly a year after being shot!

Medical Discharge
On 11th August 1919 Sydney was declared permanently unfit for any military service, with his arm reckoned to be at half normal strength, and recommended for discharge.  He was therefore due a war pension, and on 15th August the Medical Board Report was completed.

This stated his arm power to be weak but the function of the joint (presumably his shoulder) to be perfect, and assessed him to be 30% disabled in his right arm.  This condition was declared to not be in a final and stable state and the current situation was felt likely to last for 3 months.  However, the doctors were not confident enough (and therefore to be commended) to give a 12 month prognosis for the purposes of awarding a reduced pension at a later date.

On 19th August he left the 4th London General Hospital after 25 days, discharged form the Army under Section 392 (xvi) of Kings Regulations - No longer physically fit for war service.

Life After Military Service
So on 20th August 1919 Sydney was once again a civilian and in receipt of a pension of 8/3d (41p in today's money, but certainly of greater purchasing power!) until 2nd September.  On 3rd September his pension was increased to 12/- (60p).  One assumes that he returned to the family home, to his mother, step-father, three brothers and two half-brothers at 1 Dulford Street, Kensington.  Whether or not he was able to return to work at the Great Western Railway at this point is not certain.

On 18th February 1920 an application was made for an interim pension award, pending receipt of a Medical Report.  It is noted in the application that the pension expires on 1st June 1920.  This interim award was made on 19th extending the 12/- award to 3rd March.

The next day, 20th March, the Medical Report was submitted stating that his disability was now less than 20%.  On 12th April, on consideration of the Medical Report, his pension was agreed to be extended from 2nd June at 5/6d (27.5p), to expire on 31st May 1921.  There is documentary evidence showing that this did indeed occur on 2nd June.

On 31st January 1921, giving his occupation as "Carman GWR", Sydney married Florence Eliza Cocks at Kensington Register Office, and their first son, also Sidney William but this time with an "i", was born on 4th June that year.  And Sydney's pension did cease as predicted by the authorities on 31st May, four days before the birth.

They had three more children: Edward Joseph (Joe) on 2nd November 1922, Daisy Elizabeth on 2nd August 1928 and Stanley on 18th February 1932.

Sydney never let his 'war wound' stop him lifting a pint or throwing a dart, and he eventually died in St Mary's Hospital, Harrow Road, Paddington on 2nd July 1969.

You can contact me at david@cranco.co.uk