Name: Edward Leslie Dixon DoB: August 23 1896 Regt: Corporal 23929 B Company 15th Durham Light Infantry DoD: January 11 1916 School Career: 1911-14 Biographical Information:
Edward was Cumbrian through and through. His home was Silloth where his mother Mary was born. His father, Nicol Dixon, came from Aspatria, and his grandfather was from Wigton. Edward Senior had been a groom and coachman at Baggrow in 1891. Nichol was a grocers manager, and later ran the Cooperative store. He and Mary had three sons; Edward was the eldest.Their home address was 10 Caldew Street, Silloth.
School Career 1911-1914. Edward was good at sport. He played for the school Rugby team in 1912 and 1913 and was in the cricket team in 1914. He was prominent at athletics. Later he assisted Silloth Rugby Club in some of their important matches playing as a half-back and as a three-quarter.
Edward fought in the Battle of Loos, dying of shrapnel wounds in No. 2 Casualty Clearing Station, France. A letter from his commanding officer read: “he was killed in the execution of an important and dangerous duty (he was guarding an important bridge). He was wounded by shell fire and died after removal to hospital. Your son had earned the respect and esteem of his brother soldiers, officers…I had already secured his promotion to corporal in order to give him opportunities of learning to command. His battalion loses a good comrade and the army a promising young life”. He was only 19 years old. He is buried at Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension Nord.
At the outbreak of war Edward was apprenticed to a chemist in Wigton.
After his death a memorial service was held which was “packed with a sympathetic congregation” who heard the Rev. RA Humble speak of the “admirable qualities” of Corporal Dixon.
On his grave is inscribed “Old Carliol. Floreat Schola Carliolensis”. Clearly his education had meant a lot to his family; so much that they would inscribe the Grammar School motto on his last resting place: “In Carlisle will education flourish.”
Key Information