George William Nixon
Details on Cross:
In memory of
No 38665 Gnr G W Nixon 4th Bty M.M.G.S
Killed in action April 28th 1918
Dimensions:
Shaft height: 1600mm (63 inches)
Cross beam width: 610mm (24 inches)
Quite difficult to survey as it was mounted high up but I did get measurements of 63″ high by 24″ wide. The cross is in good condition and looks to have a lacquer or varnish applied to it. There were no signs visible from where it would have been I’m the ground. The vicar was totally unaware of any history behind the cross or indeed that it was a WW1 original.
John Needham
The CWGC states:
Rank: Gunner. Service No: 38665
Date of Death: 28/04/1918. Age: 24
Regiment/Service: Machine Gun Corps (Motors) 4th Bty.
Grave Reference: IV. G. 21. Cemetery: KLEIN-VIERSTRAAT BRITISH CEMETERY
Additional Information: Son of Benjamin Nixon, of “Woodleigh,” Langwith Junction, Shirebrook, Mansfield, and the late Annie Nixon.
George had two older sisters; Mabel born in 1891 and Nellie born in 1892. His mother Annie Nixon (Née Radford) died in 1918 at the age of 53. His father had the unenviable task of dealing with the death of both his wife and son in the same year. The family seem to have lived in the area for many generations. Annie and Benjamin married in Alfreston, his birth was registered in Belper.
George was reburied at Klein Vierstraat as part of a concentration programme by the GRU and WGC it would appear this was in 1920.
Lot IV was begun in April 1918. After the Armistice, graves were brought into Plot I, Row H, and Plots IV to VII, from two smaller cemeteries (FERME HENRI PATTYN-VANLAERES, Poperinghe and MONT-VIDAIGNE MILITARY CEMETERY, Westoutre) and from the battlefields of Dikkebus, Loker and Kemmel. Klein-Vierstraat British Cemetery now contains 805 First World War burials, 109 of them unidentified. (CWGC)
Soldiers who died in the Great War states his name as William and his death as the 28th April 1918, possibly a transcription error.
His CWGC headstone simply states ‘THY WILL BE DONE’.
Nick Stone
Survey and photographs courtesy of John Needham. Research Nick Stone.
William is a close relative, Nellie was my Grandmother and lived in the area of Langwith all her life. He was known in the family as Uncle Billy so William may well be a more natural day to day name than George. I only started looking around for info a few days ago (March 2022) and found this through search engines, and have managed to locate his battalion records on the National Archives “Kew” site though yet to download. I am truly humbled by his sacrifice only made more real by the current worlds events.
He was never lost but now is found. RIP.