Robert James Dixon – Trinity School War Memorial

Key Information

Name: Robert James Dixon,
DoB: July 8, 1893.
Regt: Lance.-Corporal. TF/1382, 10th Middlesex Regt.
DoD: Died at Lucknow, India January 28, 1917.

Academic Career: CGS 1907-11 D.S. Student teacher, Brook Street Council School, 1911-2. Went to St. John’s Training Coll., Battersea, London, S.W., till July, 1914.

Biographical Information:

Family Background:

Robert was the eldest son of Richard and Maria Dixon, 24 Portland Place, Carlisle. His father was an engine fitter. He had an older sister, Ethel Ann, and two younger brothers, William Harold and Bertram. All the family had been born in Carlisle.
In the 1911 Census they also had four boarders. In the newspaper death announcement Robert is described as a “dearly loved son” and his death “Deeply regretted.”
Academic Record:

Carlisle Grammar School 1907 – 1911/12. The register says he left 1911 but we have many references for him in 1912 from the school magazine.

He was in the Rugby team 1909-11 : “Plays a dazzling game and goes through on his own with success. Poor tackler. Fair kick.” (1910) and “A hard worker with plenty of pluck. A little more weight would make him quite a dangerous man in attack: must learn to take his passes on the run.” (1911). He won the Football Shield 1912: “Very strong tackler, is somewhat handicapped by his height, but uses what he has to great advantage, and does brilliant individual work.”

He was also a keen debater and argued against the motion that “Cricket was a finer game than Football” in 1910. In 1911 he led the debating society and argued against the motion that “the ambitious policy of Germany is a menace to the British Empire” for the motion that “Policeman are a Nuisance”! He also said in a debate on women’s suffrage that “women were more qualified to give opinions on certain important subjects than men are”. He also debated the morality of theatre going, and the virtues of international arbitration. He was against compulsory military service, and was for the state takeover of the railways. In 1912 he penned an article for the school magazine on the quality of debates.
War Service:

Robert joined the Territorial Force in November 1912. His attestation papers reveal he was 5’5 and a quarter” and had good vision and physical development. He was recommended for the 10^th Battalion Middlesex Regiment No1382, and travelled to India on October 291914. He was made acting lance corporal from October 1 1916 and is recorded as being a lance corporal when he died. He was admitted to hospital on January 15 1917 and died suddenly in Lucknow on January 28 1917 of paratyphoid or enteric fever, a disease transmitted by contaminated food or water that was common in India at that time.
Other:
Sources:

a)            Carlisle School Memorial Register 1264-1924

b)            Census: 1911 RG14/ 31305; : 1901 RG13/4865;

c)           The Cumberland News 10 February 1917

d)            British Army Service records from www.ancestry.co.uk

e)           The Old Carliol 1910-12