Dvr GH Saxton RASC or Spr GH Saxton RE?

Discussion in 'Searching for Someone & Military Genealogy' started by Pat Atkins, Jan 14, 2015.

  1. Pat Atkins

    Pat Atkins Well-Known Member

    ...or indeed, Sgt GH Saxton RAFVR?

    I'm looking into the ten names on the Second World War memorial of the college where I work in Sussex, and two have me stumped. One is "D. Mitchell" for obvious reasons (lack of differentiating info), and the other is "H.G. Saxton".

    A search of the CWGC turns up no Saxtons of those initials, but there are three men with the initials G.H. so I'm trying to establish if one of them is our ex-student or staff member. One was 1499180 Sgt George Henry Saxton, an RAFVR pilot shot down over Holland 13/14 May 1943; I've posted a query about him on the "RAF Commands" forum - would it be worth repeating the enquiry here in "War in the Air", do you think (or is that bad form - not very sure of the etiquette)? The other two were Army, and I figured this is the font of all knowledge for things khaki, so... They were:

    T/133785 Driver Geoffrey Hurndall Saxton RASC, from Essex, who died on 13 February 1945 and is buried at Overloon cemetery south of Nijmegen. He was 32.

    14236691 Sapper George Henry Saxton 717 Artisan Works Company RE, from London (I think), who died on 28 June 1945 and is buried at Salerno. He was 21.

    I appreciate it's a long-shot, but if anybody has any biographical info or clues which might tell me whether one of these soldiers who gave their lives is the man behind the name on our memorial, I'd be very glad of the assistance! Unfortunately the College personnel records don't go back to this period so I'm hunting for any possible connections with Sussex, education records - anything at all, really.

    Cheers, Pat
     
  2. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Hi Pat

    George Henry Saxton - b 1924 - the only one I can find born 1923 - 1925 is:

    England & Wales, Birth Index, 1916-2005 about George H Saxton
    Name: George H Saxton
    Mother's Maiden Surname: Dyer
    Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1924
    Registration district: Easford
    Inferred County: Derbyshire
    Volume Number: 7b
    Page Number: 478


    SAXTON, GEORGE HENRY

    Rank:SapperService No:14236691Date of Death:28/06/1945Age:21Regiment/Service:Royal Engineers 717 Artisan Works Coy. Grave Reference: VII. A. 25. Cemetery:SALERNO WAR CEMETERY

    TD

    edited to add:

    UK, Army Roll of Honour, 1939-1945 about George Saxton
    Name: George Saxton
    Given Initials: G H
    Rank: Sapper
    Death Date: 28 Jun 1945
    Number: 14236691
    Birth Place: Nottingham
    Residence: Nottingham
    Branch at Enlistment: Other Corps
    Theatre of War: Italy
    Regiment at Death: Royal Engineers
    Branch at Death: Other Corps
     
  3. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    For:
    SAXTON, GEOFFREY HURNDALL

    Rank:DriverService No:T/133785Date of Death:13/02/1945Age:32Regiment/Service:Royal Army Service Corps Grave Reference: II. D. 2. Cemetery:OVERLOON WAR CEMETERYAdditional Information: Son of Ernest Francis and Kathleen Saxton; husband of Elsie May Saxton, of North Fambridge, Essex.

    I can find nothing on Ancestry for him - strange !! :mad: :(

    Ah ha - not quite true I may have found his marriage cert:

    England & Wales, Marriage Index, 1916-2005 about Geoffrey H Saxton
    Name: Geoffrey H Saxton
    Spouse Surname: Lewis
    Date of Registration: Apr-May-Jun 1934
    Registration district: Maldon
    Inferred County: Essex
    Volume Number: 4a
    Page Number: 1887
    Find Spouse: Find Spouse


    England & Wales, Marriage Index, 1916-2005 about Elsie M Lewis
    Name: Elsie M Lewis
    Spouse Surname: Saxton
    Date of Registration: Apr-May-Jun 1934
    Registration district: Maldon
    Inferred County: Essex
    Volume Number: 4a
    Page Number: 1887
    Find Spouse: Find Spouse



    TD
     
  4. Pat Atkins

    Pat Atkins Well-Known Member

    This is very kind, thanks - I'm happy to look over anything and everything to see if I can pick out a clue as to a possible Sussex and/or farming connection (my college was then the county Agricultural School). Nothing so far, but I'm heartened by the support!

    Cheers, Pat
     
  5. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Hi Pat

    Are we talking about Plumpton Agricultural College that is/was near Plumpton (north of Brighton).

    I am wondering, if the above is true if some of the 'students' were from abroad.

    I note from Ancestry that there are 3 x Mitchell with initial 'D' that are buried in Israel 1947, from CWGC database

    TD
     
  6. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    G H Saxton RAFVR

    From a family tree:

    George Henry Saxton
    Birth 26th.March in CARLISLE Cumbria England
    Death 13 MAY 1943 in Between Parrega and Hieslum 11km from Sneek (Friesland) NL.

    Still cannot find a birth cert for him !!

    TD
     
  7. Pat Atkins

    Pat Atkins Well-Known Member

    Yes, it's Plumpton College TD - there are a couple of Canadians on our Roll of Honour, and one of the teachers who was killed was Major Selkirk of 9/Royal Sussex Regiment (many thanks to Shiny 9th for this and other biographical info about him) who was, I believe, born in Nyasaland. Quite cosmopolitan for a provincial agricultural school! That's partly why I'm having to trawl through minutiae to see if I can identify connections - if one of these three candidates for our man was from Sussex, say, it would be a strong link, obviously, but I can't discount people with no obvious geographical link at all.

    On a general point, it's fascinating to research these men, and I hope to get to a point where all ten are identified.

    Cheers, Pat
     
  8. minden1759

    minden1759 Senior Member

    Pat.

    I will be in Salerno CWGC Cemetery in Oct 15 if you would like a photo of Spr Saxton's headstone.

    Regards

    Frank
     
  9. Pat Atkins

    Pat Atkins Well-Known Member

    Frank, that's a kind offer - if Sapper Saxton is our Plumpton man I'd be very grateful, thank you. I have no idea where this will all lead, but clearly at some point in the future I'd like to make whatever info I can collect about these men available to our students in some form, and photos can have considerable impact with the young (and not-so-young of course).

    Cheers, Pat
     
  10. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Pat

    The sapper Saxton buried at Salerno died some six weeks after the campaign in Italy ended on May 2nd 45 - and i would suspect that
    he was killed while cleaning up the Beaches after the landings of September 9th '43 as everyone was rather busy before then-

    incidently he joined up around the September / October '42 according to his service number as mine was 143 ***** for December '42

    Cheers
     
  11. minden1759

    minden1759 Senior Member

    Pat.

    Salerno was also a transit hospital for those soldiers injured in Greece during Op MANNA.

    Regards

    Frank
     
  12. Pat Atkins

    Pat Atkins Well-Known Member

    I did wonder about his date of death, and had assumed he'd died of wounds (didn't know about the Operation MANNA angle, though) - of course, battlefield clearance, policing up mines and the like would be a real possibility. I bet everyone was a bit preoccupied in Italy before May 1945, Tom - I gather you all had one or two other pressing matters in hand at the time!

    If this was the work he was engaged in, then I don't believe Sapper Saxton's death was any more futile than any other - quite the contrary, it's obviously dangerous work which has to be done, of course. But it must be very hard indeed to lose a loved one when you think the danger has passed.

    Anyway, thanks for all the continuing help folks. Pat
     
  13. minden1759

    minden1759 Senior Member

    Pat.

    If he was in an Artisan unit, I doubt whether he would have beem clearing mines. Artisans were the tradesmen - brick layers, carpenters, sign writers.

    FdeP
     
  14. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Hi Pat

    Re : 14236691 Sapper George Henry Saxton 717 Artisan Works Company RE

    I came across this document which included a little piece on 717:

    http://www.orbat.com/site/uk_orbats/files/6/RE%20World%20War%20II.pdf
    717th Artizan Works Coy RE Served in Italy 1943-45. Relocated to East Africa following the war.

    There may be a War Diary covering that period, and it might be included within the document which I have not fully read.

    TD
     
  15. Pat Atkins

    Pat Atkins Well-Known Member

    Thanks to you both for your continues help - am woefully ignorant of artisan units (obviously). Will read the document and see what it contains. The search continues...

    Cheers, Pat
     
  16. Tricky Dicky

    Tricky Dicky Don'tre member

    Hi Pat

    This might tell you something of what they were up to :

    http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C964696

    Reference: WO 170/5286
    Description:
    Companies: 717 Coy.
    Date: 1945 Jan.- July
    Held by: The National Archives, Kew
    Legal status: Public Record

    It has not been digitised so you will need either to go and copy it yourself or check out the members on this forum who provide a copying service at Kew.

    TD
     
  17. Tom Canning

    Tom Canning WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Frank

    our own Sapper ( Brian Guy ) was known to lift the odd mine or two - he just happened to be a Nuclear Engineer- real clever

    clog as he would tie a rope around the offender and walk away for a mile and half before pulling it out…..yes you can try that

    on the marines…

    Cheers
     
  18. Oscar Huisman

    Oscar Huisman Member

    Hello, I read this old feed and I was interested because of the information about Geoffrey Hurndall Saxton, who is buried in Overloon.
    I live in Overloon and we are trying to get a photo and background stories about all the 281 men who are buried at the Overloon War Cemetery.
    So we are looking for information about the driver Saxton as well.

    Can anyone help us?

    Rgds, Oscar Huisman
     
  19. travers1940

    travers1940 Well-Known Member

    Looking at the Army Lists there is an H.G. Saxton on the Regular Army Reserve of Officers who is recorded as having died on the October 1941 list. No connection to the agricultural college yet showing.

    Howard George Saxton 1892 - 1941
    (This seems to be his career from London Gazette, Army Lists, 1939 index and probate registers)
    born 14 feb 1892 Kensington
    Commissioned 2nd Lt Norfolk Regt from OCU 27 Mar 1918
    to Egypt 1918 as 2nd Lt Norfolk Regt
    1919: appointment on the army staff
    Married 1922 Margaret Maud Hogarth
    1923: Captain RARO Intelligence (seniority 1920)
    Sept 1939: living in Bournemouth, employed as Catering Supervisor, Gaumont British Picture Co. and Captain RARO GS ......
    Nov 1939: on army list as RARO General List Inteligence, Class III Captain, seniority 1.4.20
    1940: on army list as above
    1941: probate shows he died 23.7.41 at Royal Victoria & West Hampshire Hospital, Boscombe. Not shown as "on war service" or similar.
    Oct 1941: Army list shows his death

    I could not find any reference as to wether he had been recalled in 1939 to the army, but if in inteligence, maybe the Army List would not show his exact role.

    Have dropped an ancestry message to the owner of an online tree who seems a close relation asking if there is any agricultural connection.

    I was able to eliminate the only other HG Saxton I found:
    H.G.A. Saxton
    2nd Lt 1940 Regular Army Emergency Commission
    1945: 2nd Lt Royal Corps of Signals
    Served Palestine post war
    1952: Lt Col Royal Signals.


    Travers
     
  20. Oscar Huisman

    Oscar Huisman Member

    Thank you for your efforts.
    We are still hoping for new contacts, photo's and backgroundstories.
    Rgds, Oscar
     

Share This Page