Notes
The Roll lists his address as 23 Chapel Street. It records him as a Driver in the RGA (regimental number not stated) who had died of wounds at Colchester Military Hospital, all of which differs from official records.
(CWGC currently has no record of David Laxton. His death certificate records that he died aged 41 on 7/3/1917 at 9 Albion Court, Long Wyre Street in Colchester, Essex; his occupation was Army pensioner, and the cause of death was pulmonary emphysemia/ coma; his death was registered by Jessie Davey of 9 Albion Court, Long Wyre Street. According to Colchester Borough Council's Bereavement Services Officer, David was buried on 12/3/1917 in grave H.5.59 at Colchester Cemetery in Essex; the Burial register recorded him as being aged 41, of St Botolph's parish in Colchester, mistakenly recording him as "David Saxton".
The birth of David Henry Laxton was registered in Peterborough District in 1876. On the 1881 census he was living with his parents John and Sarah Ann Laxton in Barnack Yard, Peterborough; his father died in 1887. On the 1891 census David was living with his widowed mother Sarah at The Yard, City Road, Peterborough. On the 1901 census he was lodging in Easton on the Hill in Northamptonshire, working as a traction engine flagman.
By the 1911 census David was boarding at The Rose & Crown in Vineyard Street in Colchester, working as an iron moulder. (On the 1901 census his mother Sarah was living with her daughter, Catherine Mary Goodes. On the 1911 census Sarah Laxton was living at 11 St Mary's Street in Peterborough, while David's sister, Catherine Goodes, was living at 23 Chapel Street, Peterborough - which was the address listed for David on the Peterborough Roll of Honour).
The Medal Index Card of Driver David Laxton, regimental number 23273, records that he was honourably discharged from the Royal Field Artillery on 13/12/1916, having served overseas from 5/10/1914. He was awarded the Silver War Badge serial number 92859, the Medal Roll for which records that he had enlisted 25/4/1902, and was discharged from 5 C Reserve Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery on 13/12/1916 due to "sickness", having served overseas.
David's Army pension file records that he was aged 25 when he enlisted on 25/4/1902 as a Driver in the RFA under regimental number 23273, stating that he was already serving in the 3rd Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment; he gave his next of kin as his mother Sarah Laxton of St Mary's Street, Peterborough. On 26/4/1902 he was posted to No 3 Depot; on 9/5/1902 he transferred to 115 Battery; on 22/8/1903 he was posted to South Africa; on 22/12/1903 he transferred to 84 Battery. On 2/1/1905 he was hospitalized for 50 days with pneumonia. He returned to the UK on 16/4/1905, and was posted to the Reserves on 24/4/1905. He was re-engaged on 25/4/1914, mobilized on 5/8/1914, and assigned to 112 Company from 25/9/1914. He served in France from 5/10/1914 to 10/7/1916, when he returned to the UK and was transferred to the Reserve Brigade. On 13/12/1916 he was honourably discharged as physically unfit, due to chronic bronchitis that had originated in France in November 1915, and was recorded to have been the "Result of active service". He was awarded an Army pension, plus a separation allowance in respect of his son Christopher (whose date of birth was recorded on the pension file as 27/12/1913). David's address when he was discharged was recorded on the file as 9 Albion Court, Long Wyre Street, Colchester.
As David Laxton died from a respiratory-related illness (emphysemia) within three months of being discharged from the Army for chronic bronchitis, CWGC has now been asked to consider whether he may be added to their WW1 casualty registers. JK