1885 - 1916
CPL David Wallace Crawford
1887 - 1916
Lce-Corpl John Joseph Nickle
1894 - 1916
Pte 17911 Morton Neill
1897 - 1916
Lieut Edward Stanley Ashcroft
1883 - 1918
Pte 17536 John Hugh Baxter
- Age: 22
- From: Birkenhead, Cheshire
- Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
- K.I.A Wednesday 5th December 1917
- Commemorated at: Hooge Crater Cem, Zillebeke
Panel Ref: XX.A.3
John Hugh Baxter was born 1895 at Eastham, Cheshire, the son of Charles Baxter and his wife Emma (nee Turner). He was baptised on 7th April 1895 at Eastham. His father was born in Eastham, and his mother in Suffolk; they married in 1884. His father was a widower, he had married Eliza Hamblin in 1876, and had two children: David, born in 1877: and Eliza Martha in 1879. His wife Eliza died in childbirth or from complications in 1879 at the age of 28.
John enlisted at St George's Hall in Liverpool on 04th September 1914, joining the 19th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 17536. He gave his age as 19 years and 177 days, and his occupation as clerk, he is described as being 5’ 6 and a quarter inches tall, weighing 131 lbs, with a fresh complexion, grey eyes, and brown hair, with a scar on the left side of his nose. He gives his religion as C of E, and as next of kin his father Charles, in Eastham Village.
Formed on 07th September 1914 the 19th Battalion trained locally at Sefton Park and remained living at home or in rented accommodation until November 1914. They then moved to the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 19th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain.
John's service record survives and shows -
John was killed in action on the 05th December 1917, aged 22.
The Battalion diary for the 05th December 1917 records:
"Bodmin Copse and Unknown Copse heavily shelled. 2 O.R. wounded. Working parties were again found for 202nd Company. Royal Engineers. A Company moved from Bodmin Copse to vicinity of Stirling Castle in support of 2nd Bedford Regiment who had taken over Front Line. Polderhoek Chateau Sector from the New Zealand brigade.Bodmin Copse shelled during the night. Working party from Details (Railway Dugouts Party) suffer casualties about 10pm the officer in charge 2nd Lieutenant J.B.Olley being wounded, 3 O.R. killed and 1 O.R. wounded."
John was one of the other ranks referred to in the diary as having been killed.
Hooge Chateau and its stables were the scene of very fierce fighting throughout the First World War. On 31 October 1914, the staff of the 1st and 2nd Divisions were wiped out when the chateau was shelled; from 24 May to 3 June 1915, the chateau was defended against German attacks and in July 1915, the crater was made by a mine sprung by the 3rd Division. On 30 July, the Germans took the chateau, and on 9 August, it and the crater were regained by the 6th Division. The Germans retook Hooge on 6 June 1916 and on 31 July 1917, the 8th Division advanced 1.6 Kms beyond it. It was lost for the last time in April 1918, but regained by the 9th (Scottish) and 29th Divisions on 28 September.
Hooge Crater Cemetery was begun by the 7th Division Burial Officer early in October 1917. It contained originally 76 graves, in Rows A to D of Plot I, but was greatly increased after the Armistice when graves were brought in from the battlefields of Zillebeke, Zantvoorde and Gheluvelt and other smaller cemeteries.
There are now 5,916 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War buried or commemorated in this cemetery. 3,570 of the burials are unidentified, but special memorials record the names of a number of casualties either known or believed to be buried among them, or whose graves in other cemeteries were destroyed by shell fire.
The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.
His death was reported in the Chester Chronicle on 12th January 1918:
Baxter (King's Liverpool Regiment), 17536, J.H., Eastham (killed).
John is commemorated on the Eastham War Memorial.
He is also commemorated on the Cheshire Roll of Honour
We currently have no further information on John Hugh Baxter, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.
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