BORN HULL 1893. SON OF JOHN ROBERT DIXON (1853-1921) & CHRISTIANA WATSON (1854-1931), AT 78, MANCHESTER STREET (CWGC ADDRESS). SON OF A RAILWAY LABOURER. ONE OF ELEVEN CHILDREN. HE WAS A SINGLE MAN. EMPLOYED AS A HORSEMAN.
HIS ARMY RECORDS DESCRIBE HIM AS 5 FOOT, 7 INCHES TALL, 147 LBS WEIGHT, 37-39 INCH CHEST, FRESH COMPLEXION, BLUE EYES, LIGHT BROWN HAIR, GOOD PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT, NORMAL VISION AND WESLYAN RELIGION.
HE ENLISTED AT HULL, ON 27/10/1914, AGED 21 YEARS AND 8 MONTHS. SERVED WITH THE 6TH EAST YORKSHIRE PIONEERS, FROM 28/10/1915, IN EGYPT AND THE DARDENELLES, BEFORE ARRIVING IN FRANCE IN MARCH 1916. HIS TWO BROTHERS ALSO SERVED IN THE EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT AND HIS BROTHER ERNEST DIXON, WAS KILLED IN 1917.
HAROLD WAS KILLED ON THE SOMME, ON 26/09/1916, AGED 23. SERVED 1 YEAR AND 330 DAYS IN THE ARMY. AWARED THE 1914-15 WAR STAR AND BRITISH WAR AND VICTORY MEDALS.
HE IS COMMEMORATED ON THE THIEPVAL MEMORIAL TO THE MISSING, SOMME, FRANCE. HIS DEATH WAS REPORTED IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL ON 10TH OCTOBER 1916, WITH HIS PHOTOGRAPH.*
HIS BROTHER, PRIVATE, ERNEST DIXON, 21098, 10TH EAST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT, DIED OF WOUNDS, ON 25/06/1917, AGED 21. THEIR NAMES ARE COMMEMORATED ON THE FAMILY GRAVE AT HULL SPRING BANK CEMETERY.
THEIR ARMY EFFECTS WERE LEFT TO THEIR MOTHER, CHRISTINA, AT 78, MANCHESTER STREET, HULL (WAR PENSION ADDRESS).
HIS SISTER, ETHERL MUNDEN, WROTE IN THE HULL DAILY MAIL – “WE NEVER THOUGHT WHEN WE SAID OUR LAST GOODBYE, WE SHOULD NEVER SEE YOUR DEAR FACE AGAIN. WE MISS HIM MOST WHO LOVED HIM BEST.”
HE LEFT BROTHERS JOHN ROBERT DIXON AT 3, WALLER STREET. HOLDERNESS ROAD, HULL AND ARTHUR DIXON AT 7, HUMBER AVENUE, RUGBY STREET, HULL. ALSO SIX SISTERS, MARY ELIZABETH TAYLOR (STAMFORD BRIDGE, YORK); BERTHA ALBRIGHT & ELIZA ANN DISXON (BURTON PIDSEA); CHRISTINA BLUNDELL (74, MANCHESTER STREET, HULL); FLORENCE SMITH (1, CLAREMONT AVENUE, SCARBOROUGH STREET, HULL); ETHEL MUNSDEN, 35 MANVERS STREET, HULL AND ROSE ANNA DIXON (78, MANCHESTER STREET, HULL).
