Charles Dixon 1871-1918

Letters To And From home

The first letter is written by Charles' youngest son Edward known as Teddy.

The letter is undated but mentions Christmas and also son Charles is home before being sent back to France in February 1916, so I believe that this letter is dated either at the end of 1915 or very early 1916.

Dear Dad,

just a few lines hoping to you are in the best of health has it leaves us. I enjoyed my Christmas very much and I hope you did. Dear Dad I have a stick with the Middlesex Badge on it. We all went up aunt Em's and spent Christmas and the Boxing day and you could of have two good jolly's dad. charles was here and so was bill Bond. I shall now be closing as I should be tucked up in bed. I bet you had a lark

from your loving son Teddy

xxxxxxxx to all the soldiers

Feb 9 1917

Dear wife just a few lines hoping they will find you and the children all quite well as I am pleased to say it leaves me at present and I hope our Charles is still going alright. I sent him a nice letter last week. Dear Lill I have quite forgot the children's birthday but you must give them both a kiss for me and a penny each to spend for luck I will give them something when I come home and I will give my old Molly a nice cuddle but I expect she will be to big too cuddle then. Dear Lill give my love to Nellie and I hope she is well and to Jess. The weather is lovely out here warm all day and moonlight all night. Remember me to Aunt Em and I hope Bill is getting well and her children are well. Remember me to Mrs Bond and all the old folks all this time from your loving husband C Dixon xxxxxxx kisses for children xxxxxxx xxxxxxx

Charles mentions writing to his eldest son Charles who was fighting with the East Surrey Regiment, in the trenches in France. Within 15 weeks of this letter being written, Lance Corporal Charles George Dixon was declared Missing In Action on the 3rd of May 1917 during the Battle of Arras aged 21.

His father Charles would have received the news in India probably by letter.

By May 1918 Private Charles Dixon serving with 'B' Company, 2nd Garrison Battalion Essex Regiment was based at Mount Abu Sanitorium in Rajputana.

Between the Himalayas and Nilgiri mountain ranges, the highest place at 5,650ft is Mount Abu.

The British had built a hill station here as a refuge from the heat as it was cooler than the surrounding plains. It is referred to as 'an Oasis in the desert' as it's heights are home to rivers, lakes, waterfalls and evergreen forest, in a region of India known for its dry climate and heat. It is home to an abundance of exotic animals and birds. The mountain is home to a number of Hindu temples such as the Adhar Devi Temple carved out of solid rock and also Jain temples including Dilwara Temples carved out of white marble that was built between the 11th and 13th centuries.

The following letter was written by Charles whilst based at Mount Abu Sanitorium.

May 9th 1918

Dear Teddy just a few lines hoping to find you and Mollie in the best of health as I am pleased to say it leaves me at present. Teddy I was very pleased with the letter you sent me. dear Teddy I hope Mollies eyes are better by now and that she is going to school. dear Teddy I expect you have got the warm weather in England now and you will be able to have a nice swim in the river. not half Teddy the weather is very hot out here now and the little boys and girls run around naked I should like you to see them I bet you would laugh. dear Teddy there is plenty of monkeys up here they are white with black faces and they are tame some of them will come up to the Bungalows and snach a bit of bread out of our hands and their is plenty of pretty birds and they are very tame they will come and sit on the bed and peck up the crumbs. dear Teddy the natives never hurt them they never throw stones like the boys do in England and there is a lot of funny little animals running around. dear Teddy keep a good boy until I come and me you and Mollie will have a fine time of it. Teddy tell Mollie to keep a good little girl. dear Teddy I should like to send you and Mollie nice little present but we cant get any thing here for boys and girls but never mind Teddy I will try and send you and Mollie a little money order when I get a bit richer. we dont get much money here now by the time we have bought our fags we aint got much left. dear Teddy give my love to Mollie Nellie and Mother and tell them I shall be home some day and then we will have a nice old drink not half. Teddy there is a lot of little white boys and girls here but dear old England is the best place Teddy I can tell you. Well Teddy I think I have said all this time with best love to you and Mollie and all at home. Your loving father C Dixon

xxxxxxxxxxxxx kisses for Mollie

xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx

xxxxx xxxxxxxxx

xxx xxxxxxx

x xxxx

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The war in 1918 saw the spring offensives by the German's which begun on the 21st of March and made the biggest gains since 1914, as they got within 75 miles of Paris. The attacks had petered out by July and the Allies ordered a counter attack, The 2nd Battle of The Marne. The Germans withdraw to the north and it was now time for the Allies to resume the attack. The Battle of Amiens was opened on the 8th of August with the offensive continuing throughout the summer all the way through to the Armistice in November, now known as the Hundred Days Offensive.

Undated

Dear Dad,

just a few lines hoping to find you quite well as it leaves me the time of writing. Dear Dad I hope you will soon be home. they say the end is in sight and I hope it is true. Until when you are home I shall keep a rabbit for you the buck is a big one and we are going to kill it for Christmas. Dear dad I have been away from school for three weeks the school has closed because of the 'flu' that means influenza. I know a boy who has died from it and a lot of others have it to. Dad I hope the weather is all right where you are as it is not very good here it is half rain and half dry all the time. Dear Dad I wear long trousers now and my ankle is nearly better me and mum didn't half have a treat a treat going to the hospital Uncle Bill took me over one time and first they said it was broke and then they said it was not. Well Dad this is all now with love from Mrs Bond and all at home. I remain your loving son Teddy xxxxxx

The armistice on the Western Front was signed at 5am in a railway carriage at Compiegne, France, at 11am that same day the 11th of November 1918 a ceasefire came into effect and the war was finally over.

Nov 13th 1918

Dear Brother,

Just a few lines in answer to your kind letter which I received quite safe and I hope you are in good health the same as it leaves myself Mother and Bill at the present. Well Charles the time I am writing this letter to you thank God the war is over at last and what a blessing for everybody but it will bring bad memories to a good many homes but we must honor their memory. Dear Charles I expect you will soon be coming home again now and you wont be sorry I know and George will be home as well soon he has been in Ireland a long time he sends his best wishes for you and he says you will all be having a drink together again well lets hope so. Now Mother do not go to walk at all now as her eyesight has been so bad we all help her as much as we can Bill is very good to her and she was very pleased with that money you sent her. Mary often comes to see me and I take her out for a walk she has got a big girl now and so has Nellie. Dear Charles I expect it will be Christmas when you get this letter and I wish you a merry one and a happy new year and please God spare you you will be home for the next one. Mother has written to you. Well Charlie I think this is all this time so cheer up and keep a good heart for the rest of the time so good bye God bless you for the present.

With fondest love from Mother myself and Bill

I remain your loving sister

Sister Adelaide Benham

Good luck and a safe return

xxxxxxxxxxx

I would like you bring me a necklace of beads when you come home if you could get these

In January 1918 a global Influenza epidemic was starting to infect people and the troops around the world. The 1918 Flu Pandemic (January 1918 - December 1920) infected 500 million people across the globe including remote Pacific Islands and the Arctic, and killed an estimated 50 - 100 million of them. The men fighting the war were hit hard and to maintain morale wartime censors minimized early reports of the illness and the deaths it was causing in Germany, France, Britain and the United States but the newspapers were free to report the epidemic's effects in neutral Spain including the gravely ill King Alfonso XIII, creating a false impression that Spain was hit especially hard, which gave the pandemic's nickname 'Spanish Flu'.

Private Charles Dixon was still in India at the wars end. India was also hit particularly hard by the Influenza pandemic where as many as 17 million died, about 5% of the population with about 13.8 million deaths in the British ruled areas alone.

Nasirabad India

Nov 25th 1918

My Dear Mrs Dixon,

I deeply regret to have to announce to you the death of you beloved husband Pte Charles Dixon. He contracted Influenza in October 1918 and passed away this morning Nov 25th at 10am.

I feel his loss very much indeed as, during the three years that I have had the honor of being his Company Commander, I have had no fault to find with him in my respect, he is a Good man, a Good Soldier and a Good friend to all that know him, Such men as he are a credit to the Service, and I wish I had more like him. I saw him just a few weeks before his death bright and well, and I was very sorry to hear that he with many others, fallen to the scourge of Influenza. We had a very serious time for some five weeks and lost several from the Battalion through it. Your dear husband though kept his cheery spirit up well and seemed to feel that he would join with me very soon but he contracted Pneumonia a few days ago, and could not get the strength to combat it's influence. He lost his life fighting hard to get the strength. His end was very peaceful and I was with him at the last, though he did not know me.

His comrades Officers, N.C.O's and men feel his loss deeply, and will pay him their last respects this afternoon at 5pm, when he will be laid to rest in Nasirabad Cemetery.

Please convey to all the members of the family my serene regrets at his passing and assure that our sympathy's as a Company is with them in their sad loss. Believe me my dear Mrs Dixon

Yours Sincerely

Charles S. Herring

Officer Commanding 'B' Company

P.S

I am forwarding you as soon as possible all letters, documents and other personal property that was found in his possession, they will be sent to your address from the Company office. Please advise me of receipt of parcel.

Charles S. Herring Capt.

P.S II

Since writing and before the letter was posted I have received from a Private Mayhew several effects of personal belongings to your dear husband.

1 Watch and Chain (Silver Indian)

RS. 40 in notes ( about £2.10)

1 Indian Post Office Savings Book with

RS. 160 to credits ( about £11 - - )

If you please advise me whether you wish them sent over or brought to you when we are home about next July 1919

I will if you wish it , take charge of all his property and deliver the same to you when I am in England which I think may be about July or August, but of course if you wish them sent over they may be at risk of loss etc.

Charles S. Herring Capt.

Private Charles Dixon died on the 25th of November 1918 aged 47 from pneumonia and influenza and was buried in Nasirabad Cemetery, Rajasthan, India. At some point a photo of his grave was received by the family although the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has Private Charles Dixon commemorated on the Kirkee 1914 - 1918 Memorial.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission was determined that a war grave should remain inviolate and had always sought to secure an absolute title to the land in which each lay. When India was granted independence in 1947 the British Government decided it could no longer maintain the old cantonment cemeteries. It was an impossibility for the Commission to take over all the sites which had served the British in India for 300 years. At the end of the Second World War graves in the old cantonments were moved to 4 new war cemeteries at Delhi, Calcutta, Madras and Kirkee.

Outlaying graves might now be inaccessible or impossible to maintain and it was a difficult decision between abandoning them or moving them. The decision was made and the dead of the First World War were left undisturbed and their names inscribed on memorials in the new cemeteries.

The Kirkee Memorial commemorates more than 1,800 servicemen who died in India during the First World War, who are buried in civil and cantonment cemeteries in India and Pakistan where their graves can no longer be properly maintained. This total includes the names of 629 servicemen whose remains were brought from Bombay (Sewri) Cemetery for re-interment in 1960.

On the same memorial are commemorated almost 200 East and West African servicemen who died in non-operational zones in India in the Second World War, and whose graves either cannot be located or are so situated that maintenance is not possible.

The memorial stands within Kirkee War Cemetery, which was created to receive Second World War graves from the western and central parts of India where their permanent maintenance could not be assured.

The cemetery contains 1668 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War.

Private Charles Dixon. 25301 'B' Coy 2nd Garrison Battalion Essex Regiment.

His name is inscribed on Face 7 Kirkee Memorial.

For Garrison duties during the First World War Charles was entitled to the British War Medal.

His son also fell.

Charles Dixon is my 2nd Great Grandfather. Lest we forget.

Lee Thomas

June 2013

Updated March 2014

The Commonwealth War Grave Commission now have access to the cemetery where Charles is buried. Charles lays in Nasirabad Government Cemetery, Nasirabad, Rajasthan, India, Plot E, Row B, Grave 15.