Marsham – All Saints Church (Robert William Claxton)

This is the only war grave at Marsham Church and is located in the new burial ground, located just behind the main churchyard, commemorating the life of Robert William Claxton.

Robert was born in 1890 and he married Edith Mary Melton in 1913 and they lived at Turnpike Bungalow in Marsham. Robert joined the Grenadier Guards being given the service number 21587, joining the 13th Company of the 4th Battalion. This battalion was formed to fight in the First World War, but the war diaries at the National Archives don’t start until August 1915 when they went to France. So, at a best guess, Robert never fought overseas.

Robert died on 28 January 1915 at the age of 25 and his burial took place on 3 February 1915. The relatively short period between death and burial also suggests that he didn’t die that far from home, but, unfortunately, his war records were lost in the air raid during the Second World War, and there are no news articles in the local media.

The details of Robert’s grave at Marsham, which must have been one of the first in the new burial ground.

This is another one of these lives which seems to have mostly been lost to history, especially the war record of Robert, which seems to have been relatively short.