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Harold Percival NIXON
- Extended Description
- Harold Percival NIXON. 2nd Lieutenant, 6th (Wiltshire Yeomanry) Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment.
Son of Alexander and Annie Nixon, of 12, Hopefield Avenue, Belfast. Died 26 October 1918 aged 22 years. At rest in Warcoung Churchyard, Hainaut, Belgium.
Harold Percival Nixon was born on 25 May 1896 at 61 Benwell Terrace, Belfast, the sixth of seven children of mercantile clerk Alexander Nixon and his wife Annie (nee Morrison). Educated at the Municipal Technical Institute, by 1911 he was living with his family in Hopefield Avenue, Belfast. That year he began a five year apprenticeship as a flax manager with the York Street Flax Spinning Company, Belfast.
Nixon enlisted in the North Irish Horse at Belfast on 1 September 1914 (No.1075 – later Corps of Hussars No.71225), overstating his age by a year. He embarked for France with D Squadron on 1 May 1915.
On 6 June at Carvin Nixon was punished for a series of offences over the previous two days – for being "late for stables" (two days Field Punishment No.2), and "When on Main Guard absent from Guardroom" and "When a prisoner under open arrest being outside camp precincts" (three days Field Punishment No.1).
Nixon was promoted to lance corporal (unpaid) on 15 August 1917. On 20 June he had applied for a commission in the infantry, with a preference for the Royal Irish Fusiliers. He departed for the UK at the end of September and on 9 November 1917 reported for duty at the No.7 Officer Cadet Battalion at Fermoy. He was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant on 1 May 1918 and posted to the Wiltshire Regiment. Soon after he embarked for France, where he was posted to the 6th Battalion.
Also commemorated on a family headstone in Belfast City Cemetery. Nixon's two brothers served in the war, Robert in the US Army's 129th Infantry, and Cecil Albert in the 10th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles.
Commemorated on a War Memorial Duncairn Presbyterian Church, Antrim Road, Belfast
This memorial is located in the Somme Heritage Centre, Bangor Road, Newtownards, Northern Ireland.
