bentley priory - Spink

September 6, 2012 - LONDON
conspicuous gallantry he was awarded the Victoria Cross. As
Baxter’s Commanding Officer wrote to his widow after the
action: ‘The raid was successful, due to a great extent to the
gallantry and resource of your husband. The men say his
gallantry and coolness were marvellous. He has not been with
us very long, but we had realised what a splendid fellow he
was. I have lost one of my best officers; no words of mine can
express my admiration of him. The whole Battalion is very
upset over his loss.’
Baxter’s Victoria Cross was presented to his widow by King
George V in a private ceremony at Buckingham Palace,
29.11.1916: ‘The Victoria Cross is really beautiful and I am
so very proud of it. I wasn’t the least bit nervous and King
George is awfully nice- he didn’t make any stiff speech, just
chatted and asked me how long I had been married. He is
charming.’ (letter from the recipient’s widow to her mother
refers). He is buried in Fillievres British Cemetery, France.
Following his death his widow re-married in October 1922
Alexander Gray, the future Air Vice Marshal.
V.C. London Gazette 26.9.1916 2nd Lt. Edward Felix
Baxter, late L’pool R
‘For most conspicuous bravery. Prior to a raid on the hostile
line he was engaged during two nights in cutting wire close
to the enemy’s trenches. The enemy could be heard on the
other side of the parapet. Second Lieutenant Baxter, while
assisting in the wire cutting, held a bomb in his hand with the
pin withdrawn ready to throw. On one occasion the bomb
slipped and fell to the ground, but he instantly picked it up,
unscrewed the base plug, and took out the detonator, which
he smothered in the ground, thereby preventing the alarm
being given, and undoubtedly saving many casualties. Later,
he led the left storming party with the greatest gallantry, and
was the first man into the trench, shooting the sentry with his
revolver. He then assisted to bomb dugouts, and finally
climbed out of the trench and assisted the last man over the
parapet. After this he was not seen again, though search
parties went out at once to look for him. There seems no
doubt that he lost his life in his great devotion to duty.’
Second Lieutenant Edward Felix Baxter, V.C., was born
in Stourbridge, Worcestershire, on the 18th September
1885, the son Charles and Beatrice Baxter, and was educated
at Hartlebury Grammar School and Christ’s Hospital, before
working as a tutor at Skerry’s College, Liverpool. A keen
motorcyclist, whose favourite machine was a Rex, he
competed in both track racing and road trials with much
success, and in 1910 competed in the Isle of Man Tourist
Trophy. In February 1906 he married Miss Leonora Mary
Cornish, with whom he had one daughter, Nora. At the
outbreak of the Great War he volunteered as a Royal
Engineer motor-cyclist despatch rider, and was attached to
the Mersey defences, before being Commissioned Second
Lieutenant, 1st/8th (Irish) Battalion, The King’s Liverpool
Regiment in September 1915. Embarking for France on the
10th January 1916, he tried to get secondment to the Royal
Flying Corps: ‘I am still waiting and hoping for my transfer
to the R.F.C., apparently I shall need a large store of
patience’ (the recipient’s last letter to his mother, dated
12.4.1916 refers), but was instead trained as the Battalion’s
Bombing Officer. On the 16th April 1916 he joined a raiding
party of some 40 men, led by Captain Mahon. For two nights
they were involved with wire-cutting close to the enemy
trenches near Blairville, south of Arras. On the morning of
the 18th April, the wires cut, he led the storming party into
the enemy’s trenches- having shot the sentry with his
revolver, assisted in bombing the dug-outs, and finally
assisted the last man over the parapet, he fell in his moment
of victory, his body never seen again. For his most
Baxter’s Victoria Cross was donated to the Imperial War
Museum by his family in August 1988, and now forms part
of their permanent collection.
Second Lieutenant E.F. Baxter leads a raiding party into a
German Trench, where he shoots the sentry, taken from
Deeds that Thrill the Empire.
107