Name
Robert William Coxhill
4 Mar 1881
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
26/09/1917
36
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
39986
Royal Army Medical Corps
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
HEMEL HEMPSTEAD (HEATH LANE) CEMETERY
AC. 54.
United Kingdom
Headstone Inscription
A HERO'S REST
UK & Other Memorials
Abbots Langley Village Memorial, St. Lawrence Church Memorial, Abbots Langley, St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, Leavesden Asylum/Hospital War Memorial, Leavesden, Not on the Berkhamsted memorials
Pre War
Wartime Service
Biography
Robert Coxhill and his brother George were both employed as Attendants to the Insane at Leavesden Asylum and they were recorded in the Abbots Langley Parish Magazine Roll of Honour serving with the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) in October 1914. Robert was one of eleven children born to Charles and Ruth Coxhill – six daughters and five sons. He was born in 4 March 1881 in Northchurch and was baptised in Berkhamsted on 10 July 1881. The family lived at Canal Side, Berkhamsted at the time of the 1891 Census. They moved later the same year to 52 St John’s Road, Hemel Hempstead, where here his parents remained and were recorded there on the 1901 Census.
Robert joined the 5th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers of the Militia on 7 December 1897 as Private 49 – the Militia was the reserve force, predating the Territorials. At that time it was recorded that he was 18 years and 8 months, had been born in Boxmoor and was working as a labourer and living at 178 Railway Cottages, Willesden Junction. His ‘master’ was recorded as Mr Wheeler, the foreman in the carriage sheds at Willesden Junction. His service record is slightly confusing as it appears to record on the 2 March 1898 that he enlisted 6 March 1897 with a period of service to 1 March 1898 with a note of “still on enlistment 49 days”. However this is explained by the fact that he enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers as Private 5906, on the 2 March 1898 when he was seventeen, although he claimed to be eighteen, the legal age for service in the Regular Army. His enlistment was the standard 7 years plus 5 years on reserve. He saw active service with 3rd Battalion in Malta, Gibraltar and Egypt before returning to England where he was placed in the Reserve on the 28 May 1904 to be discharged from the Reserve
1st March 1910.
On 7 October 1905 Robert married Lizzie (Elizabeth) Barford at St John the Evangelist Church, Boxmoor. At that time Robert was working as an attendant at Leavesden Asylum and later trained as a nurse.
By the 1911 Census they were living at 29 Adrian Road, Abbots Langley and Robert was working at Leavesden Asylum as an Attendant. They had three daughters, Doris, Ivy and Gladys and by 1913 they were joined by Muriel and John in 1911 and 1913. Sadly Gladys died in 1912 aged 2.
The family later lived at 19 Asylum Cottages, Abbotts Langley and 115 Horsecroft Road, Hemel Hempstead, and 50 Kingsland Road, Hemel Hempstead.
Robert was no longer in the Reserve, but when War broke out in 1914, he attested and undertook his medical examination at Watford on 23 September 1914 (the same day as his brother George). At that time he gave his address at 20 Asylum Cottages, next door to his brother George, who was living at number 19, with his wife Lily. His Medical Record noted that he had a tattoo of clasped hands and dagger on his left wrist.
He joining the Royal Army Medical Corps as Private 39986, so that he could use his training as a 'Male Nurse'. Between October 1914 and September 1915 he was posted to camps at Aldershot, Tidworth Park near Andover, and Budleigh Salterton Sling Camp and Sutton Veny. During that period he was promoted to Lance Corporal (28 Nov 1914) bit reverted to Private on 28 Apr 1915. Initially he was in the 77 Field Ambulance before being transferred to 80 Field Ambulance on 6 Sep 1915 and arrived in France with them on 21 Sep 1915.
On 4th November 1915 Robert joined the 4th Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) in the Field. A cough developed whilst he was working at the CCS and on 29th March 1916 he was admitted and diagnosed with Pulmonary TB (Right Lung). By 1st April he had been transferred by Ambulance Train to No 12 General Hospital and was repatriated by Hospital Ship to England. to UK on 8 Apr 1916.
His Service Record noted that between 8th and 26th April he was treated at the New End Military Hospital at Hampstead in north-west London. On 20th April 1916, a Medical Board reviewed his case and reported that he had no previous history of chest problems and the condition had come on whilst he was at the 4th CCS, and was as a result of Active Service. He was declared medically unfit for Military Service on 28th April, and awarded a Weekly Pension of 25 shillings (£ 1 25p) plus 2 shillings and sixpence (12 ½ p) allowance for his four children. He was discharged on 10th May 1916 as “of good character but no longer physically fit for War Service” being awarded Silver War Badge no. 65424.
He died at home of pulmonary tuberculosis contracted on active service (some sources suggest gas poisoning) on 26 September 1917, age 36.
The Abbots Langley Parish Magazine twice reported Robert’s progress. In June 1916 “Robert Coxhill has been discharged incapacitated, having been badly poisoned whilst in pursuit of his work with the RAMC”, and later in November 1917 “ We regret to hear that Robert Coxhill, who was badly "gassed" some time back, and discharged disabled, died on September 26th at Boxmoor, where he was buried. His name has been placed on the Roll of those who have given their lives for their Country, and we offer to his widow and children the sincerest sympathy of all in the Parish.”
His brother George also served with the RAMC, and was discharged disabled. By the time of Robert’s death, his parents and his wife were living in Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead.
Robert Coxhill was buried at the Heath Park Hemel Hempstead Cemetery and was commemorated on the Abbots Langley War Memorial.
Additional Information
Brother to George who served with the Royal Army Medical Corps and died from pulmonary tuberculosis and heart failure in 1920. His brother James also served with the RAMC and survived the war.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer, Neil Cooper
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org, www.dacorumheritage,org,uk, www.hemelatwar.org., www.hemelheroes.com.
