Thomas George Baxter (1899-1918)
Durham miner served with 1st/8th DLI died in prisoner of war hospital and buried in Cologne
Thomas (shown as Thomas George on the International Red Cross card) Baxter was born in Haswell Plough, near Easington, Durham, on 16 January 1899. He had one brother, five sisters and a half-brother and lived all his life in Durham until he enlisted in the 1st/8th Battalion Durham Light Infantry (DLI) in Durham.
On 14 August 1917 he was sent to the non-commissioned officers’ (NCO) school in York. Some time afterwards he was sent to France and during the fighting on the River Lys he was shot in the arm and captured at Merville on 10 April 1918. He was sent to Cologne, where he died in the prisoner of war hospital in the Cologne Fortress on 1 August 1918 and was buried in the Cologne Southern Cemetery.
https://grandeguerre.icrc.org/en/File/Details/4872933/3/2/
https://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/34600/cologne-southern-cemetery/
Civil Parish: Haswell
Birth date: 16-Jan-1899
Death date: 01-Aug-1918
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: Long Row, Haswell, Easington, Durham (1901 census)
Lambton Street, Sherburn Hill, Durham (1911 census)
Employment: Miner (International Red Cross Prisoner of war card)
Family: Father: George Baxter
Mother: Elizabeth Baxter (nee Cowell)
Siblings: Agnes, Elizabeth Ann, Andrew, Thomasina, Louisa, & Margaret Baxter
Half-Sibling: George Baxter
Military service:
1/8th Battalion Durham Light Infantry
Service No.: 300976
Private (Although he is shown as being a Sergeant on the I.R.C. card)
Medal(s): British War Medal
Victory Medal
Memorial(s): Cologne Southern Cemetery, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Grave Ref.: VIII.D.20
D.L.I. 1914-1918 Book of Remembrance, Durham Cathedral
Gender: Male
Contributed by John Edwards