PAXTON, Robert Armytage
| Service Number: | 4624 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 4 September 1915, Adelaide, South Australia |
| Last Rank: | Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | 10th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1896 |
| Home Town: | Fitzroy, Prospect, South Australia |
| Schooling: | St Peter's College, Adelaide, South Australia |
| Occupation: | Student |
| Died: | Natural causes, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 26 September 1951 |
| Cemetery: |
Springvale Botanical Cemetery, Melbourne Wall: 16 Row: E |
| Memorials: | Hackney St Peter's College Honour Board, Prospect Roll of Honour G-Z WWI Board |
World War 1 Service
| 4 Sep 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4624, Adelaide, South Australia | |
|---|---|---|
| 7 Feb 1916: | Involvement AIF WW1, Private, 4624, 10th Infantry Battalion, Enlistment/Embarkation WW1, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Miltiades embarkation_ship_number: A28 public_note: '' | |
| 7 Feb 1916: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 4624, 10th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Miltiades, Adelaide | |
| 22 Aug 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Lieutenant, 10th Infantry Battalion |
Help us honour Robert Armytage Paxton's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography
From the book Fallen Saints - Robert Armytage Paxton of Fitzroy South Australia was born in Melbourne Victoria. He attended St Peter’s College 1908-1915 and while there served in the senior cadets. When he enlisted he was only 18 years of age and a student serving part time in the 78th Infantry Battalion.
After enlisting in Adelaide on 4 September 1915, he was posted to D Company, 2nd Depot Battalion and there on 16 November he joined the 14th quota of reinforcements for the 12th Battalion.
In January, he was re-allotted to the 4th reinforcements, 38th Battalion but was later transferred to 14th quota of reinforcements for the 10th Battalion and sailed from Adelaide aboard HMAT Miltiades on 7 February 1916. After further training in Egypt, Private Paxton proceeded to France and marched in to 1st Australian Divisional Base Depot, Étaples on 20 May. A little over a month later he joined the Entrenching Battalion until taken on the strength of the 10th Battalion at the end of July.
He was admitted to 2 Australian Field Ambulance suffering with Trench Feet on 10 November and two days later was transferred to 12th General Hospital Rouen until evacuated via HS Formosa to 2nd Auxiliary Hospital, Southall, England.
After a lengthy period of convalescence, he was transferred to No 4 Command Depot, Wareham and proceeded to France on 15 March. He rejoined the battalion in the field on 10 April 1917 and then in early June returned to England to attend officer training at 4 Officer Cadet Battalion Oxford; he was appointed second lieutenant and posted to General Reinforcements on 27 September.
He returned to France in October and after rejoining the battalion in the field was promoted to Lieutenant on 22 January 1918. During much of July and all of August he was ill and after returning to full duties on 12 September was wounded at Jeancourt in the battalion’s last battle of the war.
When the companies of the 10th Battalion moved forward to the start line for the attack at Jeancourt they were shelled by enemy artillery and suffered significant casualties.
... the enemy offered a stubborn resistance, hotly contesting the high ground, which it was essential to the success of the operation to capture. The final stage was accomplished by a spirited charge, the enemy machine-gunners only retiring after severe fighting. [i]
With multiple shrapnel wounds to almost every part of his body, Lieutenant Paxton was evacuated to England; after a long period of hospitalisation there he was invalided to Australia in 1919.
Like so many returned service men and women who ‘survived’ the war, his life was never the same and throughout what remained of it he suffered both psychologically and physically until his early death on 26 September 1951; he was 54 years of age.
In a letter dated 7 February 2006, his son, Mr Ian Armytage Paxton described his father’s wounds and the effect they had on him for the remainder of his shortened life.
He was wounded many times, the last a serious wound to the head and arms, the shrapnel left in him caused a blood clot to the brain and eventually killed him when I was twelve years of age. [ii]
[i] Lock, CBL The Fighting 10th - A South Australian Centenary Souvenir of the 10th Battalion, AIF 1914-19, Webb & Son, Adelaide, 1936, p. 100
[ii] Paxton, I A ,letter dated 7 February 2006
Click images to start slideshow.