Sapper Edward Henry BAXTER
Royal Engineers 36039
Edward was the son of Emily Johnson of Apethorpe and Isaac Baxter of Australia. He was born in Charters Towers, in the County of Queensland on 14th August 1893. Edward came to England with his mother sometime before 1901, as he can be found on the census of that year living with his maternal grandparents and mother in Apethorpe.
Records show that after leaving school he took on an apprenticeship as a carpenter with E E Howes, Builders and Contractors of North Street, Stamford in 1910. He is recorded as a boarder in the 1911 census at 42 St Paul’s Street, Stamford, the home of Mr and Mrs Peasgood. Ernest Peasgood was listed as a joiner so maybe he was working for the same company.
It was a notice from a Mr Leverhorn in 1915 asking Edward to enlist for General Service that sent him to Northampton to join up. It was on 23rd April 1915 that he attested to the Royal Engineers as a skilled carpenter and left immediately for Chatham. He gave his mother’s address as Woodnewton, as we know from the 1911 census that she was now living at Dairy Farm with her Sister in Law, Florence Johnson, whose husband had died the previous year. Did Emily move in with the family to help, either in the house, or on the farm?
The first information we have from Edward’s military paperwork is that he had arrived in Mudros in early December and went from there to Salonika, where work was carried out and then returned to Mudros. We know that he was awarded the 1914-1915 Star and to be a recipient of this medal you had to have served in any theatre of war between 5th August 1914 and 31st December 1915. No further activities were mentioned until 1st July 1917, when Edward took a test on 23rd June with the 17th Field Company and had gained a pass, which had increased his carpenter competence level from skilled to superior; this meant an increase in pay.
It was only a few weeks after this that it was reported that Edward had been taken ill with malaria and admitted to hospital. This illness had 
caused a serious drain on manpower in the Salonikan Campaign with Edward and many other men being sent to a convalescent camp in Stavros for several weeks. He was discharged on 12th August 1917.
In November of that year, Edward caught malaria again and was once again admitted to hospital. The following March, he left Salonika and returned to England with the understanding that he had been “affected by malaria and not to return to a theatre of war”. Finally, Edward was sent to the Dispersal Centre in May 2019, and transferred to “Class Z Reserve” for demobilization. Edward returned to be with his mother, who by that time had moved to Newton Cottage, Titchmarsh with the Johnson Family.
Alongside his 1914-15 Star Medal, he was also awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
The 1921 census shows that Edward was a boarder in Narborough Leicestershire, and his profession is shown as a carpenter. He married Florence May Dorman on 7th April 1923 , in the Parish Church of Narborough and later had two children. He died on 21st April 1977 at 93 Grove Road, Blaby