Photo: Geordie at War Project
In Gateshead (Saltwell) Cemetery is a family headstone which reads:
Sacred
to the memory of
Andrew Aitchison
beloved son of
William and Jessie Dixon
of Gateshead
who died March 22nd 1914
aged 35 years.
Also of the above
Jessie Dixon
who died April 7th 1916
aged 66 years.
Also the above
William Dixon
who died February 5th 1921
aged 70 years.
Also Jessie daughter of the above
& beloved wife of W.R. Nicholson
who died August 10th 1948.
At rest.
Also William Ridley
husband of the above Jessie Nicholson
who died July 13th 1954.
Also of Edmund, beloved husband of
Ethel Dixon and son of the above W. & J. Dixon
killed in action September 6th 1918 aged 37 years
and Buried in Zijssenhock Cemetery
near Boperinghe Belgium
"He died that we might live".
Brenda McMahon has submitted the following:-
Edmund was the youngest child of William and Jessie Dixon of 6 Gladstone Terrace West Gateshead and was born in 1881. He came from a comfortably off family his father being a ship broker’s agent employing staff according to 1901 census. His father seems to have progressed to a ship owner on information shown on CWGC site. His father’s will in 1921 showed him leaving an estate of £29,455.
In 1901 Edmund himself worked as a mercantile clerk along with his brothers William (junior) and Andrew.
He married Ethel Hay on 11 September 1905 at Darlington. The couple had a daughter Jessie Aitchison who was born in 1908 at Ardrossan Ayrshire. They were living at 5 Alice Street Sunderland in 1915.
Edmund enlisted as a private in Sunderland 8 December 1915 aged 34. At signing up he gave his trade as a boot and shoe dealer. He was 5 foot 9 inches tall and was considered to having a good physical development. He was promoted to bombardier 25 June 1917 not long before being posted to France.
He was killed in action 6 September 1918 near Mont Kemmel.
Edmund left an estate of £1047 to his wife (who later remarried a Mr Stuart in 1933 at the age of 54).
Edmund Dixon is remembered at Gateshead on G39.004 G39.019 and G39.051
The CWGC entry for Bdr. Dixon gives the date of death as 7th September.