Born: 1878, Coates, Cambridgeshire.
Died: 6th January 1900; age: 21; KiA at Colesberg, Northern Cape, South Africa.
Rank: Lance Corporal; Service Number: 5230.
Regiment: Suffolk Regiment, 1st Battalion, South Africa Field Force.
Clasp Awarded: Cape Colony.
CENSUS
1881 Police Station, High Street, Thorney, Cambridgeshire.
Herbert was 2 years old and living with his parents & sister.
James Howlett Nixon, 27, a Police Constable, born Wickin, Cambridgeshire.
Ann Elizabeth Nixon (nee Higgs), 25, born Lechlade-on-Thames, Gloucestershire.
Mary Nixon, 1, born Coates.
1 boarder – Police Constable.
1891 Wisbech Road, Thorney, Cambridgeshire.
Herbert was 12 years old and living with his parents & siblings.
James, 39, a Police Constable.
Annie, 35.
Mary, 11.
Arthur Isaac Howlett Nixon, 9 months, born Thorney.
Herbert’s brother, Arthur, a Lieutenant Colonel, for the Royal Army Ordnance Corps was awarded the O.B.E. – announced in the London Gazette, 11th July 1940. Arthur, a Temporary Brigadier for the Ordnance British Allied Force Headquarters Central Mediterranean Forces, Italy, was also awarded the C.B.E. – announced in the London Gazette, 13th December 1945.
One of the notable Battles with a large loss of Suffolk life was the “Battle of Suffolk hill” at Colesberg, Northern Cape 5th- 6th January 1900. The hill was originally called Red or Grassy Hill. The Suffolk regiment was ordered to make a night attack on a Boer position on the heights, four companies, 354 of all ranks, set out at midnight under the command of Col. Watson. The Suffolks were met by a storm of bullets. The Colonel was amongst the first to fall, and the party later retired with 11 officers and 150+ men killed, wounded or captured.
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