Sergeant
Sidney Harvey MOXON
Infantry
Died: 25th October 1916 - Age: 38

Commemorated:

1. Grave:Woods CemeteryV. B. 2.
2. Memorial:The (1940) Scroll - WW1 Roll of Honour54A GQS
    

Awards & Titles:

 

Family :

Son of George J. and Eliza Moxon.

Education & Career :

Born in 1879, Sydney Moxon joined the London Symphony Orchestra in 1907, three years after its formation, at the age of 28. Living with his brothers Edward and Ernest in their jewellery shop in Peckham, Sydney was making a living as a freelance musician before he joined the Orchestra, and was a member of The King's Trumpets, an elite group of musicians who would play for His Majesty King Edward VII at his request.

He was also an active musician outside of the LSO, maintaining engagements with orchestras, theatres and bands around the country. His self-written biography for the Royal Society of Musicians, which he joined in July 1909, reads "Member London Symphony Orchestra, Member New Theatre (present engagement), Late solo Cornet Royal Meister Orchestra, Margate. Do. Pier Hastings & Weymouth Orchestra".

But his work with the LSO kept him busy – our records show that the trumpet section would play around 22 concerts each per season, and that was just the 'own promoted' series at the Queen's Hall in London. This was a time at which the LSO were in demand around the country, travelling to Cardiff, Bristol, Cambridge, Cheltenham, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Bradford, Edinburgh and beyond on what were known as the 'Percy Harrison Tours', an annual tour of the UK bankrolled by the the Birmingham impressario, Percy Harrison. In 1912, along with the rest of the LSO, Sydney travelled to America on the very first tour by a European orchestra, spending six weeks away.

It was not really too much of a surprise to find that such a busy musician had never married. By 1911, Sydney had moved in with his elder sister Louise and her husband Frederick Sibley in Forest Hill, later moving with them to Chiswick.

Service Life:

Campaigns:

Unit / Ship / Est.: 15th Battalion London Regiment (Prince of Wales' Own Civil Service Rifles) 

1/5th (City of London) Battalion (London Rifle Brigade) August 1914 : at 130 Bunhill Row. Part of 2nd London Brigade, 1st London Division. Moved on mobilisation to Bisley, going on in September to Crowborough. 5 November 1914 : left the Division and landed at Le Havre. 17 November 1914 : came under command of 11th Brigade in 4th Division. 19 May 1915 : transferred to GHQ Troops and formed a composite unit with 1/12th and 1/13th Bns. Resumed identity 11 August. 25 October 1915 : transferred to 8th Brigade in 3rd Division. 10 February 1916 : transferred to 169th Brigade in 56th (London) Division.

Action : No Data 

No Data has been recorded for the final action, because none has yet been found. If you have any information to offer, please contact the Project Team so we can add.

King's Trumpeter, Member of Royal Society of Musicians, and a Free Mason.

When the war broke out in August 1914 Sydney joined up early. We know from our research that many of the 40 or so other members of the LSO who served in the war did not join up until later, many in 1916 once conscription had been brought into play. However, Sydney and his colleague in the trumpet section Ernest Hall (who had joined the LSO in 1912) both volunteered early, earning themselves a commendation for 'patriotic action' from their colleagues on the LSO Board, which lead to the resolution that serving members' positions would be kept open for them and that they would be exempt from paying fees for the deputies who replaced them.

Sydney volunteered for the London Regiment, 15th (County of London) Battalion (Prince of Wales' Own Civil Service Rifles), a territorial unit, which had its headquarters at Somerset House on The Strand in central London. Sydney was given the rank of Sergeant Bugler and the service number 2488, a number which dates from around September 1914. It's not known whether Sydney was required to perform as a bugler during his service, although it's nice to think that he was in charge of waking up the men every morning with the Reveille. He certainly had the lungs for it – his war record shows that he had a highly unusual chest expansion measurement of 6 inches, and his favourite party trick was to take a deep breath and send his tunic buttons flying!

The Civil Service Rifles battalion was sent to France on 17 March 1915 and became part of 140 Brigade 47th (London) Division, who were billeted at the village of Cauchy a la Tour. The photo above was taken whist in France, and the two girls with his are from the village of Bruay, a few miles away. He was a popular figure with the locals because of his fluent French. By 16 October 1915 the 140th Brigade were established in the Ypres Salient, where they stayed for nearly a year, helping to hold the defensive front line against the German Army. The conditions must have been pretty awful: this area of Belgium is low-lying and prone to flooding, and the water-logged and muddy trenches in which the men lived became the symbol of the war.

Detail :

At 0800 on 19 October 1916 the Brigade took over the section of the bluff, but on 22 October the Germans blew two or three mines near craters on the bluff. On 25 October Sydney lost his life whilst carrying a wounded soldier to safety whilst under enemy fire. He was 38. Sydney was buried in Woods Cemetery, Zillebeke in West Flanders, 3 miles south of Ypres.


The news of Sydney's death was received back home by his family. His personal effects were left to his brother-in-law, Charles, and Sydney was honoured by his colleagues in the London Symphony Orchestra. The minutes of the Orchestra's Annual General Meeting on 27 July 1917 record the Orchestra's deep regret at his death and mention his bravery. It also makes mention of the other members who were then away on service – 34 of them. Soon afterwards the LSO would all but cease activities during the remainder of the war because of financial difficulties.

Masonic :

TypeLodge Name and No.Province/District :
Mother : Orchestral No. 3028 E.C.London

Initiated
Passed
Raised
26th March 1908
28th May 1908
24th September 1908
 

IG

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

Additional Source:

Last Updated: 2020-04-24 23:33:48