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It is with great sadness that we report the death of Edward Drummond-Baxter from the 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles while on active service in Afghanistan.

Edward was attached to 40 Commando Royal Marines based on Checkpoint Prrang in the southern area of the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand Province.

Edward came to Eton from Bilton Grange. He immediately impressed us all by his reliability, composure, courtesy and sense of humour, and by his ability to think on his feet (especially on the rugby field), all qualities which were later much admired in him as a soldier. He left Eton, having been in Pop for a year, to read psychology at University College London, where he became an active member of The Honourable Artillery Company. Later he worked for two years for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office mainly in Japan, before joining the British Army. He and another Gurkha, Lance Corporal Siddhanta Kunwar, were shot and killed by a third man wearing an Afghan policeman’s uniform, who had been with them at a meeting.

Edward’s body has been repatriated to the UK via RAF Brize Norton. The funeral will be in Durham Cathedral at 2pm on Tuesday November 20th.

Our deepest sympathies are with his parents and his sister.