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Background
Edgar Claxton came from a comfortable, professional family originally from Cambridgeshire who, by the time he was born, were settled in London. His paternal great grandfather was Jesse Claxton senior (Ely ca.1806 – Ely 1870), a solicitor of 75 Broad Street, Ely. His great grandmother was Sarah Boyce Creak (Ely ca.1828 – Marylebone 1921), whom Jesse senior married in 1850. In 1874, after Jesse's death, Sarah remarried to Gaius Busby. Claxton's paternal grandfather was Jesse Claxton junior (Ely 20 February 1850 - Northwood 29 March 1917),  an assistant clerk to the Guardians' registrar of birth and deaths, working "at home at Guardians' offices", which were part of the 1867 extension of the workhouse in Northumberland Street. Jesse junior married on 21 August 1878; his wife was Mary Elizabeth Scales (Cambridge 1854 - Thanet 1937). Jesse junior is buried in Northwood Cemetery, London.

Claxton's father Edgar "Ted" Claxton was born in Marylebone on 10 June 1883. Edgar was employed by the St Marylebone Guardians, being paid £30 per annum when appointed as second temporary junior assistant clerk at the age of 16 years. In 1907, Edgar was promoted from sixth assistant clerk with £75 per year, to fifth assistant clerk and settlement officer with £100 per annum. At the age of 24, he was already the deputy registrar of the All Souls Registration District of the Marylebone parish. Until 1908 Ted lived with his parents and three sisters Edith Mary (b. Marylebone 1881), dressmaker Bertha Elizabeth W. (Marylebone 1882 – Bridge 1952), and milliner Dora (b. Marylebone 1886), at 60 Charlotte Street, Marylebone.

Claxton's mother was Nellie Mildred "Helen" Petty, whose father was George Masters Petty (Wilton 1855 – West Ealing 17 February 1940), of 9 Rectory Road, West Hackney, a rent collector and tithe agent from Wiltshire. Helen was the eldest of four siblings, the other three being: Edith Annie (b. Hackney 1885), William George Masters (Hackney 3 January 1888 – Watford 1981), and Elsie Emily (b. Hackney 1891). Helen was born in West Hackney in 1883. Ted and Helen married in July 1908. By 1911, Ted was a poor law settlement officer, and they were living in Marylebone. Helen was the honorary piano accompanist for the Northwood Choral Society. Helen died in Uxbridge on 21 February 1945, aged 61 years, She left £397 9s 5d. A year after Helen's death, Ted Claxton married Mary Beatrice Eustance in Edmonton in 1946.

Ted died on 5 February 1971 at Hillingdon, Middlesex, aged 87 years. The probate of his will was dated 8 September 1971, he left £13,684.

Private life
Edgar Claxton was born in Marylebone on 7 July 1910, and died in Oxford on 13 August 2000). He first appeared in the newspapers at the age of two years, having attended the wedding of his maternal aunt Edith Annie Petty, which was somewhat generously paid for by his grandfather George Masters Petty of Shepherd's Bush. To the long, expensive list of wedding gifts, the toddler Edgar was credited with the contribution of a rolling pin. He attended Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood, and in 1939 he gained First Class Honours in civil engineering at University College London.

In 1928, soon after his 18th birthday, Claxton's motor car was in a collision with a motorcycle in Northwood. The pillion rider of the motorcycle, 19-year-old Beatrice Davis, was killed, having been "tossed in the air, landing on her neck. In 1964–1965 Claxton was living at 49 Hallowell Road, Hillingdon. In 1969 he was living at 47 Grange Gardens, Pinner.

Career
In the 1930s Claxton was trained in mechanical engineering by Sir Nigel Gresley at the London North Eastern Railway. In 1959 he was the assistant electrical engineer (development), for the chief electrical engineer's department, British Railways central staff, British Transport Commission (BTC). Following pioneer electrification of the Aix-les-Bains to La Roche-sur-Foron line, and the Valenciennes to Thionville line in 1954, the BTC asked Edgar Claxton to chair a "committee to review electrification strategy for main lines."

He read a paper at the British Railways Electrification Conference in 1960. He "was part of the team setting up the first overhead wires for electrification of the mainline railway and was involved in the project commemorated" in the British Railways booklet, Change at Crewe (1960). This brochure details "the completion of Stage One, Manchester-Crewe of the Manchester-Liverpool-Euston Electrification Scheme."

By 1969, Claxton was the fixed equipment projects engineer for the British Railways Board. He was "involved in all British Railway electrification projects throughout the country, and [was] responsible for the design and procurement of all the equipment, and for the electrification side of the projects." He was involved in the design of the Channel Tunnel and in the railway electrification systems of Brazil, Romania and Finland.

Awards and institutions
In 1946, Claxton was elected an Associate of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He was living in Bath at the time. He was a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (MICE) and a Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers (MIEE). For his work he was awarded an MBE in the 1969 Birthday Honours of Elizabeth II.

Claxton's team's overhead lines in 1960
According to Claxton's Overhead Line Equipment paper of 1960, the lines included in the electrification plan were: Manchester–Crewe; Liverpool–Crewe; Crewe-Euston; Colchester–Clacton–Walton; Liverpool Street–Chelmsford–Southend; Liverpool Street–Enfield–Chingford–Hertford–Bishop's Stortford; London–Tilbury–Southend; Glasgow Surburban Stage I; Chelmsford–Colchester.

Claxton and his team faced and resolved a number of challenges to the installation of the overhead electrification system. Overhead lines were considered less dangerous and more convenient than an electrified third rail which could not be used on level crossings and in the rail yards. However there was dense traffic at speeds of up to 100 mph on the above routes and the trains would have to leave the main tracks when not in use. There was often little room between the train roofs and the bridges, bridges could not always be raised, and lowering the track level below bridges was not always feasible. The damp British atmosphere threatened to facilitate corrosion in electrical installations, while maintenance costs had to be limited.

Where tunnels could not be adapted for space, lower-voltage equipment was fitted in. "Welded-and-braced portal structures and extensive trials with tubular structures" formed part of the solution for carrying the equipment. They spent a lot on compound structures, non-ferrous fittings and special insulators to protect equipment from weathering and air pollution, making it safe for fast trains. Where there had to be neutral sections and gaps in electrification, special equipment was designed for the transition between differing power supplies. Regarding this challenge, Claxton said in 1960, "Section insulators of high performance have been provided and advanced high-speed bi-directional designs have now been developed." At that stage in 1960, the team was investigating "less expensive galvanised live-side fittings, simple high-speed sectioning devices and the use of glass-fibre and toughened glass." They were aiming to save construction and maintenance costs, and simplify the design, while making sure that the equipment would work properly and last well.

In October 1960, Ernest Marples said, "It will be the technical advances that will decide the attraction of rail travel in the future. There is the news of the Manchester-Crewe electrification. There is the news of the Kent electrification, which has brought about a 36 per cent. increase in passengers over the previous steam traction."