Henry was born on the 8 March 1901 to George Franklin and Kate Nelson (née May) at 12, Heidelberg Road, Southsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire. In the 1901 Census he was living with his Mum in the same house as his birth. His father George from Port Royal, Jamaica, was a serving Steward in the Royal Navy when he married Kate on 4 June 1889 and carried on serving up to 31 August 1897. There are no other records of any more children from George and Kate’s marriage. In the 1911 Census Henry is living at 96, Somers Rd, Southsea but a misread/typo has his second name as Perez?. He joined the Royal Navy on 13 September 1916 when he was 15 years and 6 months old with his Next Of Kin recorded as his “Guardian”.

He entered the Royal Navy on 13 September 1916 when he joined HMS IMPREGNABLE, the “Boy’s Training Ship”  berthed in Devonport dockyard, to start his basic 17 weeks training and was classed on entry as a Boy Second Class. On 26 January he was drafted to HMS GANGES holding the same rate though on 28 March he was selected as a telegraphist and had a change of rating to become a Boy Telegraphist.  He completed his training on 27 July with a draft to HMS VICTORY l in Portsmouth for 4 weeks, then on to HMS DOLPHIN on 28 August for 2 months. He then received a draft to HMS TITANIA on 24 October 1917, at that time the depot ship for the “Eleventh Submarine Flotilla” in Blyth, Northumberland, and spent 6 months in HMS G2. He was back on board TITANIA as a member of ship’s company from 1 April 1918 to 1 July 1918 before joining HMS J6  for patrols in the North Sea.

On the 15 October 1918 while on patrol and on the surface in the North Sea J6 was tragically wrongly identified as a German submarine by the Q ship CYMRIC, who opened fire with her concealed deck guns sinking J6 with the loss of 16 members of the submarine’s crew including Boy Telegraphist Henry Percy Saxton aged 17 years and 7 months old.

He is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial on Panel 29.