Son of Thomas William Coxon and Alice Taylor Garnett, born 1893 in East Melbourne.  A search of the Sands & McDougall Post Office Directories shows the family to be then living at 108 Powlett Street, East Melbourne.  The house was a boarding house and it does not appear that the Coxons lived there for more than a year. In 1889 Thomas, employed as an accountant by L. MacPherson & Co., auctioneers of Sandhurst, was found guilty of embezzlement from his employers.  He was  sentenced to five years imprisonment with hard labour. [Bendigo Advertiser, 3 Jul 1899, p.2; Argus, 10 Aug 1899, p.10]

Jack attended Scotch College, Class II English Prize, 1903. [Argus, 16 Dec 1903]

Enlisted 14 December 1914.  Description - 21 years, 5ft 7ins, 11 stone, dark complexion, hazel eyes, dark brown hair.  Occupation - Gentleman.  Previous experience  - Public School Cadets.

Embarked 8 May 1915.  Promoted to Staff Sergeant 3 Apr 1916.  District Court Martial at Tedworth:  absent without leave 6 Nov 1916 to 21 Nov 1916 and paid for board and lodging with a fraudulent cheque.  Sentence:  1 year's detention to date from 21 November 1916;  to be reduced to the ranks; and £85 be deducted from his pay to cover the cheque.  Served in France.  AWOL twice more and several other misdemeanours.  Returned to Australia with intractable constipation.  AWOL from No. 16 Australian General Hospital, McLeod.  Struck off as a deserter.

After the war he wrote to Base Records on several occasions from different parts of Australia requesting a copy of his discharge papers which he stated had been lost in a fire in 1927.  An article appeared in a regional newspaper describing how he travelled throughout Australia calling in at various hospitals and clinics seeking treatment for his constipation and requesting that the defence department pay the costs.  One Medical Officer had fallen for the story and was keen to warn others that Coxon's symptoms were in no way caused by his War Service.