Born in
Palmerston North, Luxford qualified as a solicitor in 1913 and then during the
First World War joined the army and saw military service in Europe and the
Middle East, rising to the rank of Major. In 1919, soon after returning home from the war, he qualified as a
barrister. He practised law in
Te Awamutu,
Hamilton, and
Auckland, and was Chief Judge in Samoa from 1929 to 1935, then served as a magistrate in Auckland from 1941 to 1951. He wrote several law books and a memoir,
With the Machine Gunners in France and Palestine. Becoming a city councillor for Auckland, in 1953 Luxford was elected as mayor and initiated a number of reforms, but he was not successful in chairing the council. In 1956 he was defeated for mayor by
Tom Ashby, who had previously been the Auckland Town Clerk from 1944 to 1955 and challenged Luxford's claims about wasteful expenditure inside the Council. In the
1953 New Year Honours, Luxford was appointed a
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George. Later that year, he was awarded the
Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. ==References==