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| Page revised: 15 January, 2008 |
Corporal James Lennox DAWSON VC |
| Born: | Tillycoultry, Central Region, Scotland - 25 December 1891 | 
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| Died: | Eastbourne, Sussex - 15 February 1967 | ||
| Burial details: | Eastborurne Crematorium, Sussex, Area AL/4. | ||
| Corps service: | Enlisted into the 5th Cameronians in November 1914,
but transferred to the Corps in March 1915. He was commissioned into
the Corps in December 1916 and demobilised as a Major in 1919. After completing his BSc at Glasgow University he was commissioned in the Army Education Corps in 1920, but transferred to the Indian Army Ordnance Corps in 1931. Retired as Colonel JL Dawson VC |
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| VC awarded: | Won VC at Loos on 13 October 1915 (First World War 1914-18)). | ||
| VC unit: | 187 Special Company RE | ||
| VC presented: | VC presented by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 15 December 1915. | ||
| VC citation: | For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty on
13 October 1915, at Hohenzollern Redoubt. During a gas attack, when
the trenches were full of men, he walked backwards and forwards along
the parados, fully exposed to a very heavy fire, in order to be the
better able to give directions to his own sappers, and to clear the
infantry out of the sections of the trench that were full of gas.
Finding three leaking gas cylinders, he rolled them some sixteen yards
away from the trench, again under very heavy fire, and then fired
rifle bullets into them to let the gas escape. There is no doubt that
the cool gallantry of Corporal Dawson on this occasion saved many
men from being gassed. (London Gazette: 7 December 1915) |
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| VC location: | Glasgow University, Scotland | ||
| Background: | Dawson won his VC on the last day of the battle of Loos
(24 Sept -13 Oct 1915). The battle was the British contribution to
the northern element of the Allies' autumn offensive of 1915. Before
the war Loos had been a coal mining area described as 'dead flat,
featureless country; dozens of big gaunt mines and huge black slag-heaps'
(Capt H Bayley, RFA - 28 Sept 1915) the slag-heaps provided the only
high ground in the area and were consequently furiously fought over
and utilised by both the British and Germans for fortifications and
observation posts purposes. The Hohenzollern Redoubt was one of those
fortified heaps which also held a German observation post. The troops
that Dawson was with were engaged in removing the Germans from the
redoubt. Dawson was a member of the Royal Engineers' Special Companies, which were specially raised in response to the German gas attack of April 1915. The role of the companies was to deliver gas offensives against the Germans. Gas was used by both sides during the battle. Dawson's cousin Corporal JD Pollock, 5th (S) Battalion Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, also won a VC during the battle (27 Sept 1915). Another Sapper VC recipient in this battle was:
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| Source:
Additional material: SC Fenwick, FoREM Links to further reading:
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Royal Engineers Museum main site
