Colonel James Lennox Dawson, VC

Colonel James Lennox Dawson VC (25 December 1891 – 15 February 1967) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross

Dawson enlisted into the 5th Cameronians in November 1914, but transferred to the Royal Engineers in March 1915.

He was 23 years old, and a corporal in the 187th Company, Corps of Royal Engineers, British Army during the First World War when the following deed took place at the Battle of Loos, for which he was awarded the VC.

On 13 October 1915 at Hohenzollern Redoubt, France, during a gas attack, when the trenches were full of men, Corporal Dawson exposed himself fearlessly to the enemy's fire in order to give directions to his sappers and to clear the infantry out of sections of the trench which were full of gas. Finding three leaking cylinders, he rolled them well away from the trench, again under heavy fire, and then fired rifle bullets into them to let the gas escape. His gallantry undoubtedly saved many men from being gassed.

The University records show that he taught in Glasgow between 1921 and 1927. By 1928 he had returned to military service with the Army Educational Corps, and transferred to the Indian Army Ordnance Corps in 1931, where he remained for the rest of his career. In 1952 he notified the University that he was a Colonel and that he had retired to Eastbourne, Sussex. He died there on the 15th February 1967.

LOTFWW

Medal Index Cards

findmypastTranscription

• First name(s) James Lennox
• Last name Dawson
• Year 1914-20
• Service number 7793, 91608
• Second service number 91608
• Rank Private,Sapper,Lieutenant,Major
• Second rank Sapper
• Third rank Lieutenant
• Fourth rank Major
• Regiment Scottish Rifles, Royal Engineers
• Second corps Royal Engineers
• Third corps Royal Engineers
• Fourth corps Royal Engineers
• Service record Soldier Number: 7793, Rank: Private, Corps: Scottish Rifles
• Second service record Soldier Number: 91608, Rank: Sapper, Corps: Royal Engineers
• Third service record Rank: Lieutenant, Corps: Royal Engineers
• Fourth service record Rank: Major, Corps: Royal Engineers
• Image link http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D2136068
• Country Great Britain
• Medal type British Army medal index cards, 1914-1920
• Archive reference WO372/5
  

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References, Sources and further reading

• http://www.scotlandswar.ed.ac.uk/Clackmannan/People/James-Lennox-Da...
  
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Lennox_Dawson
• http://www.universitystory.gla.ac.uk/ww1-biography/?id=4509
• http://www.alloaadvertiser.com/news/13733292.Exhibition_will_highli...
• http://www.memorialstovalour.co.uk/vc674.html