Capt Humphrey Dowson MC > Citation/gazette?

[rugbyremembers]

Am looking for citation/ gazette on MC for Capt H Dowson of KRRC. Also he was MID earlier in war. Died 15/9/16, Delville wood.

I ahve CGWC and unit history, but cannot find MC gazette entry/citation. An Uppingham school man.

A Rosslyn Park rugby player, so part of the www.rugbyremembers.co.uk project.

Many thanks

[HarryBettsMCDCM]

LG Link

Temp. Lt. Humphrey Dowson, K.R.R.C.

For conspicuous gallantry in action. He

took command of the company when another

officer was wounded, organised his defences,

and held his own with great determination

The only H Dowson MiD seems to have been an OR in the West Yorks Regt

Dowson MiD

NA Medal Index Shows Service with HAC

NA MiC Link

[rugbyremembers]

Many thanks and most helpful. MID must be a red herring from another source - admittedly Wisden as quoted by Cricinfo.

rgds

Stephen

[SteveE]

The only H Dowson MiD seems to have been an OR in the West Yorks Regt

HB, the link supplied goes to a MM not a MID , the link for H. Dowson's MID (yes, he was mentioned so Wisden is correct) is here.... http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/296...upplements/5947

Regards

Steve

[rugbyremembers]

Steve many thanks for closing this loop. rgds Stephen

[MBrockway]

Stephen,

Firstly profuse apologies: with no mention of KRRC in the Topic title, I missed it first time round and only spotted it working backwards from checking the KRRC men on your Rosslyn Park Memorial website Roll of Honour!

Here's Dowson's obituary from the 1917 KRRC Chronicle (BTW: it's only two pages after that of Charles Coburn - another Rosslyn Park player ... and also a lawyer) :

CAPTAIN HUMPHREY DOWSON, M.C.

Was the younger surviving son of Walter Dowson and Mrs. Walter Dowson, of Alan Cottage, Wimbledon, Surrey, and was 27 years of age. He was reported "wounded" on September 15th, 1916, subsequently "wounded and missing, believed killed," and is now known to have been killed.

He was educated at St. Andrew's School, Eastbourne, Uppingham, and King's College, Cambridge. At Uppingham he held a classical scholarship and a leaving scholarship, and was in the cricket eleven and football fifteen. At King's College, Cambridge, he had an hon. exhibition, and took his degree with honours. He was articled to his father, and in July 1914 passed his final law examination.

On the outbreak of war he joined the H.A.C., and later obtained a temporary commission in the Regiment, proceeding to the Front in August 1915. He was" mentioned" in Sir Douglas Haig's despatch of April 1916, and gained the Military Cross in August 1916.

According to his MIC, he was commissioned on 07 Nov 1914 into 15th Battalion, KRRC, which became a Reserve Battalion on 10 Apr 1915 to provide drafts to the other KRRC battalions.

He joined 9th Battalion, KRRC, at the Front during a period of rest and refitting between 5th and 20th August 1915. He was already a (temporary) Lieutenant at this stage.

Further digging in the 1916 KRRC Chronicle reveals that the MiD related to the attack on Bellewarde Farm, north of Hooge, on 25 Sep 1915 - a diversionary attack for the Battle of Loos.

Dowson was wounded (and later accepted as Killed in Action) at the capture of Guedecourt on 15 Sep 1916 (Battle of Flers/Courcelette). While moving up behind 9/RB, the battalion received very effective machine gun fire just to the north of Delville Wood. The enemy position was eventually neutralised by 9/RB, but not before it had taken a heavy toll on the officers of 'A' and 'B' Coys and the Btn HQ, including the battalion CO, all the battalion signallers, and T/Capt Dowson.

There's no explicit mention in the 1916 KRRC Chronicle 9th Battalion War Records of Dowson's MC, and I don't have the 9/KRRC War Diary unfortunately.

We do know from the London Gazette though, that Dowson was a temporary Lieutenant at the time of the MC Action, and he was already a temporary Captain by the time of his death at Guedecourt.

Here for convenience, I repeat the MC citation from above:

Temp. Lt. Humphrey Dowson, K.R.R.C.

For conspicuous gallantry in action.

He took command of the company when another officer was wounded, organised his defences, and held his own with great determination.

The KRRC Chronicle obituary (see above) states the MC action was in August 1916.

During August 1916, 9/KRRC first moved into the line on the night of 19/20 Aug 1916, occupying the reserve trench known as Montauban Alley, to the north of Montauban.

On night of 21/22 Aug, they relieved 8/RB in the front line trenches within Delville Wood itself, 'C' and 'D' Coys in Devil's Trench to the front facing NE, 'A' and 'B' Coys in Devil's Help Trench just behind them, and Battalion HQ roughly halfway between Longueval and Waterlot Farm about 440 yds further back.

They occupied these positions until they launched an attack to clear Delville Wood at 17:45hrs on 24 Aug. 'C' and 'D' Coys formed the first wave and lost all their officers killed or wounded. I think we can therefore assume Dowson was not in 'C' or 'D' Coy.

'A' Coy formed the second wave pushing forward from Devil's Help also at 17:45hrs then over to the right towards Edge Trench, Hop Alley and Ale Alley. 'B' Coy stayed in Reserve in Devil's Help.

The attack bogged down due to uncut wire and fierce resistance from a strongpoint in Edge Trench, and the Coys dug in to consolidate the ground gained so far. The KRRC Chronicle states that by now the officers of 'A' Coy were also all casualties, and that the OC of 'B' Coy still (as far as I can see) in reserve in Devil's Help Trench, was mortally wounded at 19:00hrs.

Thus it seems to me that Dowson being in 'B' Coy seems to fit the MC citation most closely. That's speculation though, which a check on the 9/KRRC War Diary can probably confirm.

The assault was resumed with a bombing attack at 02:00hrs that night and Delville Wood successfully cleared of the enemy bar a single small outpost.

9/KRRC moved out of the line immediately after this Action and remained out of the line refitting for the rest of August. We can be confident therefore that Dowson's Military Cross relates to the Capture of Delville Wood on 24 Aug 1916.

HTH and good luck with the Memorial.

Cheers,

Mark

[liverpool annie]

Can I just say Mark .... that that is terrific ....... sorry to interrupt just thought I had to say it !!

Annie

[rugbyremembers]

Mark,

Firstly no need to apologize especially after such a full post, which is excellent. This was my first post, before I had realised the (now obvious) value of the regiment in the title. I had naively assumed there were MC experts out there, while I now understand that most work by regiment.

As a nice discovery in this process, I have found Dowson's name on a war memorial on part of Wimbledon Common, now known as the Richardson Evans Memorial playing Field or REMPF. (turns out that the memorial is not to RE, but to the WW1 dead of Wimbldeon and RE brought the land and made into playing field to ensure the survival of the memorial. Dowson is there alongside AL Harrison VC, also of Rosslyn Park.

Is it possible to send details of Charles Coburn too?

many thanks

Stephen

[MBrockway]

Mark,

..

..

Is it possible to send details of Charles Coburn too?

many thanks

Stephen

Stephen,

I posted Charles Coburn's KRRC obituary in your Topic on him the other day:

2nd Lt Charles Coburn, 18th Bn KRRC, A Rosslyn Park rugby player

I'm afraid that's all the info I have on him. He was only at the front line a month before he was killed during Passchendaele

I did some digging to see why a young man with a Kilburn/West Hampstead address might be connected to Rosslyn Park FC, but the only theory I could come up with was it dated back to his time at St Paul's School, which was then sited between Hammersmith Road and Talgarth Road in Hammersmith, not that far from Richmond Park ... but even that's pretty tenuous

Dowson in Wimbledon at least is very local!

Is there anything specific you'd like me to investigate on Coburn? I could give you some more detail on 18/KRRC's action at Hollebeke perhaps?

Cheers,

Mark

[rugbyremembers]

Indeed yuo did, soory for oversight. Coburn was ex-merton and we have a few, so there may be a pals link, but I agree St pauls the likelier connection.

RPFC at that time played in Richmond Old Deer Park.

[MBrockway]

Indeed you did, sorry for oversight. Coburn was ex-merton and we have a few, so there may be a pals link, but I agree St pauls the likelier connection.

RPFC at that time played in Richmond Old Deer Park.

It's still speculative even with St Paul's - the school was then in Hammersmith, not Castelnau, and neither are that close to the Old Deer Park.

One of the reasons the school abandoned the cramped site in Hammersmith/Baron's Court was the lack of sport facilities. Apparently the boys were going to playing fields in Osterley Park by tube. If they were doing that, then certainly a bus ride to Rosslyn Park's grounds in the Old Deer Park would not be out of the question.

I've always thought of St. Paul's as a rowing school for obvious reasons, but I understand they have an equally fine tradition in rugby football - the school was one of the founding members of the RFU - so links with Rosslyn Park would not be surprising.

Oops! Just realised we should probably be putting these theories into Coburn's topic, not Dowson's!

Cheers,

Mark