#96187 Sergeant John Edwin Dawson
47TH BRIGADE, ROYAL FIELD ARTILLERY
JOHN DAWSON WAS A 26-YEAR-OLD factory worker from Sheffield, the son of a furnaceman. One of the first men in the country to rush to the colours, he enlisted in August 1914 and found himself in the Royal Field Artillery, the largest of all the variants of British artillery serving in the war. They were armed with horse-drawn 18-pounder field guns, batteries that fired mainly high-explosive or shrapnel shells, which sprayed hundreds of metal spheres in mid-air.
John embarked for France in May 1915 and, although not present when the Battle of the Somme commenced, at the beginning of August his division was routed south. On the afternoon of the 8th, John and his fellow gunners arrived at Dernancourt, to the south-west of Albert in fine weather and the whole of the divisional artillery parked in one big space in the open. The following day the battery commanders went forward to reconnoitre the gun positions they were to take over past Fricourt and at the south-west corner of Mametz Wood. That night John Dawson and the other batteries began relieving the Highland Division’s gunners ahead of them.
The casualties began to mount immediately, with one officer killed and another wounded on their first day in action on the Somme. By the morning of 11th August the relief had been completed and the guns formed into two batteries of six pieces each. Their role was simple; they were to keep firing day and night. The targets that John was given were the enemy trenches and support lines in the south-east part of High Wood and they dutifully kept up a steady rate of fire, attracting retribution from the German guns, which laid an intense barrage on the British lines.
The batteries themselves also came under fire as they continued their relentless bombardment to pave the way for the infantry and on 12th August John was killed by enemy fire. He left behind a wife, Emma, and two children, Charlie aged 4 and Evelyn, aged 6. ‘Your husband was one of my best Sergeants,’ wrote his commanding officer, ‘and was very popular with all the ranks in the battery. He was always so cheerful, and kept everybody happy. His loss will be felt very deeply by all of us here.’ John Dawson was laid to rest at Flatiron Copse Cemetery, plot I.B.26.
A gun team work their 18-pounder wearing gas masks. (Authors’ collection)