His Family

Cecil was one of eleven children born to John Henry Dobson (born 28th March 1859) and Sara Florence Lyons (born 29th January, 1861).

His father was known as Henry and came from Wilton, near Pickering in North Yorkshire. He joined the Police at the age of 24 at Hammersmith, London, and transferred to Chatham in the following year. Sarah was born in Stapleford, just south of Cambridge.¹ They probably met in London as, in 1881, she was one of 14 servants at 40 Portman Square, the home of Sir Michael Edward Hicks Beach,² 1st Earl St Aldwyn, and his wife Lady Lucy Catherine Fortescue, daughter of Hugh Fortescue, 3rd Earl Fortescue. Sarah was Second Nurse and would have had responsibilities looking after the four Beach children, aged at this time between 5 and 1 years. The two-year-old, Susan, would later become the sitter representing Britannia on the reverse of the Edward VII silver florins.

Constable Dobson was on duty only 3 miles away from Sarah’s home and workplace. Despite Henry’s two years in the Medway district, the relationship survived and they were married in the grand surroundings of St. George’s, Hanover Square, on the 81th July, 1885. They settled in Waltham Abbey and in just over one year their first child was born. It was to become a large family:

All the children were born in Waltham Abbey, then a small village surrounded by open countryside.³ The family home at 38 Greenfield Street must have been very crowded as it was a small two-bedroomed yellow brick terrace house—certainly a far cry from Portman Square.

Cecil, and presumably his brothers, attended Waltham Abbey Boys’ Council School, also known as the Board School⁴ in Milton Street. It was only two streets away from the family home.

Cecil, having shown great promise as a pupil, was retained after normal leaving age and given a small wage as a pupil-teacher. Thus, at the age of sixteen, he began his journey into the teaching profession. It may be that he was encouraged down this career path by his policeman-father who had been brought up in a schoolmaster’s household in North Yorkshire.⁵

At some point before the 1911 census, the family had moved 2 miles to 19 College Road, Cheshunt. Cecil was still living at home, along with father, mother and 7 siblings—Henry and William (25 and 23) having flown the nest. Cecil had become an assistant teacher, though he is listed as a school teacher’. His younger sister Jane is marked ‘School Student Scholarship’ but it is unclear whether this is a pupil-teacher scholarship or a general scholarship. Father Henry, now 2 years retired and on his police constable’s pension of £58 5s. 4d. per annum, is augmenting his income by working for the County Council as a School Attendance Officer.

Cecil was probably given his promotion to assistant teacher at the age of eighteen (September 1907) as new 1905 regulations restricted pupil teachers to a two-year appointment. His later college Student Record shows that his promotion kept him at the Board School. He would continue to teach at this school until the end of the 1910-1911 school year before taking the next step towards certificated teacher status: formal training. His college entrance exams (Preliminary Examination for the Certificate and Certificate Examination, passed in 1908 and 1910 respectively) show that he had an aptitude for science, in which he gained a Distinction. He had also gained a separate First Class pass in Elementary Chemistry.

Into Action

He was part of 160th Siege Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery. Siege Batteries were equipped with the biggest guns in the Army, heavy howitzers of 6, 8, 9.2 and even some 12-inch calibre, sending high explosive shells in high trajectory fire. As tactics developed, the Siege Batteries were most often employed in destroying enemy artillery, strongpoints, dumps, stores, roads and railways, behind enemy lines.

The scale of the operation was enormous. Gunner Frank Carter, a teacher in civilian life and a fellow-member of Cecil’s 160th Siege Battery, wrote home,

The secondment to the RAF is of particular interest. In early September, during the Second Battle of Somme, Cecil’s Battery was shelling the Péronne (Somme) area: About 1600 rounds on Harassing and Bombardment and 420 on C.B. [Creeping Barrage] work. PERONNE and neighbouring targets again engaged from 5.30am to 7.10am in support of Infantry operations. Many have recently been engaged at request of 15th Australian Infantry Brigade whose front we cover and with which we have a Liason [sic] officer. The diary notes that they were using observers in tethered balloons and it would appear that Cecil had received training in balloon observation.

On Monday the 2nd of September 1918 Cecil was severely wounded. He received a gunshot wound in the right thigh which had severed the femur, causing a compound fracture. He is not mentioned in the day’s diary by name, only that 160th Siege Battery had 4 Other Ranks killed and 3 wounded.

He was immediately evacuated to Rouen Hospital, arriving there the following day. His family were immediately informed that he was dangerously ill but that permission to visit was denied (see copy of telegram, below). On September 6th he was returned to England on the hospital ship SS Panama and immediately transferred to Birmingham General Hospital. His stay there was to last just over 11 weeks. Two weeks after the Armistice, on Monday, 25th November, 1918 Cecil died. The cause of death was stated as ‘Compound fracture femur and thigh received in Action and pneumonia’.

Cecil was brought home and his body laid to rest in Cheshunt Cemetery. He was survived by his mother and father.

Researcher and Author: John Vickers