Dawson | John William
Biography
John William Dawson was killed in action in the Battle of Overloon on 13th October 1944 at the age of 28. He was a Private in the 2nd Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment (service number 4343023). He was initially buried on the premises of C.P. van den Berg, C164 Overloon and re-interred on 30 January 1946 in Grave I.A.13 in the Overloon War Cemetery.
No photo of John William Dawson has yet been found. Should anyone reading this have a photo of him or further information regarding him – or if they are aware of any errors in his biography below can they please contact the Foundation?
Family background
When he enlisted in the Army, John William Dawson stated that he was born on 24 November 1915 in the Newington area of Hull which is near Anlaby Road on the west of the centre. His father was named as Samuel Dawson. John was the son of Samuel Dawson and Winifred Mannion who had married at Mansfield Register Office in Nottinghamshire in 1901, though his birth was registered in early 1915, suggesting he was older than he claimed to be on enlistment. Samuel and Winifred had 9 children as follows: Mary Ann in 1901; Henry in 1903; Lucy in 1906; James Albert in 1908; twins Ellen and Louisa in 1910; Lily in 1912; John William in 1915 and Thomas in 1917. Mary Ann was born in Bramley, Leeds and Henry in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire while the rest were born in Hull. James A Dawson died in Hull in 1914.
In 1911 the family was living at 6 Vaults Lane, Waterside Road, Barton upon Humber, Lincolnshire which is on the south bank of the Humber, opposite Hull. Samuel was born c1875 in Tibshelf in Derbyshire and described as a General Dealer while Winifred was, born c1879 in Bolton, Lancs. and described as a Hawker. All six children born by that time were with them. Sadly, their son James died in 1914.
Winifred Dawson herself died in 1918 in Hull, aged 39, when John would have been just 3 years old and Samuel was left with eight children under 18 years of age. In the 1921 census, Samuel and his family were living at 66, Edgar Street, Hull. His profession was Furniture Broker – on own account. However, Lucy and John were not present at his time.
There are signs from 1922 that the family led a very troubled life. It seems that Lucy, aged 16, was twice charged with theft from two different employers in Beverley in 1922. On the second occasion some of the goods turned up at the house in Edgar Street where the family were living in 1921, though it was said in one newspaper article that her father was living in a caravan. The second case was adjourned for 6 months on condition that she entered the Newington home for fallen women for a year.
Then in 1927 and 1928 there were several newspaper articles regarding the behaviour and living conditions of several of the children. The twins Louisa and Nellie were fined twice for obstructing a footpath while talking to a number of foreign seamen. They were described as being brought up in a caravan among a family of hawkers and were out of control. They had been found in bed in a caravan where they lived with a man of about 50 years of age. On one occasion Nellie attended court with a baby in her arms. On another occasion Louisa was fined for breaching bylaws by going aboard a Norwegian ship in Victoria Dock with a young Norwegian ship’s cook. Samuel Dawson was fined for neglecting his children.
Previously they had been living in a small hut in Hornsea which was not watertight, had no toilet and was filthy. He was now living on his own, but seven of his family were living in squalor in a room only 10ft x 13ft. These were his daughters Lucy (aged 22), Louise and Nellie (the 17 year old twins), Donald, the 10 month old illegitimate child of Lucy, John, the 8 month old illegitimate child of Nellie, and two boys aged 13 and 11 respectively. Louise was also expecting a baby. The ages of the two boys suggest that these were two of Samuel’s sons – John William Dawson and Thomas Dawson – indicating that John William Dawson was still in Hull in 1928. The two boys had to sleep on the floor with only a piece of torn and dirty blanket. They only attended school intermittently.
Finally, in September 1928 Lucy (aged 22) and the twin sisters Nellie and Louisa (now 18) were accused of neglecting their own children. Lucy had a 15 month old baby called Donald while Nellie and Louisa had children named John and Doreen, aged 13 months and 4 months respectively. All were illegitimate. Again, they were living in filthy conditions and there was a belief that the girls were leaving their babies unattended while they went out and also had men visiting them. The case against Lucy was dropped as a witness stated that she never left her child alone, but the twins were sentenced to 28 days imprisonment. It isn’t clear if the babies were taken into care.
John William Dawson enlisted in the Regular Army on 15 March 1934 at Hull. It may be that he decided to sign up to escape the squalor and hardships of his family life.
No further trace was found of Mary Ann or Lily Dawson after 1921 or Nellie, Louisa or Thomas after 1928, but other family members continued to have troubles after John joined up. His sister Lucy may have married a bigamist in 1934 who was sentenced for it in 1937. His brother Henry was also frequently in trouble. He had numerous convictions in Hull, Bridlington and Hornsea between 1927 and 1944 for stealing, being drunk and disorderly, drink driving, driving without a licence and violence, often against women. He was often described as of no fixed abode but was also seen living with some of the women he attacked and in locations close to one of his sisters or father. He was sometimes described as a general dealer. He was sent to prison for 3 months in February 1944 for unlawfully wounding Mary Ann Wright with whom he was lodging and her eldest son James. However, Henry came to a sticky end on December 31st 1944 when 17 year old James Wright shot Dawson in an attempt to protect his mother and brother from a violent attack. He had lived with them for 3 years. Dawson later died and Wright was found guilty of manslaughter. He was treated leniently due to the unusual circumstances and bound over in the care of the probation officer for 2 years. It seems that Henry died just a few months after John.
Military career
John William Dawson (Service No. 4343023) signed up for the East Yorkshire Regiment on 15 March 1934 for the normal terms of 7 years in the Regular Army and 5 in the Reserves. He gave his father, Samuel Dawson, as his next of kin at an address of Back South Gates, Hornsea, Yorkshire. Samuel’s link to Hornsea ties up with the newspaper stories about his children in 1927 and 1928.
John gave his occupation as a Boot Repairer. He was described as being 5ft 4 ½ in tall and weighing 123 lbs. He had a fresh complexion, grey eyes and brown hair and was declared fit.
He was assigned to the Depot of the East Yorkshire Regiment on 17 March 1934 and then to the 2nd Battalion on 18 August 1934. When he enlisted, his education level was described as D – but it seems that he was awarded a 3rd Class Certificate of Education on 27 April 1935.
However, he was declared a deserter on 24 August 1935. He was apprehended by Civil Police at Hull on 17 October. He was tried by District Court Martial at Aldershot on 29 October and convicted of desertion and losing public property by neglect – for example, his uniform and other military equipment. He was sentenced to 28 days detention and stoppage of some pay. All entitlements as a result of his service up to 19 October were forfeited so his service would now be considered to start from that date. He was sent to detention at Aldershot on 5 November. He returned to duty with the 2nd Battalion on 11 November, having earned 14 days’ remission of his sentence.
Not long after he returned to duty, he was absent without leave from 10pm on 29 December 1935 to 11.30pm on 14 January 1936 for which he forfeited 17 days’ pay and was given 15 days detention at Aldershot.
On 28 January 1936, he was posted to the 1st Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment. This Battalion was serving in India. John is shown serving there to 6 June 1943 at which point he returned to the UK. While in India, on 10 March 1943, he seems to have trained as a tradesman repairing equipment.
He seems to have been posted to “2 NCID”, though it isn’t clear what this unit was. It seems he was quickly in trouble again as he was absent for four periods of a few days each between 16 July to 23 August for which he again forfeited several days’ pay.
He was posted to the 2nd Battalion of the East Yorkshire Regiment on 30 August 1943. On 24 October 1943 he was again declared a deserter. He rejoined from desertion on 22 November 1943. He was given 28 days detention on 30 November 1943 for falsifying an entry on a form and stating a falsehood. On 6 December he was tried for the desertion on 24 October, though now it was referred to as being absent without leave. He was found guilty and sentenced to 6 months hard labour, though it was subsequently commuted to just 6 months detention.
He returned to duty on 6 April 1944 having had 61 days of his sentence remitted.
His Service Record suggests that he was sent to North West Europe on 3 June 1944, so will have landed with the 2nd East Yorkshires in France on D-Day, 6 June 1944. The Battalion lost many men and had to be substantially reinforced in late July when it had returned across the Orne to Beuville, near Caen in France. It played a part in action to secure a road junction at Vire in mid August but played no further part in the Battle of Normandy. In September they were in Belgium and successfully crossed the Escaut canal as part of the ill-fated Market Garden operation, arriving in Gemert in Holland on 26th September where they received a tremendous welcome. Members of the regiment were billeted in the area until October 1st, generally in barns with straw to sleep on.
The Battle of Overloon began on October 12th and it raged until the 15th amid continual rain and mud. The East Yorkshires commenced their attack at 12 noon on the 12th by starting to clear a wood, though they quickly came under considerable shell and mortar fire. While making some progress, one company lost their officers and Company Sergeant Major and were being commanded by a corporal. However, by 7pm the day’s objectives had been met. There was considerable enemy shelling and mortaring throughout the night. The area had been heavily mined so movement was very restricted. There were 48 men wounded and three killed. The following day, October 13th, the Battalion remained in position while shelling and mortaring continued intermittently though no casualties were mentioned in the war diary for that day.
Official records indicate that John Dawson was killed on the 13th October. It is possible that he was one of those killed in the early hours of that morning.
However, many years after the war, in 1984, Corporal T Hall of the East Yorkshire Regiment related the circumstances of John Dawson’s death, though he implies that it occurred when the Regiment were at Venray which would be on or after the 17th October rather than the 13th. It isn’t certain whether the official record is incorrect, or if Corporal Hall recollected the wrong date.
He stated that a Private Payne who was 19 years old had formed a close bond with an older soldier of 28 years old called Dawson. They fought as a team. He says that there was often very heavy shelling early on a morning from over the Seigfried Line. He says that on one such morning: “Dawson said he was going to look for some fat so we could have some chips. He went and we never saw him again until we went on patrol and we found him with no head on. But Payne, when he saw his friend, he literally collapsed. He started crying real big tears and emotionally he was finished. He couldn’t hold a limb still. All his webbing and everything fell off his arms. He was spent, absolutely finished.”
This was an example of shell shock. Previously, on 17th October when approaching Venray and in the heat of battle, Corporal Hall had been ordered by a Canadian Officer to kill a German who had surrendered. Corporal Hall passed the command on to Private Payne who did as he was told. The prisoner was shot and fell to the ground but wasn’t dead yet. He pointed to his head and Payne shot again. Hall suspected that Payne saw a connection between the prisoner he had murdered and his friend being killed. He said “In a way all three of them lost their heads.”
Aftermath
On 11 November 1944, his father’s address was changed to 44 St Luke Street, Kingston upon Hull, Yorks and changed again by him on 26 June 1946 to 119 Adelaide Street, Off Porter Street, Hull. On that latter date, a memo was sent to Samuel at that address which enclosed the possessions which John had at the time of his death. These consisted of only a French Chamber of Commerce Medal and a small locket. Although the address had been verified as unchanged, it seems that the letter was returned without being delivered.
It is thought that Sam Dawson died in Hull in Q2 1961 aged 84.
The forgotten battle
Below is a video clip from the film ‘The Forgotten Battle – The Liberation of Overloon and Venray’ by Jac van Sinten.
Corporal T. Hall of the East Yorkshire Regiment describes the tragic death of John Dawson and how it affected his comrade Payne.
