DAWSON, Henry George
| Service Number: | 4409 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 14 January 1916 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 22nd Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Gladstone, Tasmania, Australia, 3 March 1891 |
| Home Town: | Port Melbourne, Port Phillip, Victoria |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Miner |
| Died: | Killed in Action, Belgium, 13 October 1916, aged 25 years |
| Cemetery: |
Railway Dugouts Burial Ground (Transport Farm) Plot VI, Row L, Grave 12. |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour |
World War 1 Service
| 14 Jan 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 4409, 22nd Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Mar 1916: | Involvement Private, 4409, 22nd Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '14' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: RMS Orontes embarkation_ship_number: '' public_note: '' | |
| 29 Mar 1916: | Embarked Private, 4409, 22nd Infantry Battalion, RMS Orontes, Melbourne |
Help us honour Henry George Dawson's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Harry Dawson was the son of Hannah Dawson of Queenstown, Tasmania, whose husband Alexander had passed away in 1901 when Harry was only 10 years of age. She had two other sons enlist during WW1.
Harry’s younger brother, 1608 Pte. Jack McKay Dawson 15th Battalion had already died of wounds in Egypt on the 16 May 1915, aged 22.
From newspaper reports it seems that both Jack and Harry Dawson were survivors of the North Lyell mine disaster of 1912. Due to an outbreak of fire at the 700 feet level in the North Lyell Mine, Western Tasmania, nearly 100 men were entombed, of these, 42 perished. The two brothers were remembered by other survivors by keeping up the spirits of the party considerably by singing songs. Harry was formally photographed with other survivors just after the disaster.
Harry was married to Florence in South Melbourne during July 1913. They had one son who was born about eight months before enlisted in Melbourne. He arrived in Belgium during early September and was killed in action about five weeks later. The 22nd Battalion was only holding the line on this date, and it is unknown how Harry died.
Another brother, 5007 Pte. George Byron Matthew Dawson 24th Battalion AIF, was returned to Australia suffering with frostbite during August 1917. He enlisted from the same address as Harry, 136 Princess Street, Port Melbourne, Victoria.
The following article appeared in the Queenstown newspaper November 1916, “Very sincere regret was expressed on Saturday last when it became known that Private Harry Dawson had been killed in action in France recently. The sadness of the loss is intensified by reason of the fact that on May 17 last year Mrs. Dawson lost her eldest son Private J. M. Dawson in the Gallipoli campaign. She has another of her boys on the way to the front at the present time. It is plain, therefore, that the Dawson family have done their full share in the way of sending men to the front, and one and all will join in the sincerest sympathy with them in having lost two brave men in the defence of the Empire. It will be remembered that Private Dawson was one of those men who were in the North Lyell mine disaster, when he and his brother kept up the spirits of the party considerably by singing songs.”
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