Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Thomas Dowson was born on 21st May 1901 Healyfield, Durham England, son of Frederick Arthur Dowson and Lily Ada Milner. As a young man is appears he was involved in a number of sporting activities as shown by photos in his album [see photos]

He came to Australia aboard the Ormuz [see photos] which departed England on 7th August 1926, arriving in Sydney in 17th September after making stops at Fremantle, Adelaide and Melbourne.  Tom was aged 25, a blast furnace man from 6 Church Street Castleside Consett, Durham England  [see photos] Also on board from Castleside was  J W French a fruitier aged 23, possibly a cousin or second cousin

In 1931 Thomas Dowson married Elizabeth Rowe. Thomas was aged 30 and Elizabeth was aged 24. Thomas and Elizabeth enjoyed an active outdoors life after their marriage and photos show them in various places such as the Blue Mountains, at the beach and horse riding at a sheep station at  Tahmoor, NSW. [see photos]

Thomas Dowson enlisted on 12th June 1940  at Paddington NSW Australia. At the time he was a 39 year old stoker residing at 34 Lord Street North Sydney with his wife Elizabeth.  He did his initial training at Glenfield near Liverpool NSW. On 16th August 1940 Thomas was transferred to the 2/3rd Pioneers Battalion at which time he was posted to Cowra NSW. [see photos]  Between March and October 1841 Thomas was serving in Darwin.

Thomas embarked at Sydney on 1st November 1841 for Egypt arriving on 22nd November 1941. On 26th December his promotion to Corporal was confirmed.  At the end of December 1941 Thomas was detached to the Middle East Weapons Training School where he remained until he qualified on 31st January 1942. On the 18th September 1942 he was promoted to Acting Sergeant. On 3rd October 1942 Thomas was promoted to Acting Warrant officer second class

Tom Dowson was killed in action at El Alamein on 23rd October 1942.  He was buried on 24th October 1942 and later reburied on 31st March 1945 at El Alamein War Cemetery.

Elizabeth never remarried and the couple had no children. On her death, Elizabeth left a box of memorabilia she had collected at the time of her husband’s death and a photo album that had belonged to Tom, to her niece Judith Rowe. Judith [Judy] was my step mother and she had no children of her own either. She died in 2006. On the death of my father in 2021, these items came into my possession and I am now their custodian. As a family historian I know the historical value of such memorabilia. The photo album has photos dating back to the 1930s and possibly earlier. Whilst I never met Tom or his wife Elizabeth, I did hear stories of them from my step-mother and have gleaned something of their life from the photo album.  If any members of the Dowson family would like to contact me I would be happy to share the photos with them. Many appear to be taken in Durham and are probably of family members.

Jennifer Woodcroft 

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