DICKINSON, Walter George Burnett
Personal Details
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Date of Birth | 24 April 1850 |
| Place of Birth | Boston, Lincolnshire, England |
| Veterinary College and Date of Graduation | New Edinburgh - July 1881 |
Military Service
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Last Rank | Major |
| Regiment/Service | Army Veterinary Corps |
| Secondary Regiment | Royal Field Artillery |
| Secondary Unit | 1st Battery, 1st Midland Brigade |
| First Theatre of War | Home Service 1914 |
Casualty Details
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Date of Death | 06 August 1914 |
| Age at Death | 57 |
| Place of Death | Lincolnshire, England |
| Cause of Death | Heart Attack |
Cemetery
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Cemetery | Boston Cemetery Cemetery |
| Location | Boston, England |
| Grave Reference | Plot U Grave 490 |
| Commonwealth War Grave | Yes - CWGC Headstone |
| Emblem or Badge on Headstone | Royal Field Artillery |
Honours and Memorials
| Attribute | Details |
|---|---|
| Name on RCVS Honour Board | Yes |
| Name In Officers who died in Great War | No |
| Medals and Awards |
Biography
Major Walter George Burnett Dickinson FRCVS was one of the first “victims” of the First World War. He did not die in battle, but of a heart attack in Lincolnshire, but nevertheless officially became the first Major and second officer to die during the war.
Walter Dickinson was born in Boston, Lincolnshire, on 22 April 1858. He attended Boston Grammar School, the Alfort Ecôle de Veterinaire in Paris , and the New Veterinary College in Edinburgh, which Prof William Williams ran. In 1881, he took over his father’s veterinary practice in Boston and married two years later.
He was admitted as a Fellow of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons and later served as President of the Lincolnshire Veterinary Medical Society. In 1904, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He joined the Lincolnshire Garrison Artillery Volunteers in February 1902 as a veterinary officer and was promoted to Captain in 1905 and then Major in 1913.
Major Dickinson belonged to the Territorial Forces. The Territorial Force (TF) was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army created in 1908 to augment Britain’s land forces without conscription. There were fourteen infantry divisions, fourteen cavalry divisions and some extra units, such as garrison artillery. Artillery was organised into brigades and batteries. Thus, Dickinson belonged to the 1st Battery, 1st North Midland Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery.
When the threat of war increased in July 1914, the government took the precaution of buying horses from farmers across the country to meet the requirements of possible mobilisation. Dickinson’s combination of military position and veterinary knowledge made him the first choice to oversee this duty in the Boston area.
On 6 August, two days after war was declared and 36 hours into the conflict, he was visiting a Butterwick Farm and, having negotiated the sale of some horses, he returned to his car and collapsed dead. He had a history of heart disease and was killed by arteriosclerosis. He was 56.
He is buried with military honours in Boston Cemetery beneath a standard Commonwealth War Graves Commission headstone, listing him as a Major in the Royal Field Artillery.
His obituary written in the Veterinary Record on August 22, 1914, describes Dickinson as:
“a man of kindly and genial disposition, widely read and took a keen interest in all that concerned the advancement of the veterinary profession, as well as in local matters … he was a keen churchman and most popular with all who knew him.’
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