Personal Details

Attribute Details
Nationality British
Date of Birth 22 October 1869
Place of Birth Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland
Veterinary College and Date of Graduation Edinburgh - May 1894

Military Service

Attribute Details
Last Rank Major
Regiment/Service Indian Civil Veterinary Department
Secondary Regiment
Secondary Unit
First Theatre of War Unknown Date

Casualty Details

Attribute Details
Date of Death 30 December 1915
Age at Death 45
Place of Death Mediterranean Sea near Crete
Cause of Death Drowned in sinking of SS Persia

Cemetery

Attribute Details
Cemetery Chatby Memorial Cemetery
Location Alexandria, Egypt
Grave Reference Memorial Panel
Commonwealth War Grave Yes - Memorial Panel only
Emblem or Badge on Headstone

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 William Orford Dawson was the son of Major Henry Dawson, 14th King’s Hussars, and Mrs Elizabeth Kathleen Dawson.

He entered ‘class C’ of the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College, having already passed two years of the course at the Royal Veterinary College, London, and he qualified in 1894.

In May 1900, he was serving as a veterinary lieutenant in the Indian Civil Veterinary Department and employed at the Lahore Veterinary College when he was bitten by a supposedly rabid dog and was ordered to proceed with all haste to the Pasteur Institute, Paris, for treatment.

By 1915, he was still serving in the Indian Civil Veterinary Department and had been promoted to Major. He was on board the SS Persia when a U-boat sank it. The Persia headed towards the Suez Canal with over 500 passengers and crew on board until its journey tragically ended on December 30th near Crete by a torpedo from a German U-boat( U-38). It sank in under 5 minutes with the loss of 343 lives.

Major Dawson was one of those lost at sea. He is commemorated on the Chatby Memorial, Egypt.

His death is mentioned in The Veterinary Record on April 22, 1916.