Wesley William Dawson

A Private with the 14th Battalion, Wesley died on 7th of October 1918 aged 37.

Wesley was born at Lowestoft on 27 November 1881, a son of James and Eva Dawson. His given names were William Wesley but when he enlisted, he gave Wesley as his first name. In 1891 his family lived at 88 Bevan Street, and this was still their home in 1901 when Wesley, like his father, was a plasterer. In 1911 Wesley was still working as a plasterer and his family lived at 80 May Road. Later his parents lived at 117 Wollaston Road.

Wesley enlisted in the Army at Lowestoft. He joined the Royal Engineers, service number 166363. He was transferred to the Northumberland Fusiliers, service number 57446, and posted to the 1st Battalion in France. Subsequently he was posted to the 14th Battalion. 

Wesley served with 1 Platoon, A Company. He received a gunshot wound in late 1917 and his name appears in the official casualty list, the War Office Daily List, dated 19 January 1918. Once recovered he returned to the 14th Battalion and served with 1 Platoon in A Company.   

On 26 May 1918 the 14th Battalion moved to battle positions near Hermonville and faced a German attack that began the next day. German records show that Wesley was taken prisoner at Cormicy, near Hermonville, on 27 May. Prisoner of records do not show whether, or not, Wesley had been wounded, but he was held at a prisoner of war hospital at Rethel before being transferred to Landau. His cause of death is not known. Wesley was buried at Germerscheim and by 1924 had been moved to the Niederzwehren Cemetery.  

Wesley's brother-in- law, Herbert Fitt, served with the Liverpool Regiment and died in 1917.