Brigadier-General Sir Douglas Frederick Rawdon Dawson, (25 April 1854 – 20 January 1933) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

officer and courtier.

Background and education

Dawson was the second son of the Hon. Thomas Vesey Dawson, an officer of the Coldstream Guards who was killed at the

Battle of Inkerman The Battle of Inkerman was fought during the Crimean War on 5 November 1854 between the allied armies of Britain and France against the Imperial Russian Army. The battle broke the will of the Russian Army to defeat the allies in the field, and w ...

.Image
National Portrait Gallery
npg.org.uk. Accessed 23 November 2022. His paternal grandfather was

Richard Thomas Dawson, 2nd Baron Cremorne Richard Thomas Dawson, 2nd Baron Cremorne (31 August 1788 – 21 March 1827) was an Irish peer. Biography The only son of Richard Dawson of Dawson Grove, in 1807 he succeeded his father as heir-presumptive to his great-uncle Thomas Dawson, 1s ...

. His elder brother,

Vesey Vesey is an English surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Agmondisham Vesey (died 1739), Agmondisham Vesey (1677–1739) Irish landowner and politician *Agmondisham Vesey (1708–1785), Agmondesham Vesey (1708–85) Irish politician an ...

, was also a British Army officer. He attended

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

, and then joined the

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, monarchy; due to this, it often ...

as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on 21 January 1874, attending the Staff College in 1881.

Military and diplomatic career

Dawson saw service with the

Anglo-Egyptian War The British conquest of Egypt, also known as the Anglo-Egyptian War (), occurred in 1882 between Egyptian and Sudanese forces under Ahmed ‘Urabi and the United Kingdom. It ended a nationalist uprising against the Khedive Tewfik Pasha. It ...

, where he fought at the battles of Mahuta,

Kassassin Kassassin () is a village of Lower Egypt by rail west of Ismailia, a major city on the Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea throu ...

, Tel el-Kebir and the capture of Cairo. In the

Nile Expedition The Nile Expedition, sometimes called the Gordon Relief Expedition (1884–1885), was a British mission to relieve Major-General Charles George Gordon at Khartoum, Sudan. Gordon had been sent to Sudan to help the Egyptians withdraw their garr ...

of 1884–85, he was part of the Guards' Camel Corps, was

mentioned in despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

, and saw action at the

Battle of Abu Klea The Battle of Abu Klea, also known as the Battle of Abu Tulayh, took place between 16 and 18 January 1885, at Abu Klea, Sudan, between the British Desert Column and Muhammad Ahmad, Mahdist forces encamped near Abu Klea. The Desert Column, a for ...

. He was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

on 19 September 1885,

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

on 29 July 1891, and lieutenant-colonel on 19 May 1897. From 1895 to 1901 he was Military Attaché, posted to Austria-Hungary, Serbia, France, Belgium and Switzerland. He received a brevet promotion to

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

on 19 May 1901, and the following year returned to the United Kingdom where he was in command of the 10th Provisional Battalion stationed at

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

from March to December 1902. The following year he was appointed

Master of the Ceremonies The office of Master of the Ceremonies was established by James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and King of Ireland, Irel ...

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

, serving from 1903 to 1907 and then as a Comptroller in the Lord Chamberlain's Department. On the outbreak of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Dawson received an appointment as Assistant Director of Personal Services at the War Office from 1914 to 1915, and was appointed Inspector of Vulnerable Points at GHQ from 1916 to 1919, in which role he was again

. After the War, in 1920, he resigned his position as Comptroller and was appointed State Chamberlain, holding the office until 1924.

Awards and honours

As a result of his diplomatic career and his position at the Court, Dawson held a number of British and foreign decorations, including the Iron Crown of Austria (Knight Commander); the Turkish Order of Medjidie (3rd class); the Danish

Order of Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog () is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the Order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known as ''White Knights'' t ...

(Grand Cross); the Japanese Grand Cross of the Order of the Sacred Treasure and Grand Cross of the Order of the Rising Sun; the Grand Cross of the Crown of Italy; and the

Grand Cross of the Crown of Romania Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor Places * Grand, Oklahoma, USA * Grand, Vosges, village and commune in France with Gallo-Roman amphitheatre * Grand County (disambiguation), se ...

. He served as the Registrar and Secretary to the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

, and the Secretary to the

Order of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. The most senior order of knighthood in the Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, British honours system, it is outranked in ...

Personal life

Dawson married Aimée Evelyn Pirie, formerly Mrs Oakley, in 1903. She was appointed a

Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1918. Sir Douglas and Dame Aimée Dawson lived at Medmenham Abbey in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (, abbreviated ''Bucks'') is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-east, Hertfordshir ...

. Their adopted daughter, Rosemary Dawson, married Lieutenant-Colonel

Vernon Erskine-Crum Lieutenant General Vernon Forbes Erskine-Crum, (11 December 1918 – 17 March 1971) was a British Army officer, who briefly served as General Officer Commanding in Northern Ireland during the early period of the Troubles. Regimental career Ersk ...

; the couple had one son, Brigadier Douglas Erskine Crum.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Douglas 1854 births 1933 deaths People educated at Eton College Coldstream Guards officers

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George British Army personnel of the Anglo-Egyptian War British Army personnel of the Mahdist War British Army generals of World War I Military personnel from Buckinghamshire Place of birth missing Graduates of the Staff College, Camberley Place of death missing British military attachés British Army brigadiers