Dobson James E. Pte 3061755
Personnel Entry
Name Dobson James E.
Army number 3061755
Rank Private
Decorations
Date of birth 5/9/1915.
Age 30 at the time of his death.
Unit Joined the Royal Scots, no enlistment date. Transferred to the Black Watch 25/9/1940 (Enlistment Book entry BW358/4/86) and posted to 1st Tyneside Scottish. Served Iceland. Served Normandy. Transferred to 1st Battalion Black Watch - probably on the disbandment of 1st Tyneside Scottish at the end of August 1944. Served in Germany post-war. DIED in Traffic Accident 14/1/46, Authority:- CAS/W/6/Serial No.804 dated 22/1/46.
Company/Battery Not yet known.
Platoon or other sub-unit Not yet known.
Task or role Not yet known - probably rifleman.
Joined Brigade 25/9/1940 just before the posting to Iceland.
Promotions None known.
Wounded Not as far as is known.
Prisoner of War Not as far as is known.
Died/Killed in action Date of death 14-Jan-46. Buried initially in Ohlsdorfer Friedhof, Hamburg-Nord, Hamburg Cemetery. Re-buried Grave 3A.G.6. Hamburg Cemetery 21/6/1946 in a concentration exercise.
Home address Private Dobson was a resident of Leeds at the time of his death, living with his wife and children at 44 Well Close Terrace. Married Winifred M. Johnson in July 1939 (to be confirmed). Three children born between 1940 and 1946.
Source table 1TS
Evidence from the CWGC Concentration documents indicate that several soldiers were killed on the same day and initially interred alongside Private Dobson. CWGC have been asked to investigate any information surrounding this traffic accident, which may have resulted in the deaths of half a dozen soldiers.
Private Dobson is commemorated on the Village War Memorial in Lanchester, County Durham but extensive research has failed, so far, to identify a link between him, or his family, and Lanchester. Nevertheless, his name is read out at the Remembrance Service each year.
