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Oscar Wilfred Dodwell: Monday 10th May 1915

Oscar served for 8 years in No 1 Co HAC before the outbreak of war.  He volunteered as a Sergeant in September 1914 and made a will at that point.  He went on to become a Second Lieutenant with the 1st Batt. York and Lancashire Regiment. He died after being wounded and is commemorated on the Menin Gate.  Probate was granted to his father for £1,774/3/5.

Oscar was the son of Wilfred Syms and Mary Elizabeth Dodwell of 22 Nicosia Road who married about 1882.  William was a commercial traveller and later a varnish manufacturer.  Oscar was born in 1888 in Wandsworth, the youngest of 3 children.  He was baptised on 7 November 1888 at St Michael’s Battersea when the family were living at 1 Wakehurst Road.  His sister Ida died in 1892.  His brother Reginald Power was 3 years older.  Reginald became a varnish manufacturer and Oscar a varnish manufacturer’s clerk.  Both brothers probably worked for their father.

Two letters and a postcard Oscar sent to Reginald have survived and at one stage could be read on the internet (www.john-dillon.co.uk/yorklancs/8_may_1915.html).  Amongst other things, he talks about is his fear of being selected for a firing party and the loss of his friends, one of whom was John Paterson who is also commemorated on SMM memorial.