Sir Collingwood Dickson

Commissioned into the Royal Artillery in 1835 after graduating from the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, Collingwood Dickson entered service as the son of Major General Sir Alexander Dickson, a senior artillery officer. He gained rapid operational experience during the First Carlist War in Spain, where British military forces intervened to support Queen Isabella II against Carlist insurgents. Attached to Spanish constitutional units between 1836 and 1838, Dickson directed field artillery operations in northern campaign sectors and earned three Spanish honors: the Order of Charles III, the Royal and Military Order of San Fernando, and the Order of Isabella the Catholic.

Sixteen years later, as a brevet lieutenant colonel, Dickson deployed to the Crimea on the personal staff of Lord Raglan. He was present at the Alma and Inkerman before the army entered prolonged siege operations around Sebastopol. On 17 October 1854, during the first general bombardment of the fortress, siege batteries along the Right Attack exhausted their powder under heavy Russian counter-battery fire. Field wagons loaded with ammunition reached the rear of the positions, but bringing powder forward required crossing open terrain exposed to continuous artillery fire.

Assuming command of the detachment on site, Dickson directed the unloading of the supply wagons and repeatedly carried gunpowder barrels into the magazine trenches himself. His actions kept the batteries firing at a critical stage of the bombardment and earned the Victoria Cross. The official citation, published in the London Gazette on 23 June 1857, recorded the act:

"For having, on the 17th October, 1854, when the batteries of the Right Attack had run short of powder, displayed the greatest coolness and contempt of danger, in directing the unloading of several wagons of the Field-Battery, which were brought up to the trenches to supply the want; and having personally assisted in carrying the powder barrels to the batteries, under a severe fire from the enemy."

Dickson served continuously through the remainder of the siege. On 19 April 1855, he commanded artillery support during the capture of Russian rifle pits, earning explicit commendation in despatches from Colonel Egerton. During subsequent infantry assaults on the Redan on 18 June and 8 September 1855, he sustained severe wounds while maintaining and directing fire from the forward trenches. In September 1855, he was attached to the Ottoman Contingent, serving through the conclusion of hostilities. International recognition followed, including appointments as Officier of the French Legion of Honor and the Ottoman Order of the Medjidie (Third Class), alongside appointment as Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1855.

Returning to Great Britain after the war, his career shifted toward senior technical command and administrative roles within the Royal Regiment of Artillery. He served as Inspector-General of Artillery from 1870 to 1875, was appointed Colonel Commandant of the Royal Artillery in 1875, and achieved promotion to full General in 1877. He advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1871 and Knight Grand Cross in 1884; he retired from active military service in 1884 and remained Master Gunner, St James's Park, from 1891 until his death. General Sir Collingwood Dickson died in London on 28 November 1904 at eighty-seven years of age and was interred at Kensal Green Cemetery.