Frederick William Dobson

Crossed open ground amid fire to bring one wounded man back.

Frederick William Dobson, known as Billy, was born in 1886 at Nafferton near Ovingham, Northumberland. He worked as a painter's apprentice before joining the Coldstream Guards in 1906. After transfer to the reserve in 1909, his civilian jobs included signwriting and underground work with horses. He married Rebecca in 1911 and they had two sons.

Recalled in August 1914, Dobson went to France with the 2nd Battalion. At Chavonne on the Aisne on 28 September he volunteered to reach two men lying in exposed ground. Crawling out under fire, he found one dead and treated the other man's wounds. He returned for assistance, then went out again with a corporal and a stretcher. Together they dragged the wounded soldier back to safety.

His Victoria Cross was announced on 9 December 1914 and presented by King George V on 3 February 1915. He also received the Russian Cross of St George, fourth class, and was mentioned in despatches. His subsequent wartime wounds led to a medical discharge in July 1917.

Dobson worked after the war as a miner and cinema commissionaire, but continuing illness and the effects of his wounds made employment difficult. He died in Newcastle upon Tyne in November 1935 and was buried at Ryton and Crawcrook. Members of his family and the Coldstream Guards later reunited his medals, which are held by the regiment. His previously unmarked grave received a memorial headstone in 1986.

Official Victoria Cross citation (London Gazette, 9 December 1914):

For conspicuous gallantry at Chavonne (Aisne) on the 28th September, in bringing into cover on two occasions, under heavy fire, wounded men who were lying exposed in the open.