Date of Birth
12 June 1891
College
Borough Road College
Job(s)
Teacher at Drax Grammar School, Selby; Lecturer in English
Service number
Unknown
WW1 rank
Major
Canadian Infantry, 58th Battalion
Theatre of war
Europe
Date of death
13 April 1917
Location of death
Vimy Ridge
Buried/memorial
Bois-Carre British Cemetery, France (Grave/Memorial reference: V.A.14)
Awards/Honours
Military Cross (Posthumously)
Biography
Major John Lovell Dashwood was born 12th June 1891. His auctioneer father sent him to the local Maidenhead Modern boys’ school where he gained a first class Honours in his Senior Oxford Locals examination. Coming from a Baptist family, he opted for a non-denominational institution for further education and joined Borough Road College on 5 September 1908. Whilst at the college he competed in rowing and wrote for the B’s Hum. Dashwood graduated Borough Road College in 1910 with a BC in English, French, Latin and Maths. He went on to teach at Drax Grammar School in Selby before emigrating to Canada in 1914. Once in Canada he was offered a position lecturing English at MacDonald teacher training college, which was part of McGill University in Montreal. On the outbreak of war Dashwood joined the Royal Canadian Flying Corps before transferring to the 58th Battalion, Canadian Infantry. He started as a Lewis gun officer ranked Lieutenant, and was wounded in a gas attack in 1915. On 20 March, during a raid on enemy trenches he covered his retreating troops and earned a military cross. On Friday 13 April 1917 Dashwood was ambushed by German troops and shot dead. His death was reported in ‘The Old B’s Roll of Service’ by Borough Road College tutor Charles Venning, which said: “His death is a noble deed for us all and an inspiration”. He was posthumously promoted from Lieutenant to Major.
Sources
Entry on p.83 [Roll of Honour page], Borough Road College 1907 applications, BRCSYG44, Secondary source information provided by Douglas Craik (taken from Commonwealth War Graves Commission and an article from the 'Toronto Star' newspaper), 1911 Annual Report, Journal article: ‘For All That Was Good, Noble and True': A Middle Class Martial Icon of Canadian Patriotism and British Imperialism. John Lovell Dashwood, Canada and the Great War by Colm Hickey, The O.B.’s War Hum and Roll of Service (1918, 4th Edition), http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-119.01-e.php?q2=28&q3=2280&sqn=492&tt=1139&PHPSESSID=pf868q7td101us1usidkvu8pl1 , http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/618090