He was born in 1886 in Westport, and trained for the Priesthood in 1907. Having taken a role with the Senior Army Cadets he left at the very onset of WWI with the troops, initially with the Otago Mounted Rifles as Chaplain.

Wounded at Gallipoli, he served on a hospital ship while continuing his recovery, until able to join the frontline troops on the battlefields from March of 1917.

While serving with the 2nd Battalion, Auckland Regiment, in 1918, they found themselves under heavy shelling prior to an advance. Many were killed – including the regiments much-needed Medical Officer. With a great many injured Rev Dobson took charge of the situation, establishing the needed Regimental Aid Post and organising stretcher-bearers, all while dressing the wounded men’s injuries himself – and under intense fire, with few fatalities. He was awarded the Military Cross for ‘acts of gallantry in the field’. His example of courage and unselfish devotion to duty were the admiration of all who came in contact with him.

Beyond the war Dobson married, and became the vicar of Richmond for a time before being appointed as a Priest in Gibraltar in 1922. He later wrote an eyewitness account of the Greek/Armenian massacre (a religious Genocide) he witnessed there. He then served in Malta, and finally Lisbon, where he died in 1930 from complications associated with typhoid, aged 44. We remember him.

Story supplied with thanks to Raewyn Pattemore and Regimental Historian Angus Kirk, 16 Field Regt RNZA QAMR RNZAC, with information also gathered from http://ww100.nelsonmuseum.co.nz/character?profileId=11. Image supplied with thanks to the Nelson Provincial Museum.