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.