b. 20/11/1817 Valenciennes, France. d. 28/11/1904 London.
Sir Collingwood Dickson (1817-1904) was born in Valenciennes, France on 20th November 1817, the 3rd son of Major-General Sir Alexander Dickson, GCB, Royal Artillery and the grandson of the late Admiral William Dickson and his mother was Eulalia Briones who was of Spanish heritage.
Sir Collingwood Dickson VC GCB
Collingwood was educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and followed his father into the Royal Artillery as a 2nd Lieutenant on 18th December 1835. He was promoted to Captain and Brevet Major in 1846. On 14th January 1847, he married Harriet, the daughter of Reverend Thomas Burnaby, he was the vicar of Blakesley, Northamptonshire. They would be married for 47 years before Harriet’s death in 1894. He was promoted to Major in 1848, and in 1854, he became Lieutenant Colonel. He served on the staff of Lord Raglan in the Crimea from 1854-55, and was present at the affairs of Balganac and Mackenzie’s Farm, the Battles of Alma and Inkerman, capture of Balaklava, the expedition to Kertch, and the Siege of Sebastopol.
On 17th October 1854, when the batteries of the right flank had run short of powder, he displayed great coolness 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 under a severe fire from the enemy. Dickson was awarded the VC for this action and was gazetted on 24th February 1857. He would be presented with his medal by Queen Victoria at Hyde Park on 26th June 1857. He was also awarded the Crimean Medal with four clasps, the Legion of Honour, Turkish Medal and the Second Class of the Medjidie.
From 1856 to 1862 he was Assistant Adjutant-General for Royal Artillery in Ireland, and was promoted to the rank of substantive Colonel on 5th April 1866, and Major-General in the same year. From 1870 to 1875 he was Inspector-General of Artillery. In 1871, he was created KCB, and was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1876. He was promoted to General in 1877, and he finally retired on 20th November 1884 in which he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Bath. From 1881 to 1885, he was President of the Ordnance Committee at the War Office.
General Sir Collingwood Dickson died at his home, 70 Claverton Street, South West London, on 28th November 1904, aged 87. He was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, West London. His medals were held by the Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich until its closure and are now in storage
LOCATION OF MEDAL: ROYAL ARTILLERY MUSEUM, WOOLWICH, LONDON. (NOW CLOSED)
BURIAL PLACE: KENSAL GREEN CEMETERY, WEST LONDON.
SQUARE 112/2, PLOT 34633
Acknowledgements:
Kevin Brazier – Cemetery Map