Joseph Dodd

Key Information

Name:Joseph Dodd
DoB:  Feb 7 1892
Regt: Private 71372  27th (City of Winnipeg) Battalion Canadian Forces
DoD: September 26 1916 
Academic Career: CGS 1906-8
Biographical Information:

• Family Background:

  Joseph was the youngest of ten children born to William Dodd and Rosanna (nee Potts).

  Rosanna’s family had farmed in the fells round Bewcastle  for generations. Her mother was an Armstrong. William and Rosanna despite having ten children only appear on one census together! In the 1881 census they are living at Bewcastle with three children Frances, John William and Isabella, William describes himself as a farmer. By 1891 the family are at Viol Moor Cottage, Kirkoswald near Penrith;  sending older brother John to CGS, but on census night William is not there. Succeeding census are similar! In 1911 he is to be found at the home of John and Mary Little in Bewcastle where he is described as a visiting uncle! Rosanna died in 1924 in Northumberland, William died some time after her. They are buried in different graveyards in different counties. The Dodd family of Greystead, Northumberland were numerous and William was well known as an enthusiastic fox hunter  and he had the nickname ‘Long Sally’, as he was 6ft 7” tall!

• Academic Record:

  His oldest brother John William had attended the CGS thirteen years earlier (1893-5).

  Whilst at school he was awarded the maths prize (1908) and he was a good long distance runner coming third in the mile and fourth in the 3 mile cross-country steeplechase on sports day.

• War Service:

  Joseph joined up within days of war being declared. He enlisted at Winnipeg, Manitoba Oct 27 1914. He was described as 5ft 10 ½ “, with a fair complexion and blue eyes. He joined the 27^th (City of Winnipeg) Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

  His battalion was not sent to Europe for another year arriving in September 1915. The battalion was part of the Canadian Corps. They did not participate in any major offensive until the following year. The battle at St.Eloi  (April 1916)was a baptism of fire for them.

  The Canadian Corps next major encounter with the enemy was on the Somme. They moved there in September. By the end of October 20,000 Canadians lay dead including Joseph who died on September 26 1916 during the battle for Thiepval Ridge and is buried in the Sunken Road Cemetery, four miles from Albert in France.

• Battalion:

  27th (City of Winnipeg) Battalion

• Other:

   According to the school register he became a journalist. On enlistment he described himself as a farmer. On the 1911 census he was in London and said he was a student in the Civil Service.  Between 1911 and 1915 he went to Canada. A Joseph Dodd ‘journalist’ arrived in Canada in June 1914. One of Joseph’s older brothers had gone to Canada a few years earlier and he may well have gone to join him.

  Joseph and his nephew John Dodgson Dodd are both commemorated on his mother Rosanna’s gravestone at Bewcastle and on the Roll of Honour inside Bewcastle Church. John Dodgson Dodd  was a pilot officer in WW2  and was missing in action December 13 1940, he was in 248 squadron based in Shetland.

• Sources:

  CGS Memorial Register

  “The Carliol” magazine 1906-8

  Census:

  1861 RG9/3910 & RG9/3868 & RG9/3910

  1871 RG10/5212

  1881 RG11/5111 & RG11/5151

  1891 RG12/4278

  1901 RG13/4857 & RG13/4780 & RG13/4854

  Freebmd.org.uk

  Wikipedia 27^th (City of Winnipeg) Battalion, CEF

  Canadian Archives (www.collectionscanada.gc.ca)

  CEF burial registers

  CWGC

  www.ancestry.co.uk. Probate  index 1924