PRIVATE WALTER STANHOPE DAWSON
CANADIAN INFANTRY
26TH MARCH 1919 AGE 27
BURIED: BROOKWOOD MILITARY CEMETERY, UK
Private Dawson's inscription, and the fact that he's buried in Brookwood Cemetery, put together with the date of his death all suggest catastrophic injuries - and this was the case.
Dawson served with the 26th Battalion Canadian Infantry. On 15 September 1916 he was blown up by a shell during the battle of Flers-Courcellete. This left him not only shell-shocked but paraplegic. Shipped back to England, he was operated on several times in an attempt to return some movement and reduce his pain. But very little could be done and in August 1917 he was admitted to the newly opened Star and Garter Home in Richmond, Surrey for severely injured servicemen. He died on 26 March 1919.
Dawson was the son of Dr Alfred Dawson and his wife, Helen. Born in Cockermouth, he emigrated to Canada in 1911. He returned to England with the Canadian Infantry in July 1915 and joined the BEF in France on 26 October that year.
His mother, Helen Dawson, chose his inscription.
(Much of this information comes from the Canadian War Museum site.)