Claude William Henry Dobbs
1901 - lace designer
1911 - serving with 2nd Battalion Sherwood Foresters (9674); served continuously and was promoted from Sergeant to Second Lieutenant in June 1917. He was still serving with the Sherwood Foresters in 1921 and probably continued until retirement on age.
- Family History
- Military history
- Extra information
- Photographs
Claude was born in Nottingham in 1883, the son of Frederick and Emily Dobbs.
In 1901 Claude, a lace designer, was living with his father, a lace designer, mother and his sisters, Kate, Alice, May and Hilda, at 51 Sandon, Street, Nottingham. He had joined the Army by 1911 (2nd Bn Sherwood Foresters) and was at the Crownhill Barracks, Devon.
He married Helen (Nellie) Brotherton (1893) on 26 May 1917 and they had one son, Ralph Claude (1921).
In 1921 Claude and Helen together with their 7-month old son Ralph, were living at 27 Vincent Street, Derby. Claude (35) was a lieutenant in the Regular Army (Sherwood Foresters) so probably assigned to the Regimental Depot in Derby.
In 1939, Helen and Ralph, a gun filling apprentice, were living at Bridge House, Main Street, Kinoulton. Also in the home was Helen's widowed mother, Mary A Brotherton (1856 d. 1951) who was incapacitated, and her husband's married sister, May Octavia Wood, and her second son, Michael (1925); her eldest son, Peter, was born in 1919.
Claude has not been traced on the 1939 England & Wales Register but was probably already serving with the Pioneer Corps in which he held the rank of lieutenant. However, the notices of his death refer to him as 'Captain' Dobbs, presumably referring to his rank when serving in the Regular Army.
Claude's widow, Helen, died in 1989 (reg. JFM Claro,Yorkshire).
Claude Dobbs was a Lieutenant in the Pioneer Corps and died of pneumonia at Carlisle on 20 March 1941 only a short time after he had taken up a military appointment.
He had previously served in the Sherwood Foresters (9674 Sergeant) in the First World War and may have joined the Army before the declaration of war in 1914. He was in theatre from 10 October 1914 and was serving in the 2nd Battalion Sherwood Foresters (Notts & Derby Regiment) when he was commissioned Second Lieutenant and 'discharged to Commission in 3rd Notts & Derby Regiment, 26 June 1917.'
Claude was serving in France as a Second Lieutenant when he was admitted to the 2nd General Hospital on 19 November 1917 suffering from urticuria (a skin reaction that causes itchy welts) and was transferred to 21 days sick leave on 3 December the same year. There may have been another period in the UK at some point as there is a note in his record that he returned to France on 4 September 1918 (to 3 December 1918).
Claude was still serving as a lieutenant with the Sherwood Foresters in 1921. He was later promoted Captain but served in the Pioneer Corps in the rank of lieutenant.
For service in the First World War he qualified for the 1914 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal and had been Mentioned in Despatches.
Claude was a lieutenant in the Pioneer Corps during the Second World War and died in Carlisle of pneumonia on 20 March 1941. He is buried in Kinoulton St Luke churchyard.
Kinoulton St Luke: 'In the churchyard there is a Commonwealth grave from World War II for Lieutenant Claude William Henry Dobbs, Pioneer Corps, who died 20 March 1941. The grave mentions that he was husband to Helen Dobbs of East Bridgford. His name was also mentioned in dispatches for World War I and there is a plain memorial plaque to him inside the church.' (Southwell & Nottingham Church History Project)
Kinoulton St Luke: The WW1 War Memorial is on the west wall of the the nave and ‘beneath it is a plaque to Captain Claude William Henry Dobbs (born 1885) of Bridge House, Kinoulton, who died from pneumonia in Carlisle in March 1941. He had been taken ill within a few days of taking up an military appointment in the north of England and is buried in the churchyard.’ (Southwell & Nottingham Church History Project)
CWGC Additional information: Husband of Helen Dobbs, of East Bridgford. Mentioned in Despatches in the 1914-18 War.
Nottingham Evening Post, ‘Marriages’, 26 May 1917: ‘Dobbs-Brotherton. On May 26th 1917, at St John’s church, by the Rev. G Hartley, Cadet Claude WH Dobbs, only son of Mr and Mrs Frederick H Dobbs, to Helen (Nellie), third daughter of Mr and Mrs Robert Brotherton, both of this city.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
Nottingham Evening Post, 22 March 1941: ‘Dobbs. March 20, Captain Claude WH dearly loved husband of Nellie, and father of Ralph, passed away at Carlisle (pneumonia). Interment Kinoulton, Monday afternoon, 3,30, no mourning.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
Nottingham Evening Post, 22 March 1941: ‘Kinoulton Officer’s Death. The death is announced at Carlisle of Captain CWG Dobbs, as the result of pneumonia. For many years he had lived in Kinoulton, where he was a member of the Flower Show committee. Captain Dobbs, who served in the last war, was a keen fly fisherman.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)
The above report also appeared in the Nottingham Journal, 24 March 1941.
Photo of Claude Dobbs
Grave, Kinoulton St Luke churchyard. Photographer: Ray Caines (cwgc website)