A private memorial marking the battlefield death of Captain Francis ‘Toby’ Dodgson, a cousin of “Alice in Wonderland” author Lewis Carroll, has been restored and relocated in Contalmaison, France. The granite post, erected by Dodgson’s mother after his death on July 10, 1916, during the Battle of the Somme, had disappeared from its original location several years ago.
Dodgson, 27, was leading an assault on Contalmaison when he was killed. His remains were later discovered and reinterred in a local cemetery, and his name is inscribed on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme among 72,000 others. His mother and brother, Philip, who held the Military Cross, erected the memorial on a granite post rescued from the town of Albert. It read: ‘In Memoriam. Francis Dodgson Captain Who Here Fell’, along with his regiment and the date of his death.
The memorial was moved a short distance in 1962 to protect it from agricultural activities, but eventually vanished. Unlike official memorials managed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, private memorials on former battlefields are not always protected.
Michel Admiraal, a Dutch historian and European representative for The Western Front Association, a charity dedicated to preserving World War I heritage, took on the task of finding the memorial. After his inquiries initially yielded no results, he contacted the local mayor. The granite post was eventually located at the back of a local barn, having been moved by a farmer who stated it was in the middle of his crops.
Admiraal negotiated a new location for the memorial next to a road, ensuring it would have a dedicated space and a protective fence. The farmer offered his equipment and services free of charge for the relocation, while Admiraal funded the rest of the project. He has also established his own fund to support similar preservation efforts.
A rededication ceremony is scheduled to take place exactly 110 years after Captain Dodgson’s death. Members of his family, representatives of the Yorkshire Regiment, the local mayor, and Admiraal are expected to attend. The ceremony will include a church service and a band performance, with the local mayor hosting a civic reception. Captain Dodgson’s great-great nephew, Philip Pollard, expressed gratitude for the efforts to ensure his relative will not be forgotten.
