Major WIlliam Otway Upton COTTRELL-DORMER
6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers)

Date of birth: 11th December 1878
Date of death: 12th April 1958

Died aged 79
Commemorated on Wall 12, South West Terrace, Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens, Sydney
William Otway Upton Cottrell-Dormer was born at Ingmire Hall, Sedburgh in Yorkshire on the 11th of December 1878 the tenth and youngest son of Clement Cottrell-Dormer JP DL and Florence Anne (nee Upton) Cottrell-Dormer later of Rousham Hall near Oxford.

He was educated at Aysgarth School in Yorkshire and at Hazelwood School until July 1892. He went on to Harrow School where he was in Small House and in Mr. Colbeck's House from September 1892 to July 1897. He was a member of the Shooting VIII in 1896 and 1897. On leaving school he went on to the Royal Military College Sandhurst.

He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 6th Dragoon Guards (Carbiniers) on the 11th of February 1899 and saw service in the South African war in 1900 where he was awarded the Queen’s Medal with six clasps and the King's Medal with two clasps. He was seconded for service on the Staff on the 6th Oct 1904 when he served in Tasmania with the Governor. He was promoted to Captain on the 14th of October 1905. He was appointed as Aide de Camp to Sir Gerald Strickland KCMG the Governor of Tasmania on the 25th of July 1907 and arrived in Hobart on board RMS "Magnolia". He retired from the army with the rank of Captain on the 6th of November 1909 and remained in Tasmania.

He was married at Hobart to Kathleen Winifred (nee Brock) on the 9th of April 1912; they had three sons, William Peter Upton, born on the 20th of May 1913, Richard Adrian Upton, born in 1915, Kimball Clement Upton, born on the 25th of April 1919 and a daughter, Diana Kathleen, born on the 17th of December 1922.

On the outbreak of war he was recalled to the army and was granted the rank of temporary Captain in the 3rd Reserve Regiment of Cavalry on the 7th of May 1915. He embarked for France on the 19th of June 1915 and was promoted to temporary Major while in command of a battalion on the 13th of August 1915. He was transferred to the General List on the 12th of September 1915. He was mentioned in Sir Douglas Haig’s despatches of the 30th of November 1916.

After the war he returned to live at "Mayfair", Hayes in Tasmania. He was a member of the Tasmanian Club at Hobart and his name is recorded on their 1914-1918 Members Honour Roll. He was a member of the Cavalry Club.

His brother, Lieutenant Commander Humphrey Randle Upton Cottrell-Dormer RN HMS Princess Irene, was killed in action on the 27th of May 1915.

He died at Sydney, New South Wales and was cremated.


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