Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Vesey Dawson was the third son of the 2nd Baron Cremorne of Castle Dawson, Co. Monaghan and entered the Coldstream Guards as an Ensign and Lieutenant by purchase in August 1837. Advanced to Lieutenant and Captain in May 1843, shortly after taking up his seat as an M.P. for Louth, he gained further advancement by purchase to Captain and Lieutenant-Colonel in August 1851, by which stage he was M.P. for Monaghan. Shortly before the advent of hostilities in the Crimea he relinquished his Seat, and joined the 1st Battalion of the Coldstreams for active service. Subsequently present at the Battles of Alma and Balaklava, and in operations before Sebastopol (P.R.O. WO100/25 refers), Dawson was killed in action at Inkermann on 5.11.1854. Leading out four Companies of the Coldstreams to the support of the 2nd Division, he was shot from his chestnut horse by a Russian creeping into an embrasure (Ensign Tower's diary refers). Described by Colonel C.T. Wilson 'as brave a soldier as ever drew a sword', Dawson was buried with several fellow Officers 'in a small rocky ravine near the Windmill'. He left a widow and two sons, both of whom later served with distinction in their father's old Regiment. Dawson's name is commemorated on a plaque in St. Paul's Cathedral.