Alban Tabor Austin Dobson (29 June 1885 – 19 May 1962) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

first-class

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er and civil servant. Dobson was an important figure in the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, later known as the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. He later served as the secretary of the

International Whaling Commission The International Whaling Commission (IWC) is a specialised regional fishery management organisation, established under the terms of the 1946 International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW) to "provide for the proper conservation ...

from 1949 to 1959 and the president of the

International Council for the Exploration of the Sea The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES; , ''CIEM'') is a regional fishery advisory body and the world's oldest intergovernmental science organization. ICES is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, where its multinational s ...

from 1952 to 1955. As a cricketer, he made one first-class appearance for the

Gentlemen of England Cricket, and hence English amateur cricket, probably began in England during the medieval period but the earliest known reference concerns the game being played c.1550 by children on a plot of land at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, Surre ...

Early life and civil service career

The son of the poet

Henry Austin Dobson Henry Austin Dobson (18 January 1840 – 2 September 1921), commonly Austin Dobson, was an England, English poet and essayist. Life He was born at Plymouth, the eldest son of George Clarisse Dobson, a civil engineer, of French descent. Wh ...

, he was born at

Ealing Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

in June 1885 and was raised with a strict upbringing in the

Plymouth Brethren The Plymouth Brethren or Assemblies of Brethren are a low church and Nonconformist (Protestantism), Nonconformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where it originated from Anglica ...

. He was educated at

Clifton College Clifton College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the city of Bristol in South West England, founded in 1862 and offering both boarding school, boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18. In its early years, unlike mo ...

, before going up to

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

. While studying at Cambridge, he made a single appearance in

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for the

against

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

The Oval The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...

in 1905. Batting twice in the match, he was dismissed in the Gentlemen of England first-innings without scoring by Jack Crawford, while in their second-innings he was dismissed for a single run by Ernest Nice. After graduating from Cambridge, he entered into the civil service. He was appointed to the position of assistant to the head of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries in January 1908. Dobson served in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

with the

Royal Hampshire Regiment The Hampshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, created as part of the Childers Reforms in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 37th (North Hampshire) Regiment of Foot and the 67th (South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot. The re ...

, with him holding the rank of second lieutenant in November 1916, with promotion to the rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

coming in April 1918.

Post-war career and life

Following the war, he returned to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. He was made a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in the

1930 New Year Honours The 1930 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were a ...

, before being made a Commander of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...

in the

1932 New Year Honours The 1932 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were announced on 29 December 1931. The recipients of honou ...

. Seven years later he was made a Companion to the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

in the

1939 New Year Honours The 1939 New Year Honours were appointments by King George VI to Orders, decorations, and medals of the United Kingdom, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the United Kingdom and British Empire. They were a ...

. Following the death of his father, he managed his literary estate and kept a library of his father's works, which he donated to the

Senate House Library Senate House is the administrative centre of the University of London, situated in the heart of Bloomsbury, London, immediately to the north of the British Museum. The Art Deco building was constructed between 1932 and 1937 as the first phase ...

at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

in 1946. Dobson was the secretary of the

from 1949–59, before serving as the president of the

from 1952–55. Dobson died at

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...

in May 1962, and was survived by his son, the librarian Christopher Dobson. Two years after his death, the

UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee The UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee (or UK-APC) is a United Kingdom government committee, part of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, responsible for recommending names of geographical locations within the British Antarctic Territory (BAT) an ...

named Dobson Dome after him.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dobson, Alban 1885 births 1962 deaths People from Ealing Cricketers from the London Borough of Ealing People educated at Clifton College Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge English cricketers Gentlemen of England cricketers English civil servants British Army personnel of World War I Royal Hampshire Regiment officers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Companions of the Order of the Bath 20th-century English sportsmen