Identity area
Type of entity
Person
Authorized form of name
Dalton, John Michael, 1924-1944
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
1924-1944
History
Dalton, John Michael, son of Sir John Cornelius Dalton Kt. MIEE, barrister, and his first wife Winifred, d. of Charles Robertson; b. 20 Mar. 1924; adm. Sept. 1937 (B); left July 1940; Gonville & Caius Coll. Camb., matric. 1941; read for Bar, Gray’s Inn; 2nd Lieut. RE 1944; accidentally killed on active service with a Parachute Sqdn 7 Oct. 1944.
John Michael Dalton was born in Surrey on the 20th of March 1924 the only son of Sir John Cornelius Dalton MIEE FCIS, a barrister at law, and Lady Winifred (nee Robertson) Dalton of 20, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea in London and of “Little Brook”, North Holmwood in Surrey. He was educated at Westminster School where he was up Busby’s from September 1937 to July 1940. He matriculated for Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1941 and read for the Bar at Gray’s Inn before enlisting into the army where he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on the 23rd of July 1944. He joined the 4th Parachute Squadron based at Bisbrooke Hall, Glaston on the 22nd of August 1944. The unit left Glaston in late August and, being the most junior officer, John Dalton was chosen to remain behind with the Residue Party, which was to gather up spare equipment and to secure the base until the unit returned from operations when it was to move to Wragby. He was billeted at Glaston House.
At 4.30am on the morning of the 7th of October 1944, the officer in charge at Glaston received a telephone call from Leicester to say that John Dalton had been killed in a motor accident.
His funeral took place on the 12th of October 1944.
He is commemorated on the war memorial at Gray’s Inn.
He is buried at St Mary Magdalene Church, Holmwood.
Places
Legal status
Functions, occupations and activities
2nd Lieutenant 324982 4th Parachute Squadron, Royal Engineers
Mandates/sources of authority
Internal structures/genealogy
General context
Relationships area
Access points area
Subject access points
Place access points
Occupations
Control area
Authority record identifier
Institution identifier
GB 2014
Rules and/or conventions used
International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons and Families - ISAAR(CPF) 2nd edition
Status
Final
Level of detail
Full
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
Prepared for import into AtoM by Westminster School Archive staff, 2019-2020. Updated by Bethany Duck, Archives Assistant, September 2022.
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
The Record of Old Westminsters: A biographical list of all those who are known to have been educated at Westminster School from Play 1937 to Election 2015, Volume 5, London, 2017.
Westminster School Second World War Memorial by John C. Hamblin, 2022.