Herbert Dawkes was a bank clerk who captained the Toowoomba representative soccer team in 1912 and played club football for Cities.
Dawkes moved to Longreach to work as a station bookkeeper before enlisting in 1916. He was originally assigned to the 1st Australian Divisional Ammunition Column but was transferred to the 2nd Field Artillery Brigade in July 1917. Within a month Dawkes was wounded in action and evacuated to England, finally returning to Australia in March 1918.
He moved to a Soldiers’ Settlement in Stanthorpe. Around 12,000 acres was set aside for the settlement, with a large proportion earmarked for returned soldiers to engage in commercial fruit growing, though less arable land was also available. Dawkes married Bertha Lightbody in 1919 and remained in Stanthorpe for several decades, working as an accountant and auditor.
His name was among those on the Toowoomba British Football Association honour board unveiled in 1918.