Francis Watson states in his introduction to Dobson's 1966 Memorial Exhibition that his first carvings were executed in wood, in Newlyn, in the year before World War I.

This carving relates closely to Jason & Thompson-Pharoah cat. no. 2 (also in oak with very similar stylisation).

Many of Dobson's earliest carvings have been lost - perhaps as the result of the bombing of his studio during WW2.