Walter Michael 'Mike' DICKSON was born on 23 November 1884 in Rondebosch, South Africa. He was educated at Diocesan College in Cape Town and then went on to study at Oxford University on a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship.  
 
He played rugby assiduously at both institutions and took part in the 1912 Varsity Match, the annual competition between Oxford and Cambridge, playing alongside players Stephen Steyn, William Geen, Edward Fenwick Boyd, Gerard Crole and Eric Loudoun-Shand, who also fought in the First World War. Only Gerard Crole and Eric Loudoun-Shand survived the war.  
 
At the same time, he played for London Scottish, Blackheath and 4 times for the Barbarians. On 20 January 1912, he was capped for Scotland as Fullback in the Five Nations match against France. He won 31 to 3, a fine revenge for the French victory the previous year. On 22 February 1913, he played against Ireland, also winning 29-14. It was his last match in the Thistle jersey, which he had worn a total of 7 times. He returned to South Africa when he finished his studies, stopped playing rugby and started working as a surveyor.

When the First World War broke out, he returned to the United Kingdom, arriving in London on 4 November 1914. He enlisted in the 11th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and was appointed Second Lieutenant on 22 January 1915. He arrived in France in July 1915 was involved in the Battle of Loos. Walter was killed there on 26 September 1915. 

He has no known grave and is remembered on the Loos Memorial (125 to 127). 

His friend Eric Loudoun-Shand said of him: “He was one of the kindest and best fellows imaginable."