Dixon attended Rugby School and Sandhurst before embarking on a military career when he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 16th Lancers on 8 October 1890. He was promoted to lieutenant on 27 January 1893, and to captain on 28 January 1899. During the early part of the Second Boer War 1899-1900 he was aide-de-camp to Sir George White. He was appointed adjutant to his regiment on 22 March 1900, and served as such for the rest of the war, during which he was promoted a brevet major on 29 November 1900. Dixon resigned from the army in August 1902 following the end of the war, and returned home on the SS "Scot" in September 1902. He re-enlisted after the outbreak of the First world war, and was killed at Ypres shortly after receiving the substantive promotion to Major.