Stanley Hamilton Rowe

Stanley was the youngest of six of children born to William and Hannah Rowe. William was born in Ireland and moved to Liverpool with his parents after leaving Ireland in the 1870’s.

Once married, William and Hannah moved to Arlesey in the 1890’s and ran the Crown Public House.

Stanley was born in Arlesey in 1898 and lived in the Crown Public house with his parents and siblings. His oldest brother John”Geneva” Rowe joined the Royal Navy and reached the rank of Lieutenant Commander, passing away in the 1960’s  after a long and happy life.

Another Brother, William Beresford Rowe joined the Royal Navy. He served as a Chief petty officer on HMS Iron Duke at the Battle of Jutland in the Great War. The Iron Duke was the flagship of the British Fleet, commanded by Admiral Lord Jellicoe

Stanley joined the London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers) and fought in a France where he saw service at Ypres and other encounters in the region.

He was twenty one when he was killed; sadly, there was less than a month to go before the war ended.

He died in a battle for a small village in France called Auberchicourt, the British Forces having seized the village, and then suffering heavy losses from a German Counter Attack.

I have attached a letter from his Captain, explaining the circumstances of his death to a Sgt Smith. This letter was passed onto Stanley’s family back at the Crown. Below is my transcript of the letter as the original copy is hard to read.

Oct 26^th   1918

“Dear Sgt Smith,

                With reference to your wire of the 24th October.  I am pleased to be able to give you particulars of the death of Lance/Corporal Rowe. S 233557 killed in action 13.10.18

On the morning of 13/10/18 we attacked village of Auberchicourt and captured it. Later in the day we were heavily counter attacked and had to withdraw from the village.

Lance Corporal Rowe was killed instantly by a bullet through the heart from a M.G. during the counter attack and we could not bring his body back as very few men came through the battle, in every case each man stuck to his post to the end and the resisting party killed, wounded or missing.

The British Forces subsequently pushed forward and a few officers went from this battalion to search for the missing.

Lance Corporal Rowe’s’ grave was found at R10600,55   near cemetery (51B.S.E2000) France.

The Germans had buried him and marked on his grave “To AN ENglish COMRAde” and left his respirator on the grave so he could be identified. The Padre read a burial service and we fired a volley over the grave.

If there is anything else I could be of assistance to you let me know. I shall do my utmost.

                Please offer my condolences to L/Cpl Rowe’s’ family.

                                W Sloan.Capt     OCD Co. 1st/2nd London R

I visited Stanley’s grave in the British War Cemetery at Auberchicourt and placed  a cross on his grave. It is in a peaceful and rural part of France. It was a lovely sunny day when I went there, and in many ways it reminded me of the fields around Arlesey. Skylarks were singing high above in the clear blue sky and I remember thinking that it was a fitting place to be laid to rest after all the bloodshed and trauma that this young man must have been through in his short life.

Sadly, his brother William survived the war but died in 1928 in car crash in Persia (now Iran). Hannah, his mother, continued to live in the Crown Public House until the 1940’s where she died after suffering a heart attack. Incredibly she nodded off upstairs, awoke suddenly to find her nightdress had caught fire and suffered a heart attack at the shock of it all. 

Her Son, Harold, ran the pub for a number of years after her death.

Martin Rowe