16 - RECORDS OF THE MEN OF LOCHBROOM
1915
CAPTAIN SIR J. E. FOWLER, BART., Seaforth Highlanders
Aged 30
Enlisted in the Scots Guards |
1904 |
Upon transfer to Reserve joined the Metropolitan Police. |
- |
Mobilized |
August, 1914. |
Elder brother of Captain Alan Fowler, whose record appears on a preceding page, and eldest son of Sir John Arthur Fowler, Bart., of Braemore, Ross-shire, N.B., whom he succeeded as third baronet in 1899.
Educated at Harrow and R.M.C., Sandhurst, 1903.
Captain Sir John Fowler joined the 2nd Seaforths in 1904 ; for three years he acted as Assistant Adjutant, and as Officer in charge of the Brigade Machine Guns. He held a Commission in the Royal Company of Archers and acted as Aide-de-Camp to the Lord High Commissioner of the Church of Scotland at Holyrood in 1907 and 1908. At the outbreak of the War he was seconded as Adjutant of the 4th Battalion, the first Highland Territorial Battalion selected for service in France. After two months’ training at Bedford they went to the Front in November, 1914, taking part in an engagement at Festubert in the following month, and in the battles of Neuve Chapelle and Aubers Ridge. Captain Fowler was killed in the trenches on 22nd June, 1915, near Richebourg l’Avoué. He was mentioned in Sir John French’s Despatch of November, 1915, “for gallant and distinguished conduct in the field.”
Brigadier-General Ross, C.B., wrote :-
“He was one of the very best young Officers I have ever met, and an example to all others. It was mainly due to his wonderful influence that the Battalion did so well.”
Lieut.-Colonel Cuthbert, C.M.G., D.S.O., Commanding 4th Seaforths wrote:-
“He lived a soldier’s life, ever ready to do his duty, and one always knew how well that duty would be done. He gave us all confidence – confidence that otherwise we could never have had. He has died a soldier’s death, and we are the poorer by a very gallant gentleman and capable Officer.”
Sergeant-Major, later Lieutenant, Glass, wrote:-
“He was the guide, adviser, and helpmate of every individual in the Battalion, and we miss him terribly. Defeat could not have shaken us more.”
“His heart for his home ;
His life for his country ;
His soul for God.”
|