Name
Allan Alfred Gower
1886
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
02/07/1918
32
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
204388
London Regiment (Royal Fusiliers)
1st (City of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
NEUF-BRISACH COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION
VII. 23.
France
Headstone Inscription
None
UK & Other Memorials
Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial,
St Mary's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead,
St Paul's Church Memorial, Hemel Hempstead,
St John the Evangelist Church Memorial, Boxmoor,
John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley
Pre War
Allan Alfred Gower was born in Hemel Hempstead in 1886, the son of Alfred and Mary Gower, and baptised there on 31 December 1886 at St Paul's Church. He was the youngest child with a brother Alfred and sister Gertrude.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at 77 Bury Road, Hemel Hempstead where his father was working as a Carter. They had moved to 50 Bury Road by 1901, at which time Allan was working as a Baker's Apprentice. The family were still at 50 Bury Road in 1911 but Allan had changed his occupation to Vellum Binder. He was then working at John Dickinson & Co Ltd at Apsley Mills.
He married Hannah Louisa Longstaff on 24 December 1914 at St Paul's Church, Hemel Hempstead. She was living in Westminster, London and the banns for their marriage were read in St Mark, North Audley Street. London. (She had been working as a housemaid and living at 20 Upper Brook Street, Mayfair, London.) They lived at Puller Road, Boxmoor, Hemel Hempstead and he worked at John Dickinson & Co, Apsley Mills on enlistment. His widow gave her address on pension records as Cavendish Hotel, Jermyn Street, St James, London, SW1 and later as Colsock, Dalbeattie, Kircudbrightshire, Scotland.
Wartime Service
Allan enlisted in Hemel Hempstead in May 1915 and joined the Royal Fusiliers (City of London) as a Bandsman, He was sent to Dover for basic training and was initially posted to the 4th Battalion but was transferred to the 1st Battalion when he was sent to France on 5 March 1917. He soon saw action in the Second Battle of the Ainse, followed by the Battles of Messines, Ypres and Passchendaele, La Malmaison and finally Cambrai at the end of the year.
In March 1918 the Germans launched their Spring Offensive and Allan was amongst those taken prisoner and taken to a POW camp in Neuf-Brisach (on the borders of France and southern Germany). He was kept a prisoner for just over three months but became ill with dysentery and was moved to the Fortress Hospital in Neuf-Brisach where he died on 2 July 1918, aged 32. His death was not confirmed to the British authorities until 8 March 1919 and his widow Hannah was not informed until July 1919.
He is buried at Neuf-Brisach Communal Cemetery Extension, France, along with 34 other Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War, who all died in 1918 as prisoners of war.
Additional Information
His widow received a war gratuity of £12 10s and pay owing of £15 8s 3d. She was granted probate of his estate on 24 December 1919, with effects of £306 3s 3d.
His registered name is Allan with two 'a's but is sometimes mispelt as Allen.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org., www.hemelheroes.com.
