227285 Pte. William Rodger Gow British Army 1st Btn. Kings Own Scottish Borderers from:Clydebank (d.16th April 1917) A hero’s story.
Private William Rodger Gow – service no. 40440, formerly of the Royal Scots – service no. 3673, age 33, 29th Division (the union division – one battalion from each home country - and last regular army unit to enter the war - under the command of Allenby), 1st Battalion Kings Own Scottish Borderers, died on 16th April 1917 digging a new trench near Monchy Le Preux, a few miles east of Arras in northern France. The following text outlines all that I can find out about his death and location of his grave, it includes the following excerpt from the regimental diary for the 1st KOSB on that day. Location, firing line:
At dawn A, D Coys moved forward and held the new line. All work during the day was ordered to widening fire-stepping and improving the trench. At night one Coy of the R. Irish Fus was placed at the disposal of the C.O. to dig the gap between A and D Coys thereby making a continuous line. The party moved forward at 8 pm under the order of Capt. Scott-Moncreiff. 1 Officer (slt J. Routledge) and 4 O.R. killed. 4 O.R. wounded.
The grave of 2nd Lieutenant John Routledge, age 21 and the other four soldiers who died that day recorded as being unmarked, none have a headstone with a name, and all are remembered only on the Arras memorial, Bay 6. The names of the O.R. (other ranks) were Pt. James Penman, age 20; Thomas Prentice, Company Serjeant Major MC, age 32; Pt. William Humphrey, age not noted; and W. R. Gow.
From the diary it is not clear whether the five men died during the day in sporadic incidents or en masse. His death could even have been related to the arrival of the Royal Irish Fusiliers at 8.00pm, when Capt. Scott-Moncreiff took over command of them. The family legend has it that W.R. Gow was a courier and was shot by a sniper. In speculation, perhaps he was sent with a message on behalf of Capt. Scott-Moncreiff from the Front Line to the HQ and was hit on his way. We will, I suspect, never know, although I wonder where this story emanated from?
Moreover, each daily entry in the diary concludes with a list of the day’s casualties, and only commissioned officers are named. It is therefore not necessarily the case that the noted event and the deaths are related. It is interesting though that this order is deliberately and specifically laid out by the author as there are very few other examples of individual commands in the rest of the diary.
The Commonwealth War Grave Commission reconfirms and tallies with the published obituary, below, as well as the diary entry. They show the full list of the names and dates as noted above. January 1917 was the coldest for many years, a short excerpt from the KOSB in the Great War by Captain Stair Gillon, gives a sense of challenges that this posed and sketches out the events leading up to the 16th on page 190 of the book:
‘The battalion was in for a rather trying time. Unless when actually working (under risky conditions) at a new firing trench nearly 600 yards in front of the one hitherto occupied or patrolling, they felt the cold in the absence of greatcoats and blankets. But the work was arduous and warming. After three nights’ digging and two days’ occupation and improvement, the battalion found itself in possession of a trench fully a mile long. The work and covering parties suffered casualties. Three second lieutenants were killed – D. H. Robertson and P.S. Mackay on 14th, and J Routledge on 16th. So was A/RSM Prentice, MC. O.R. casualties were continuous: 8 on 13/14th, 15 on 14th, 7 on 15th, 8 on 16th, 5 on 17th, 7 on 18th, and 8 on 19th April. 2nd Lieut. R.D. Peat had been wounded on the way up from Brown Line. To finish up, the relief was complicated in the extreme, no less than five battalions and two divisions occupying the sector.’ (Gillon, 1930)
Of note, almost all of the other men that died in the days before and after the 16th were buried in unmarked graves, except for - P.S. Mackay – who is now buried at Wancourt British Cemetery just a couple of miles south of Monchy. This is a large cemetery that was increased in size from and original 400 or so to 1500 plus and used as a place of consolidation. Most of the graves here were reburied from other smaller graves from the nearby area, the men of the 1st KOSBies who died on the 14th April are amongst them, searching on the CWGC website confirms this. It is as a consequence reasonable to imagine that the remains of W.R.Gow are also here in one of the unmarked graves. Almost half of the graves at Wancourt are unnamed. A particularly large percentage, which perhaps indicates and reinforces the comments in the books that Monchy was a very very tough battle. Stair Gillon’s foot note, which reads ‘The sights and smells of Monchy, with its dead horses and men, beggar description’, gives some sense of the tragedy of this place (Gillon, 1930, p. 190).
There is a chance that he may be at the actual Monchy Cemetery, which is closer, to the west of the town, but the general lack of KOSB graves there means it is less likely in my opinion. Particularly as the headstones are mainly Wessex and Canadian Soldiers who led the initial attack on horseback on the 11th April and were all but annihilated. As an aside, theirs is one of the most remarkable stories of the entire war, and resulted in one of the largest hauls of VCs in a single action ever.
The story also takes a somewhat unexpected turn when we look deeper at whom Capt C.K. Scott-Moncreiff was at that time and was to become. On the 23rd April he was very badly injured in the leg and played no further part in active service duties. A quick look at the life of Scott-Moncreiff provides a rather sensational surprise, to say the least, he turns out to be amongst other things a spy, and the original translator of Proust into the English language. His biography was published in 2014. It includes excerpts from his war diaries, and gives a good and rounded sense of what was going on at and around this time, albeit from a much more privileged perspective.
Returning to Monchy, it is also worth noting the comments of the Commander in Chief, Sir Douglas Haig in his Arras Despatch to the war office. He outlines the action on the 14th to 20th April below:
On other parts of our line heavy counter-attacks developed on the 14th April, the most violent of which were directed against Monchy-le-Preux. The struggle for this important position (held by the 29th Division, Major-General Sir H. de B. de Lisle) was exceedingly fierce.
The enemy's attacks were supported by the full weight of his available artillery, and at one time parties of his infantry reached the eastern defences of the village. To the south and the north, however, our posts held their ground, and in the end the enemy was completely repulsed, with great loss.
These heavy German counter attacks were led by the elite Bavarian 3rd Infantry Division who outnumbered the 29th Division, which was made up of one battalion from each home nation, 3 to 1.
Finally, it is noted in W.R. Gow’s obituary that he was put forward for the Distinguished Conduct Medal for some extraordinary act of bravery in January 1917.
Mrs Gow, 21 Livingstone Street, Clydebank, has received information that her husband, Pte William Roger Gow (40440), KOSB, was killed by a sniper in France on April 16th. Pte. Gow, who was 33 years of age, was the eldest son of Mrs Gow, 35 Crown Avenue. He was a native of Renton, but had been resident in Clydebank for a good number of years. Prior to joining the colours on August 20, 1915, he was employed in dept. 17, the Singer Manufacturing Co. Ltd, Clydebank. He was well known as a prominent member of the Clydebank Burgh Band, in which he was a trombone player, and was one of the band who on numerous occasions distinguished themselves in the Scottish Championship contests. He is the fourth member of the band to fall. Pte. Gow had been at the front since August, 1916, and had seen a great deal of severe fighting. In January last he was recommended for the DCM, but nothing has since been heard of the matter. Of general unassuming disposition he was held in the highest of esteem by a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, and the utmost sympathy will go out to Mrs Gow and her two children in their sad bereavement.
The DCM is a prestigious award which is ranked second only to the Victoria Cross. The action which was at the Somme on January 30th 1917 that W.R.Gow was involved is described in detail by Captain Stair Gillon, but I prefer to let you read the battalion diary entry for that day.
1 officer and 21 O.R. of the enemy were captured by B Coy in the morning. The party had come up to take over a position held by the 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers two days previously. They lost their way and in the morning were seen between our most advanced post and the old front line. Six men volunteered to go out and attack them. After getting round the Geremans and throwing a few bombs, the enemy surrendered (the enemy were more active than usual with the artillery). 12 men killed, 16 wounded off R.D. Smith wounded, 28 men sent to hospital 1 man returns from hospital. The B coy was relieved by the 1st Royal Irish Fusiliers and marches back to Carnoy Camp. Hot tea and rum was prepared for the B coy at Guillemont Camp and hot soup prepared on arriving at Carnoy.
2nd Lt. R.D. Peat, who we saw injured above at Monchy was the platoon commander of B Company. Stair Gillon notes on page 188 the captured men were dubbed “Peats Prussiansâ€. The only member of the group that appears to have been given an award, which was in fact the DCM, for this act of bravery was the Company Serjeant Major James A. Battle.
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