Name
Francis Goldolphin Rowe
27 January 1889
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
11/03/1917
27
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lieutenant
Australian Field Artillery
14th Bde.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
GUARDS' CEMETERY, LESBOEUFS
IV. I. 7.
France
Headstone Inscription
PRO PATRIA MORI
UK & Other Memorials
Digswell House Australian Hospital Memorial, St John's Church, Digswell
Pre War
Francis Godolphin Rowe was born on 27 January 1889 in Woollahra, Sydney, New South Wales, the son of Colonel Thomas and Selina Rowe.
He was a Consulting Engineer and gave his address as Esa Bank Waverley branch, Bondi Junction, Sydney, New South Wales. He was married to Eileen McDonald. [not Emily as on CWGC site]
Wartime Service
He enlisted on 2 July 1915 as 2nd Lieutenant with the 13th Battalion, 14th Reinforcement and his unit embarked from Sydney, New South Wales, on board HMAT A70 Ballarat on 16 December 1916. He was promoted to Lieutenant with the 13th Battalion and was killed in action on 11 May 1917.
[N.B. the AIF Project website gives his battalion as 13th, CWGC & Australian War Memorial sites give 14th Bde, Australian Field Artillery]
Additional Information
His wife, Mrs E Terry, Strathmore, Old South Head Rd., Bonde, New South Wales, Australia, ordered his headstone inscription: "PRO PATRIA MORI". The Australian War Memorial site has a collection of items relating to the First World War service of Lieutenant Francis 'Frank' Godolphin Rowe, 14th Australian Field Artillery Brigade, France, 1916-1917. Collection consists of postcards and letters written home, mainly of a personal nature, from Lieutenant Rowe to his wife. The collection also includes a telegram relaying the news of Lieutenant Rowe's death in 1917; a red leather wallet containing photos of Lieutenant Rowe and his wife Eileen and a last letter from Rowe; an Imperial War Graves photograph of Lieutenant Rowe's grave and a black memorial card.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
aif.adfa.edu.au, Australian War Memorial,
