LIEUTENANT COLONEL LAURENCE FLETCHER-ROWE
1ST BATTALION GRENADIER GUARDS
13TH MARCH 1915 AGE 48
BURIED: ESTAIRES COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION, FRANCE
Laurence Fisher-Rowe was the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards when he was wounded by a bullet on 12 March 1915 during the Battle of Neuve Chapelle. He died in a Casualty Clearing Station in Estaires the next day. The Imperial War Museum has a collection of his private papers containing letters and diaries, which record, among other things, the Christmas Truce of 1914. There is also a collection of letters from his wife describing the difficult journey she made across France in March 1919 to visit her husband's grave. Laurence Fisher-Rowe was always known as 'The Old Friend', which is how he is described on his memorial in Sherborne Abbey.