A MERE BOY
BUT A GREAT SPORTSMAN

CORPORAL LEONARD EDWARD ROWE

LONDON REGIMENT ROYAL FUSILIERS

1ST JULY 1916 AGE 20

BURIED: GOMMECOURT BRITISH CEMETERY NO 2, FRANCE


We can know nothing about this young man - other than the fact that he was one of the 19,240 men killed in action on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Somme campaign - and that according to his mother whose chose his inscription, he was "a great sportsman". Rowe was the son of a Spanish General Produce Merchant who lived in Clapham. He served with the Second Battalion the London Regiment Royal Fusiliers whose task on the day was to divert the German artillery and their reserves from the main attack south of the Ancre. Unfortunately the Germans were expecting the British attack just where the Second Battalion were to create their diversion.