Biography:

2ND LIEUT. GERARD RIMINGTON BOWER, 1ST BATTN. THE QUEEN'S ROYAL WEST SURREY REGT. KILLED IN ACTION BETWEEN BAZENTIN-LE-PETIT AND HIGH WOOD, JULY 15TH, 1916. AGED 19. At the School 1911—14 (Park House). Gerard Rimington Bower was the second son of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Herbert Bower, The Manse, Farnborough, Orpington, Kent, both of whom died in 1918. His elder brother, Lieut. C. W. Bower, R.N., was awarded the D.S.C. in the War. Gerard Bower came to Tonbridge in May, 1911, from The Knoll, Woburn Sands, and left at  Easter, 1914. Three weeks after the outbreak of war he received a commission, dated August 24th, 1914, in the 2/22nd (County of London) Battn. London Regt. (The Queen's) (T.F.), and in the spring of 1915 he went to France with his Battalion and was promoted Temporary Lieutenant, May 27th, 1915. After being in the trenches for five weeks he returned from the Front, as he had been given a nomination for the R.M.C., Sandhurst. Passing out of Sandhurst at the end of the year he was gazetted to The Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regt.) as 2nd Lieut., December 22nd, 1915, and returned to the Front May 20th, 1916. He was killed in action, July 15th, 1916, whilst leading his men in an attack in the Battle of the Somme, shot through the head right on top of the German wire, which at that point had escaped destruction during the preparatory bombardment. His C.O. wrote of him :— " He had only been a short time with us, but he gave every promise of a successful career and I much deplore his loss. He died in a gallant manner at the head of his platoon." Various officers have testified that he was " an excellent officer and one of the smartest subalterns in the Battalion," and the following are extracts from some of their letters :— " His platoon was among the first to go over, and I hear he led the men splendidly, that it was a fine sight to see them all in line following him. He led them forward right in the face of a heavy rifle and machine-gun fire, with another machine-gun catching them in rear from a certain wood. He showed great bravery and a fine example." "He was so high-spirited and such a good officer, almost the ideal type, and we were all so fond of him." " He had that devotion to duty and that love of, and care for, his men which is the hall-mark of the English officer."


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Gerard Bower came to Tonbridge in May, 1911, from The Knoll, Wobum Sands, and left at Easter, 1914.