LOWE, Arthur

Arthur Lowe came from Blackheath and enlisted in the Staffords. He was sent to the 1st Battalion which had been involved in all the main battles of the Great War to 1916. In August the 1st Battalion was on the Somme and in the front line at Delville Wood, where the conditions undoubtedly deserved its nickname of Devil's Wood. Hardly a tree survived among the debris of war and the ruined trenches. On the 31st August three determined attacks were put in by an enemy keen to win back lost territory. The Staffords ran short of bombs and ammunition but just held out. Losses in men were high and among them was Private Arthur Lowe who was severely wounded. He was taken to the Military Hospital at Rouen where he died of wounds. He is buried in St. Sever Cemetery (B 24.29) at Rouen and is commemorated on the Blackheath and Halesowen Memorials.