LOWE, Wilfred

Wilfred Lowe was the oldest son of Ernest Lowe of Hanbury Hill Nurseries, Stourbridge. He had been a tram driver on the Dudley to Stourbridge route but had moved to Sparkhill with his wife and child to work on the Birmingham Corporation Tramways. He volunteered for the Warwicks Territorials and enlisted in the 1/8th (Aston) Battalion which also recruited in Stourbridge. They crossed to France at the end of March 1915 and took up a reserve position near Ploegsteert Wood. As this sector remained quiet, the troops acquired trench experience and came under occasional fire. It was shell-fire that gave Private Wilfred Lowe a serious head wound from shrapnel. He was sent to the military hospital at Boulogne where he died on the 23rd June. He was 31 years of age and is buried in Boulogne Cemetery (VIII B 47) and commemorated on the Stourbridge and St. Thomas's church Memorials.