Born in London, and christened at St Pancras Old Church on the 4th of March 1821, the son of John Rowe and his wife, Harriet, nee Streatley. His parents were married at St Dunstan's Church, Stepney, on the 2nd of November 1818.
Enlisted at London on the 1st of June 1841.
Trade: Farrier.
No other enlistment details are shown.Fair complexion. Brown eyes. Lt. brown hair.
Joined the regiment (on its return from India) from the Maidstone Depot on the 1st of April 1842.
Married in 1851, and had at least 2 children, while in the regiment (see below).)
Appointed Farrier-Major (as Sergeant) on the 22nd of March 1853.
Discharged from Edinburgh on the 9th of October 1866.
"To Out-Pension, after 24 years' service."
Served 25 years 291 days.
In Turkey and the Crimea: 1 year 10 months.
Conduct: "good". To live in London after discharge.
Granted a pension of 2/- per day on discharge, but this was increased to 2/3d per day from the 30th of October 1866.
Next of kin: Wife, Mary Rowe. They had two children at the time of his discharge, aged 13 years and 10 years.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman and Sebastopol.
He was awarded the Long Service & Good Conduct medal on the 21st of January 1864, with a gratuity of £5.
He is not shown as beeng a member of the Balaclava Commemoration Society in either 1877 or 1879, or to have ever attended any of the various functions arranged by or for the veterans.
[PB: According to Chris Poole, John Rowe probably married a Hannah Honiss (or Honess), a farmer's daughter from Headcorn, Kent, in Lewisham in the March Quarter of 1851, and the couple's first child was born there the following year. (Hannah's name appears with his in the 1871 and 1881 Censuses.) But he may have married a Mary Ann Willie (his next of kin is named as "Mary"). Follow up.]
Births registered
William Hugh Rose, March Quarter 1852, Lewisham.
John Francis Rowe, September Quarter 1854, [place of birth?].
Appointed a Yeoman Warder at the Tower of London on the 20th of August 1866. His number was 602. He served there for 22 years and 3 months, living, and dying, in the Byward Tower [still (1986) a Yeoman Warder's residence].
1871 Census
Tower of London — Tower Hill, London.
John Rowe, 49, Yeoman Warder, Chelsea Pen, born Truro, Cornwall.
Hannah Rowe, 51, wife, born Headcorn, Kent.
William Hugh Rowe, 19, Clerk — Conserv. Reg. Office, born Woolwich.
John Francis Rowe, 16, scholar, born Dorchester.
A niece was also present..
1881 Census
20, Canterbury Road, Lambeth.
John Rowe, 59, Civil Service, Tower of London, born Truro.
Hannah Rowe, 61, born Headcorn, Kent.
William H Rowe, 29, Secretary of Company, born London.
John F Rowe, 26, born Dorchester.
A boarder and a servant were also present.
Death registered
Hannah Rowe, aged 64 years, March Quarter 1884, Lambeth.
Deaths registered
John Rowe, aged 67 years, March Quarter 1889, Whitechapel.
John Rowe died at the Tower of London on the 2nd of February 1899, aged 67 years.
From the Army and Navy Gazette, 8th of June 1899: "J. Rowe, formerly Farrier-Major in the 4th Light Dragoons, and for many years a Yeoman Warder at the Tower, has just died."
He was buried in Nunhead Cemetery, Grave No. 17494, Plot 89, on the 6th of February 1899. Others of his family are also buried in the same grave-space and the erected memorial stone bears the inscription:
"In loving memory of Hannah, the wife of John Rowe, died 5th January 1884, aged 64 years" "In my Father's house there are many mansions."
Also of John Rowe, who died February 2nd. 1889, aged 67 years. "I go to my Father."
Also of their son, William Hugh Rowe, Assistant Paymaster-General to the Supreme Court, 1st of December 1900 — 16th of October 1909. Died February 6th 1912, aged 61 years.
Also of John Francis Rowe, who died on the 28th of November 1920, aged 66 years."
[EJB: Hannah being a different Christian name from that previously known he would appear to have been twice married. PB: See note and query to follow up, above.]
A William Hugh Cecil Rowe, who died on the 28th of November 1939, is also shown in the Cemetery records as being buried in the same grave-space, but is not recorded on the stone.
(There is a photograph of the stone in the 4th Hussar file.)
There is however, a small stone in the form of an open book set at one end of the kerbed grave-space area, but it is now very much weathered and cannot now [1984] be deciphered.
[Later note] The small stone set in his grave-space has now been cleaned and deciphered, and reads: "Also in loving memory of William Hugh Cecil Rowe, C.B.E. only son of William Hugh Rowe, who died 24th November 1939, aged 56 years. Requiescat in Pace.
In his will, made on the 15th of November 1884, and witnessed by William John McVeagh, Bank Manager, Provincial Bank, Ltd., Canning Town, E. and M.A. McVeagh, Spinster, The Tower of London, he left all his property, both real and personal, "to my son, John Francis Rowe, 'for his life', and after his decease to the absolute use and benefit of my said son, William Hugh Rowe."
Extracts from The Times, 7th and 12th of February 1912:
Deaths. Rowe. On the 6th instant, after three years and four months illness, William Hugh Rowe, late Assistant Paymaster-General of the Supreme Court, in his 61st year.
Obituary. Mr William Hugh Rowe, who died last week at the age of 61, for many years occupied an important position in the Conservative party organisation. When, after the election of 1868, Sir John Gorst undertook the re-organisation of the party, Mr. Rowe became one of the staff at Headquarters.
About a year after the victory of 1874 he was appointed Secretary of the Registration Association, later merged with the Conservative Central Office, in which capacity he filled the same position. Later he acted as one of the hon. secretaries of the Conservative Central Office, in which capacity he served under the various principal agents until he received a Government appointment in 1892.
At one time he was also secretary of the Agricultural Business Committee, formed of members of the Conservative members of Parliament of which the Mr. Edward Stanhope was Chairman. During the 24 eventful years Mr. Rowe was at the Conservative Head-quarters, his quiet unobtrusive work gained him the confidence of all and the value of his work was highly appreciated by the leading men of the party who were brought into contact with him.
His wide knowledge of election and registration law was such that the Government agents throughout the country regarded him as an expert, whose advice was always to be thoroughly relied on. For three years before his death, failing health necessitated his living in retirement.
He was Secretary of the Conservative Central Office at Westminster from 1876-1892, Deputy Assistant Paymaster-General at the Supreme Court, 1893-1899 and Assistant Paymaster-General at the Royal Courts of Justice from 1900-1909. He died at 122, Beaufort Mansions, Chelsea.
Based on entries from Who's Who and Who was Who:
Lieutenant-Colonel William Hugh Cecil Rowe, C.B.E. was the only son of William Hugh Rowe, Deputy Paymaster-General, Royal Courts of Justice. He was educated at St. Paul's School and Jesus College, Cambridge, and was appointed Inspector to the Agricultural Bank of Egypt in 1906. During the first World War he was granted a temporary commission in the Army Service Corps in 1914, Captain in December of 1914, Major in May of 1916 and to Lieutenant-Colonel in April of 1917. He commanded Base Supply Depots at Le Havre and Dieppe in France and at Arquata in Italy. Five times mentioned in despatches, he was made a C.B.E. in 1918 and later joined the staff of the British Broadcasting Corporation. He died at 1, Elvanston Mews, Queen's Gate, London, on the 24th of November 1939, aged 56 years.
Census information, and details of a number of registrations of births, deaths and marriages kindly provided by Chris Poole.
In 2005, the EJBA was contacted by Terry Gardner, who wrote that John Rowe was:
my GGUncle on my mother's side and came to my notice as a result of family history research. My Grandmother lived for a while with him and his family in the Tower of London where he was a Yeoman Warder following his discharge from 4th Light Dragoons.
We are very grateful to him for sending copies of several very significant documents that help to fill out details of John Rowe's life. These include his Attestation (1840), his Record of Service (1866), a number of Censuses, and more recent correspondence from the Tower of London concerning his record there.