King's Own Royal Regiment Museum

2nd Lieutenant George Rowland Paget Howson

2nd Lieutenant George Rowland Paget Howson, 1st Battalion, King’s Own.
George was a peacetime employee of the District. He enlisted with the Royal Fusiliers and served in France and Flanders with them. He was commissioned on 26th September 1916 into the King’s Own. He was killed in action on 9th April 1917 during the first battle of the Scarpe.

2nd Lieutenant George Rowland Paget Howson, 1st Battalion, King's Own.
Accession Number: KO2061/38

Shortly after his death a local newspaper reported the following:

"Death in action on Easter Monday while leading his platoon, youngest son of the late Mr R G Howson one of the founders of the Morecambe Music Festival and many years manager of the Lancaster Bank, Morecambe. Deceased joined the service of the London City and Midland Bank, and had been for some years one of the clerks in the Carnforth Branch and prior to that was in the Kirkby Lonsdale Branch."

Another newspaper reported:

Second Lieutenant R P H Howson - Killed

Information has come to hand that 2nd Lieutenant George Rowland Paget Howson, King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, and younger son of the late Mr R G W Howson, one of the founders of the Morecambe Musical Festival, and for many years the manager of the Morecambe Branch of the Lancaster Banking Company, now the Manchester and Liverpool District Banking Company.  Howson, of Bare, was killed in action on Easter Monday, whilst leading his platoon in the attack.  The deceased officer, who was 32 years of age, was educated at the Lancaster Royal Grammar School, served on the staff of the Manchester and Liverpool District Bank at Kirkby Lonsdale, and later for some years at Carnforth.  In his school days he was conspicuous in games, and later maintained his keenness for both cricket and football.  He enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers, with whom he served for a time in France, returning for a course of training with the Oxford Officer Training Corps and subsequently given a commission in the King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment.  An officer colleague, in notifying his death, writes:- "It is with the deepest sorrow that I have to tell you of the death of your gallant son, which took place on Easter Monday, when he was leading a platoon in the attack.  It may be some consolation for you to know that your son's death was absolutely instantaneous.   He was a gallant gentleman, and greatly loved by all his men.  I have had the pleasure of his friendship ever since he joined, and I assure you we appreciated him very much.  I assure you we all sorrow with you in this great blow.  Yours sincerely, A P Myers."  Deceased's elder brother, Harold, also in the service of the Manchester and Liverpool District Banking Company at Lancaster, responded to the country's call a few months ago.

1914-15 Star to Private George Rowland Paget Howson, number 5839, Royal Fusiliers and Allied Victory Medal to 2nd Lieutenant George Rowland Paget Howson, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment
Accession Number: KO3057/01 & KO3057/02

Private George Rowland Paget Howson, Royal Fusiliers, photographed in France May 1916
Accession Number: KO3057/03

2nd Lieutenant George Rowland Paget Howson, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment.
Accession Number: KO3057/04

Private George Rowland Paget Howson, Royal Fusiliers, on the left, with another, holding a metal dish.
Accession Number: KO3057/05

Telegram from the Keeper of the Privy Purse, Buckingham Palace, with message of sympathy to Mrs Howson, dated 23rd April 1917, regarding the death of her son, 2nd Lieutenant George Rowland Paget Howson, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment.
Accession Number: KO3057/06

Letter to Mrs Howson, regarding the death of her son, 2nd Lieutenant George Rowland Paget Howson, 1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, dated 16th April 1917 from Lieutenant Colonel O C Borrett, Commanding 1st Battalion, The King’s Own.
Accession Number: KO3057/07

Letter to Mrs Howson, Raylands, 1 Victoria Parade, Ashton-on-Ribble, Lancashire, from the Director of Graves Registration, dated 15th May 1917 regarding the grave of 2nd lieutenant G R P Howson, buried at St. Laurent-Blangy Communal Cemetery. Later renamed Mindel Trench British Cemetery.
Accession Number: KO3057/08

Letter to Mrs Howson, from the Director-General of the Graves Registration, Jan 1921 concerning the re-naming of St. Laurent Blangy Communal Cemetery to Mindel Trench British Cemetery.
Accession Number: KO3057/09

Grave of Lieutenant A S Mack, 1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, killed in action 9th April 1917, with official wooden cross and un-official painted cross marking the grave. Mindel Trench British Cemetery
Accession Number: KO3057/10

Memorial believed to be in Mindel Trench British Cemetery dated “1917” “Sacred to the memory of the officers, NCO’s and men of the 1st Bn The King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, who were killed near this spot 9th April 1917.
Accession Number: KO3057/11

Hand written note containing graves in Mindel Trench British Cemetery, Blangy. With reference to graves of Lieutenant A S Mack and 2nd Lieutenant G P Howson and note “visited 3rd June 1921”
Accession Number: KO3057/12

Letter of issue, dated 31st October 1930, of the 1914-15 Star, British War and Allied Victory Medals for 2nd Lieutenant G R P Howson, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment.
Accession Number: KO3057/13

Photograph of the memorial for Men of the District Bank who fell in the War, 1914-1919.
Accession Number: KO3057/14