Sergeant Albert Rowe
Albert Rowe was born on 23 December 1897 at 49 Jerusalem Street, Belfast, the fourth of seven children of English-born naval pensioner (formerly coastguard) Thomas Rowe and his wife Emily (née McAdam). By the time of the 1911 Census he was living with his parents and siblings at 16 Collingwood Avenue, Belfast. He later worked as a valet in the service of North Irish Horse officer Holt Waring at his Waringstown estate.
Rowe enlisted in the North Irish Horse on 24 August 1914 (No.1029) and was appointed Waring's batman. On 1 May 1915 he embarked for France with D Squadron, which at the time was serving as divisional cavalry to the 51st Division. Later that month he moved to C Squadron when Waring took command of that unit.
C Squadron served as divisional cavalry to the 3rd Division until May 1916 when it was moved to the 49th Division, then the 36th (Ulster) Division. On 21 June that year, however, the squadron joined with F Squadron and the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons Service Squadron to form the 2nd North Irish Horse Regiment, serving as corps cavalry to X Corps.
On 4 August 1916 Major Waring was attached to the 13th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles. Rowe moved with him. On 10 October he was formally transferred to the Royal Irish Rifles and posted to the 13th Battalion. He was issued regimental number 43200. In April 1917 he was appointed sergeant of the officers' mess.
In November 1917 the 11th and 13th Battalions, Royal Irish Rifles, were amalgamated to form the 11/13th Battalion. In February the following year the new battalion was disbanded. Rowe was posted to the 12th Battalion and appointed officers' mess sergeant, probably on the recommendation of Waring, who had also moved to that battalion. He remained with that battalion until the end of the war. On 14 March 1919 he was demobilised and transferred to Class Z, Army Reserve.
Rowe married Mabel Callan McCluskey at St Mary Magdalene Church in Belfast on 15 December 1919.
A few months earlier he had re-enlisted, in the Military Foot Police (No. P/18299), serving in Belfast until discharged a year or two later. He then worked for ten years as butler to Holt Waring's widow Margaret at Waringstown. She wrote him a glowing reference on his leaving in 1931.
He died in the City Hospital on 16 December 1953, leaving his wife, a son (Bertie) and daughter (Adie) in Belfast, and two daughters (Cora and Isobel) in Canada.
The Belfast Telegraph reported:
Many friends at Belvoir Park Golf Club and the Masonic Hall, Mountpottinger, will miss Mr. Albert Rowe, whose funeral took place at Newtownbreda Cemetery to-day. He died suddenly yesterday aged 56. A Lurgan man, Mr. Rowe became widely known during his 16 years stewardship at Belvoir for his quiet efficiency and ready smile. When he left in September last year, [he] had built up a record of hospitality and service second to none in Northern Ireland golf clubs. For health reasons he resigned his post to take up a similar appointment at the Masonic Hall Mountpottinger. He served in the 1914-18 war with the North Irish Horse.
The Northern Whig and Belfast Post reported:
Representatives of the North Irish Horse and the Royal Ulster Rifles, in which regiments he had served in the First World War, attended the funeral yesterday of Mr. Albert Rowe, who had been steward at Belvoir Golf Club [and] ... Mount Masonic Hall. Members of the club and the Masonic Order also followed the cortege to Newtownbreda Cemetery.
Postcard photograph of Rowe (right) and a comrade, probably Rifleman Robert Simms of Larne, (No.18762) of the 12th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles. It reads:
"Souvenier De La Mouscron, Belge. The night of the Armistice. This was taken the day the Armistice was signed. Albert Rowe Sgt."
Image taken at a crossroads in Messines, probably just after the town was captured in June 1917. The officers and men in the photo may be the 13th Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles staff establishment. The sign reads:
MESSINES
O.32.d.5.3 [a trench map reference]
NEUVE EGLISE
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COMINES
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My thanks to Elizabeth Boudreau, Rowe's grand-daughter, for providing these images and some of the above information.
This page last updated 4 July 2025.