Philip Rowland

The 12th May 1941 brought Youlgrave the first direct experience of the tragedy of war. Philip, only son of Philip and Emily Rowland, husband of a mere five months to Mildred, was killed by enemy bombs while serving as an LAC fitter on Sunderland flying boats at Pembroke Dock. Educated at Lady Manners School, he had a bright future ahead of him when he joined his uncle Sidney Johnson at the flour mill in Two Dales. But the call of duty prevailed. Inspired, perhaps, through his gliding activities at Hucklow, he volunteered for RAF service in 1940. Mildred joined him at Pembroke Dock early in 1941, but after Easter leave in Youlgrave he refused to take her back with him. Philip’s sister Mildred Bacon believes he had a premonition of what was to come. Following a Luftwaffe raid on the RAF base, a solitary plane — almost as an afterthought — dropped two bombs on the residential quarter where Philip was billeted. And with him would have died his young wife had she been there. Mrs Bacon believes Mildred wished she had been: “She was inconsolable. Perhaps had there been a child she would have found something to live for, but she died shortly afterwards — some said of a broken heart and I believe it to be true.” Philip was buried in Youlgrave churchyard on 19th May 1941, aged 23.

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