Papers of Geoffrey Rowe

Correspondence written by Geoffrey Rowe (1923-2005) sent to his parents Doris and Cyril, younger sister Valerie, cousins, aunts, uncles and other friends and relatives between 1942 and 1947. The collection also includes their letters to him from 1942 to 1947. During this time, Geoffrey was stationed mainly at Ferozepore in the Indian Punjab, where he was employed first in the Royal Signals and then in the Indian Army as a physical training instructor, reaching the rank of Captain by the end of the War.

Geoffrey destroyed all letters he wrote from India to his family dated December 1942 to August 1943, although letters he received from family members during this period have survived.

The letters from Doris, Cyril, and Valerie depict life in Birmingham during wartime including rationing, blackouts and air raids, V-bombs, the arrival of Americans, and concerns about loved ones. They also describe visits to the theatre, cinema, concert halls, and the daily life and worries of a family spread apart.

Geoffrey's own letters describe life in the Indian Army in Ferozepore, which was located on what would become the border with Pakistan. His letters contain vivid descriptions of life in the last days of the Raj, and the mix of cultures that he discovered in India.

The collection also includes two printed volumes produced in 2004: 'Soldiering On: A Memoir' by Geoffrey Rowe, and 'Letters Home, 1942-1947: the collected letters of the Rowe Family in a time of war' edited by Martin Rowe.

Geoffrey Rowe was born on 5 April 1923 at 30 Trafalgar Road, Moseley, Birmingham, the son of Doris (nee Pope) and Cyril Rowe. He was educated at Solihull School and later articled to a chartered accountant.

In 1941 he enlisted in the Royal Signals and was sent to India where he joined the Indian Army. After returning to the UK following the death of his father in May 1945, Geoffrey later returned to India where increasing communal violence leading to the partition of India into India and Pakistan occupied much of his time. He returned again to the UK in September 1947, and his mother died in 1950.

After the end of the Second World War, Rowe entered the Royal Artillery where he remained until his retirement from the Army in 1978. He was commander of the Sixth Light Regiment in Malaya in the mid to late 1960s and Chief Instructor in Gunnery and Deputy Commandant of the Royal School of Artillery, Larkhill in the mid-1970s. He retired at the rank of Full Colonel after thirty-seven years' service for his country in India, Germany, the Far East, and the United Kingdom.

Geoffrey was briefly assistant secretary for administration at the Marylebone Cricket Club before retiring permanently to Salisbury, Wiltshire. He was married to Helen and the couple had two sons, Martin and Philip, and three grandchildren, Sophie, Jamie, and Oliver.

Geoffrey Rowe died on 5 June 2005.

Sources: papers of Geoffrey Rowe; details supplied by the donor

Open, access to all registered researchers.

Presented October 2019

Please see full catalogue for more information.

Papers arranged and described by Margaret Roper, January 2020, in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description (ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; and in-house cataloguing guidelines.

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director of Special Collections (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk). Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material

'Soldiering On: A Memoir' by Geoffrey Rowe, New York: Lantern Books, 2004;
'Letters Home, 1942-1947: the collected letters of the Rowe family in a time of war' edited by Martin Rowe, New York: Lantern Books, 2004.