William Roy Lowdon

Service no: 10433


Place of birth: Orange

Address: Bathurst Road, Orange

Occupation: Baker

Next of kin: David Ritchie Lowdon (father), Bathurst Road, Orange

Date of enlistment: 13 March 1916

Place of enlistment: Sydney

Age at enlistment: 24

Fate: Embarked HMAT "Marathon" Sydney 16 July 1916.
Hospitalised November 1916 suffering from measles.
Killed in action, Belgium.

Date of death: 31 August 1917

Buried: Reninghelst New Military Cemetery, Poperinghe, Belgium, Plot 3, Row A, Grave 28


William Roy Lowdon was born in Orange, and lived Bathurst Road. He and his father were the proprietors of Lowdon & Son Bakery in East Orange. Roy was Secretary of the Thistle Club, and sang at their gatherings. the "Leader" claimed "Roy was one of the most popular of the young men of Orange". Roy enlisted in March 1916, and served in 1st Division Australian Army Service Corps. He was delivering supplies at Dickebusch (Dickie Bush) in Belgium on 31 August 1917 when a shell fell on him. According to a fellow soldier fragments of bomb entered his armpit and he exclaimed "I'm hit Tick", and died a few minutes later. He was 26. 

Roy's name appears on St John's Presbyterian Church Orange Honour Roll. His memory is also honoured by a plaque adjacent to the sanctuary. William Roy Lowdon is also commemorated on the World War I Roll of Honour on the southern face of the Orange Cenotaph.

In 1923 the Anzac Memorial Avenue of trees was planted along Bathurst Road to commemorate fallen WWI soldiers. A tree was planted in honour of "Pte WR Lowdon"; it was donated by DH Lowdon. Very few of the trees are still standing today.


"Leader", 7 November 1917 p. 2.

How Roy Lowdon died [http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/117833789] 

"Leader", 7 November 1917 p. 1.

The Late Roy Lowdon [http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/117833728]