John Fowler was born at Langtoft, near Market Deeping in Lincolnshire, the son of John and Jane Fowler. He was born around 1895, one of nine children. He enlisted with the 2nd Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment and was killed fighting on the Somme on 23 October 1916 aged 20. His battalion was ordered to attack Zenith Trench north of Lesboeufs. The battalion war diary described what happened: "At Zero hour the battalion assaulted following the creeping barrage as close as possible. As soon as the Bn started to assault, a very gallant German officer ran down his own parapet and got his men up and stopped us by rapid rifle fire." The battalion also suffered heavily from German machine guns and only a few men reached their objective. John was one of the casualties. He has no known grave and is rememembered on the Thiepval Memorial, Pier 1C. He is also remembered on the war memorial at Tinwell. His is the top name on the plaque inside the church. We do not know what his links to the village were but it is possible he was working in Tinwell before he went off to war.

See where all our Rutland soldiers died during the Battle of the Somme on our interactive map.