Charles Leonard Rowe

Date of birth: 3 July 1895
Place of birth: Plymouth, Devon
Previous occupation: Fitter
Service: Royal Navy
Rank: Engine Room Artificer
Service Number: M21449
Joined Hood: 15th May 1923 (Engine Room Artificer 3rd Class)
Left Hood: 30th August 1925 (Engine Room Artificer 2nd Class)







Biographical Information: Charles Rowe was born in the naval dockyard town of Plymouth in 1895, and joined the Royal Navy in July 1916, just a month after the battle of Jutland. Being 21 years old when he joined, he had already qualified as a fitter, and his engineering background qualified him to join the ranks of the RN's skilled engineer rating branch: the artificers. He began as an acting Engine Room Artificer Fourth Class, and joined Hood in 1923, for her 'Empire Cruise', as an ERA Third Class. Later, he was advanced to ERA II whilst still serving in Hood. It is known that he was a Freemason, because there is a record of his attendance at a Freemason event in Hudson's Bay Building on 23 June 1924, during the Empire Cruise visit to Canada. Although discharged to pension in 1938 as a Chief ERA, he rejoined the Service the following year, to answer his country's call during World War II, serving in shore billets only. He left the RN for the second and final time in 1945, after the end of the war.

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