Roll of Honour
2nd Lieutenant
John MacLellan Mowat
John MacLellan Mowat was born on the 14th March 1896 in Busby, Lanarkshire, son of Joseph Gunn Mowat, a Flour Merchant, and Catherine Knight Mowat (nee MacLellan), of Branxton, Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire. John was educated at the Greenock Collegiate School and Bootham School, in York, England. While at school he received high commission, and was said to be ‘a great favourite of all who knew him’. John became an agricultural student at the West of Scotland College.
John first joined the University’s Officer Training Corps in 1915, before being gazetted 2nd Lieutenant to the North Staffordshire Regiment on the 29th April 1915. He served with his regiment on home duty until October 1916 when he joined the Royal Flying Corps.
2nd Lieutenant John MacLellan Mowat died during military service on the 5th January 1917, aged 20, in a tragic flying accident at Cramlington, just north of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, Northumberland, England.
He is buried at Kilmacolm Cemetery in Renfrewshire, Scotland. His funeral gathered a large crowd and the local shops closed for the occasion.
Comments and Citations
Burial Place: Commonwealth War Graves Commission - Debt of Honour Register