Alan Marlowe Bullock was born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire on Monday, 10th January 1898 and baptised in St Mary’s Church just five days later along with his older twin brother Edgar Marlowe. He was the youngest of five sons born to Owen Bullock and Rose Jane Chapman. His older brothers were, Horace Chapman, Owen Leonard, Austin Bernard and Edgar Marlowe. All the Bullock boys served in the Great War and sadly, only Alan was a casualty. The Bullock family lived at 46 Marlowes where Alan’s father Owen ran his own mechanical engineering business. Owen and Rose were originally form Oxfordshire and they had lived in a number of towns, including London, as Owen had developed his business. As a result, Alan and his twin Edgar were the only two children born in Hemel Hempstead shortly after the family had settled there in 1895.

Alan went to Bury Mill End school which he and Edgar entered in 1903 and when he completed this stage of his education in 1910, he was accepted to King George’s College, Kingsway in London to begin training. This was specifically to be able to join the General Post Office (GPO) which he did in 1913. He was attached to the staff of the GPO Stores department at 21 Bedford Street in London and he worked there until he was given permission by his employer to join the Colours. Seven months after his eighteenth birthday Alan volunteered for service when he attested at Bedford and joined the 15th Bn., London Regiment (Prince of Wales' Own Civil Service Rifles) as many young civil servants did at the time. At the time of enlistment his medical records state very specifically that Alan was 5 feet 6 and 2/10 inches in height and of slim build. He was sent to Hazeley Down Camp near Winchester for basic training were in April 1917 he was promoted Lance Corporal. This was not before a bout of influenza which hospitalised him for thirteen days in January of that year. Happily, he recovered fully with only a lingering cough.

Alan applied for a commission and he was accepted in September 1917 and transferred to No. 21 Officer Cadet Battalion at Crookham near Fleet in Hampshire for his training. He was Gazetted back to his original regiment and battalion on the 18th December 1917 and rejoined his unit as 2nd Lieutenant. He was sent to France in April 1918 posted to 1/4th Battalion London Regiment and he arrived with his unit on the 15th of the month. In July he contracted “Trench Fever” and he spent a period of six weeks in hospital until he was recovered and deemed fit for service again. He returned to his Battalion in mid-August and was appointed Intelligence Officer. His responsibilities in this position would have included the collection and collation of all information, both by personal observation, and by close touch with troops in front line, snipers, scouts, patrols, and observers. He would have had to keep current with the military situation, and intelligence reports promulgated from above as well as studying enemy methods and actions. He would also have been the main point of liaison with the unit Artillery and Machine Guns, and with neighbouring units in the line. He would also have supervised the distribution of war news and intelligence through the Battalion and kept the War Diary.

He was granted a period of home leave on the 12th October and returned to Hemel Hempstead to visit family and friends. When he was home, he told his family that, despite his illnesses, he “enjoyed the life out there” and “would not have missed the chance for anything”. It was probably this attitude which caused his mother to choose the epitaph on his headstone, “The Happy Warrior”. His brief furlough over, he returned to France to re-join his Battalion not realising he would never return to England. In early November and just prior to operations against the enemy, Alan was in an advanced position on reconnaissance work when he and his patrol came under enemy fire. Sadly, this proved fatal although his reports were recovered with his body and were put to good effect during a subsequent attack.

Alan was Killed in Action on Monday, 4th November 1918 only one week before the Armistice signing which ended the Great War. Shortly after his death a brief obituary was published in the Hemel Gazette along with a photograph of the young 2nd Lieutenant describing him a respected officer and a fine athlete. 

He was commemorated in St Mary’s Church Hemel Hempstead on the War Memorial Plaque.

He is Remembered with Honour in the Valenciennes (St. Roch) Communal Cemetery, Nord, France, where he is interred in Grave III. B. 2. The inscription on his headstone, requested by his mother Rose, reads: “THE HAPPY WARRIOR”, taken from the poem “The Character of the Happy Warrior” first published in 1807 a year after the death of Lord Nelson. The poem has been the source of much metaphor in political and military life and was intended to describe the ideal “man in arms”.

He was only 20 years old when he died.

Alan was entitled to the British War Medal and the Allied Victory Medal.