Frederick Harrowell, known as Fred, was born in Leverstock Green near Hemel Hempstead on Thursday, 12th April 1894 and baptised in Holy Trinity Church in the village the following month on Sunday, 13th May. He was the oldest child of Alfred Harrowell and Lizzie (Elizabeth) Alice Gill who went on to have three other children, Emily Beatrice, James and Leonard. The Harrowell family lived at 2, Church Row in Leverstock Green and Fred’s father Alfred worked as a “Labourer” at the nearby “Acorn” brickworks where he would eventually become foreman, a position that Lizzie’s father had held before his death. Fred attended the local village school and was also a keen Scout in the village troop. When he completed his education in 1908 he went to work for John Dickinson & Co., Limited in Apsley Mills where he remained until going to war.

He volunteered in late September 1915 when he attested at Marlowes Recruiting Office in Hemel Hempstead and enlisted with the Hertfordshire Yeomanry, a unit of the Household Cavalry and Cavalry of the Line. He was posted to Maresfield, East Sussex to the 3/1st Herts Yeomanry which had been formed earlier that year as a third-line training unit. The 3/1st was attached to the 13th Reserve Cavalry Regiment and it was at Maresfield that Fred underwent instruction as a trooper and was trained in “horse warfare”. When he completed his training Frederick was sent overseas posted to the 1/1st Herts Yeomanry serving in Egypt and recently restricted into four squadrons.

It is unclear which Squadron Fred joined but it seems his whole period of service was either in Egypt, Palestine or Mesopotamia where the 1/1st Herts Yeomanry, with the exception of a period when “B” Squadron fought on the Western Front, served throughout the War. The area that Fred was fighting in was a high malarial zone and indeed, malaria was an unanticipated adversary in the Great War to all combatants. There were number of epidemics across the various battle zones including the south of England and these were all caused by ineffective prevention measures and the frequent movement of large numbers of men between countries and zones.

In September 1918 the Allies under General Allenby, began the final advance against the Turks and this took them deep into the notorious Jordan Valley. During the advance men began to contract and die as a result of malaria and this reached epidemic proportions by mid-October by which time 773 men had succumbed and over 30,000 had to be admitted to hospital. A generally held view is that had the Turks been able to hold out for a further two weeks, the Allied victory might not have been achieved.

Fred was one of the unfortunate soldiers who had contracted malaria and quickly died in the early stages of the advance.

He succumbed on Wednesday, 3rd October 1918.

Fred was included in the commemorative service in Holy Trinity Church, Leverstock Green at Easter in 1919, and was also named on the village school memorial. He is commemorated on the Leverstock Green village War Memorial and on the Hertfordshire Yeomanry memorial in St Albans Cathedral. He was also commemorated on the John Dickinson & Co., Limited War Memorial at Apsley End and finally, he is on the headstone of his parent’s grave in Holy Trinity Churchyard.

Of the soldiers commemorated on the Leverstock Green village War Memorial Fred was born closest to it but is buried furthest from it.

He is Remembered with Honour in Ramleh War Cemetery, Israel and Palestine (including Gaza) where he is interred in Grave CC. 16.

He was 24 years old when he died.

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