Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

A Great War 1916 ‘Mesopotamian theatre’ D.S.O. group of seven awarded to Lieutenant-Colonel P. F. Gow, Indian Medical Service, for helping to carry a wounded officer back to safety whilst under fire at Sannaiyat, Iraq, 7 April 1916

Distinguished Service Order, G.V.R., silver-gilt and enamel, with integral top-riband bar; 1914 Star (Lt. P. F. Gow. I.M.S.); British War and Victory Medals, M.I.D. Oak Leaves (Maj. P. F. Gow.); General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Kurdistan (Major P. F. Gow. I.M.S.); Jubilee 1935; Coronation 1937, mounted for wear, good very fine (7) £1600-2000

Provenance: DNW, June 2005.

D.S.O. London Gazette 27 July 1916:

‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty on several occasions, notably when he took one end of a stretcher after three bearers had been hit, and brought in a wounded officer’.

M.I.D. London Gazette 22 June 1915 (France/Flanders), 27 July 1916 (Mesopotamia),15 August 1917 (Mesopotamia).

Peter Fleming Gow was born in June 1885, the son of James C. Gow of Oakband, Maryfield, Dundee. He was educated at Morgan Academy, University College Dundee and St. Andrews University, and gained a M.A. in 1905, a M.B. and Ch.B. in 1909 and D.P.H. in 1910. Gow entered the Indian Medical Service as a Lieutenant in 1912 and served with the 16th and 17th Cavalry. During 1913-14 he was the specialist in the prevention of diseases to the Allahabad and Fyzabad Brigades. He proceeded with the Indian Expeditionary Force A to France, entering the theatre of war on 26 September 1914.

In January 1915 Gow was promoted to Captain and was mentioned in Field Marshal French’s despatch of 31 May 1915. In January 1916 he joined the Indian Expeditionary Force D in Mesopotamia and was subsequently created a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order. Gow was later appointed the Special Infectious Disease Officer on the Staff of the 1st Army Corps, Staff Surgeon in the 3rd Indian Army Corps and Deputy Assistant Director of Medical Services. For his services he was mentioned in Lieutenant-General Maude’s despatch of August 1917. Gow was promoted to Major in July 1923 and Lieutenant-Colonel in July 1931; he retired from the Indian Medical Service in June 1940.

After the Great War Gow was Resident Surgeon in the Eden Hospital for Women, Calcutta, 1921-23; 2nd Surgeon, 1926-33 and 1st Surgeon 1933-40. Appointed a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (Edinburgh) in 1924, he was then appointed Professor of Clinical Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Medical College, Calcutta during 1926-33 and Professor of Midwifery and Gynaecology at the Medical College, Calcutta during 1933-40. Lieutenant-Colonel Gow died on 3 April 1949. Sold with copied biographical and service details.