Gunner John Whyte Fowler, 2nd/1st Maritime Regiment, Royal Artillery. He was lost at sea, aged 25, on the 17th June 1941 and is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. He had been born in Selkirk in 1915 and was the son of Mary and the late George Fowler of 49 Market Place, Selkirk. Before enlisting he had run a tweed merchant and tailors business in Selkirk and had been the Standard Bearer for the Tailors Corporation at the 1938 Common Riding. He had originally served in the K.O.S.B. before transferring to the Artillery. He was a gunner on the Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship S.S.” Cathrine” when she was sunk by U-43 in the Atlantic.. ( The submarine herself was sunk with all hands on 30th July 1943 by U.S. aircraft ).
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