HISTORY
Alderman William “Bill” RowMBE Dartmouth’s ‘Churchill’
I
n February 1968, Dartmouth town mourned the loss of Alderman William “Bill” Row, a man whose life was so full the local paper commented: “thirty
four column inches is not enough to tell the life story of such a man”. He was clearly a special man; he managed to inspire the people of the town to come through the hardest times of the war. This is more easily said than done, especially during times when Dartmouth was not only at the heart of important events leading to its conclusion but put directly in the German firing line because of it. He was so inspirational during his public speeches
during the war that he was dubbed ‘Dartmouth’s Churchill’. Such a man was not to be taken lightly. Described as ‘one of the last blood and thundering
debaters’ on the council, 87-year-old Mr Row had a special place in people’s hearts after serving as mayor throughout most of the Second World War, when Dartmouth and its surrounding parishes were a massive part of one of the world’s greatest military exercises and can be said to have played an immense role in helping to win the war against Nazi Germany. The son of a local builder and funeral director, “Bill” first
stood for a council seat in 1931. He got in having topped the poll. He was to finish top of every poll he contested for the next twenty years, including county elections. He quickly gained a reputation for being a talented public speaker, having an unflappable nature and for speaking his mind. Despite this normally being a recipe
by Phil Scoble
They dropped bombs on the BRNC, the Philip and Son shipyard at Noss and the coaling barges in the middle of the river. One Wren was killed at the Naval College, and 20 men
he managed to
for making enemies and backstabbing, Bill clearly had charm to go with the thundering oratory and he remained strongly popular. He became mayor in 1942. During his first month as Mayor he welcomed the King and Queen off a special train in Kingswear, toured the Britannia Royal Naval College and took in a walkabout in front of cheering crowds. He must have wondered if being Mayor would always be like this but he was soon to be brought back down to earth. At 11am on September 18 that year, six Focker-Wolf 190 fighter-bombers flew upriver into the morning sun.
were killed at the Noss Shipyard. It says a great deal about the wartime spirit that the shipyard was running in a skeleton capacity within days and was fully operational by Christmas. If Bill thought the town had faced its
inspire the people of the town to
come through the hardest times of the war.
darkest day, however, he was wrong. On 13th February 1943, three planes bombed Dartmouth town centre, destroying buildings in Higher Street and a number on Duke Street – 15 people were killed and more than 40 injured. Throughout the whole conflict, Mr
Row led with a calm assurance that is as admirable as it is difficult to imagine. He inspired the town time and again to raise funds for the war effort - £12,000 for a Motor Torpedo boat for instance, equivalent to more than £100,000 today. Through all this and more he led the town, not least in the run up to D-Day.
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