War medal of former Chorley Guardian editor Alfred Fowler returns home thanks to local historian

Chorley and District Support for Ukraine Group co-ordinator and volunteer Stuart Clewlow had heard about the medal, which was awarded to Mr Fowler for his services as a soldier in the Boer War, being offered for sale in the south of England and wanted to return it to its rightful place. He placed an ad on Facebook and the rest, as they say, is 'history'.

Stuart told the Post: "Towards the end of 2022, I heard about the medal being offered for sale and felt it should be back in Chorley. This medal was for service during the Boer War and the recipient was a former editor of the Chorley Guardian. He was the son of Septimus Fowler who was the founder of the paper. I am very pleased to have been able to bring home the Queen’s South Africa medal which is awarded to British and Colonial military personnel who served in the Second Boer War. I have added it to my medal collection made up of local service personnel, from the late Victorian era to the present day."

7302 Corporal (Lance Sergeant) Alfred Fowler was a member of the Chorley and Horwich Contingent of the Active Service Company, 1st (Volunteer) Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Regiment. He had served for many years with the regiment and on 22nd January 1900 he went to Preston and volunteered to serve during the war in South Africa. His tour of duty ran from 24th Feb 1900 - 5th Dec 1900 and he was invalided out of the Army on 7th May 1901.

Born in Chorley in 1869, he worked as a Letter Press Printer producing newspapers for his father and founder of the Chorley and Leyland Guardian Septimus Fowler. The Fowler family lived at and produced the newspaper from 34 Market Street, Chorley. Amongst many other things, Alfred was a Director of the Chorley Building Society, member of Chorley Golf Club Hall o' th' Hill, Chorley Subscription Bowling Club and was a prominent figure in Freemasonry, with Townley Parker Lodge No.1032 and also The Mark Province of West Lancashire. He was also connected to the Chorley Golf Club and was also a keen cyclist. He was also a churchman and Conservative but did not take any active interest in politics.

Following the death of Septimus in 1910, Alfred and his brother Thomas took control of the Chorley Guardian. After a short illness, Alfred passed away in July 1920 at the age of 51 following a seizure and was buried in Chorley Cemetery. His sudden death caused shockwaves in his hometown where he was held in high popularity amongst his friends and family. In 1927 the Fowler family sold the newspaper business to The Chorley Guardian Company.

The catalyst for the Second Boer War (also sometimes referred to as the South African War) which claimed 22,000 British and 12,000 African lives, was the discovery of gold in Transvaal - an area controlled by the Dutch-speaking Afrikaner settlers.