Lieutenant-Colonel C.B. Prowse†
1st Bn., Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians)

Between the newly captured German lines the Brigadier was cheering us on, when a big shell dropped about 20 or 30 yards away, and a piece must have hit him on the explosion for he was seen to fall. Several men rushed to his assistance. Before he died he cheered the men, and told them to keep up the name of the “Stonewall Brigade.”

(The Wells Journal, 14 July 1916, 5)

Charles Bertie Prowse was born in West Monkton, England on 23 June 1869. He had been commissioned since 1889 and served as a staff officer during the Boer War. He was commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, Prince Albert’s (Somerset Light Infantry) Regiment during the early fighting of 1914 in France. He briefly took command of the 1st Battalion, Leinster Regiment in March 1915 until his promotion to brigadier general of the 11th Infantry Brigade the next month.

Major General Thomas D’Oyly Snow of the 27th Division had praised the battalion for its conduct at St. Eloi on 15 March 1915, writing to Prowse: “I much regret the loss of so many brave officers, non commissioned officers and men. Your Battalion showed a bold front under very trying circumstances. It is by such conduct we pave the way to success, and hasten the day of the enemy’s route.”

His older brother, Captain Cecil Irby Prowse of HMS Queen Mary, was killed during the Battle of Jutland on 31 May 1916. The ship’s magazines exploded when hit by German fire. The ship went down with 1,266 hands, almost the entire crew.

While in command of the 11th Brigade, Prowse received the Distinguished Service Order on 3 June 1916. He was killed on the First Day of Somme a month later on 1 July. One report stated that he was shot down by machine gun fire while another described death from shrapnel after a shell explosion. In either case, he was the highest-ranking British officer to die the first day of the big offensive.