The name of Adam Gower Sutherland de Ross has an air of the English aristocracy about it.
And as an airman in the English Flying Corps in World War I the man known as Gower Ross was no doubt living the derring-do life of courage and bravery, which was such a part of those times of fledgling aerial warfare.
Gower Ross, however, was an Australian by birth and played eight games for St Kilda Football Club in 1909. Tragically, Gower Ross was killed on February 14, 1917 when his plane was shot down by two German planes which emerged from the clouds near Guedecourt in France.
His tale was discovered by assiduous researcher and author Barbara Cullen after the publication of her landmark book Harder Than Football – League players at War.
Gower de Ross was born on 1 April 1890 to William and Annie de Ross in Talbot, Amherst in the Central Goldfields area of Victoria where William Ross was a mine manager.
At the age of 19, young de Ross played his eight games for St Kilda under the name of Gower Ross. The following season, he crossed to VFA side Brunswick and became a stalwart in the side playing 96 games and kicking 12 goals from 1910 to 1915. He stood in as skipper for two games in 1914 and played in three losing Grand Final sides. As a defender, he was a mainstay of the team.
At the end of the 1915 season, he was allowed to take sick leave to recuperate from a severe illness which wasn’t specified in the press at the time. Yet by October 1915, he had found his way England and enlisted in the British Army at the age of 25 in October 1915.
Barb Cullen discovered that he lived in Clapham Road London, near the famous cricket ground, The Oval. He had worked for the Railways in Victoria, and at the time of his enlistment in England he was employed as a clerk.
He served with the Expeditionary Force in France from July until November 1916 and then was discharged from the Army to cross to the Royal Flying Corp in November 1916 at South Farnborough where he was appointed to a temporary commission as second Lieutenant.
In February 1917 De Ross was observing for a battery, in possibly his first mission, and was returning to base when he was shot down by two German planes. He is buried alongside another airman, Lieutenant Young, who was on the same plane.
Their names are listed on the Arras Flying Service Memorial, Faubourg-d’Amiens cemetery in Arras, France.
With thanks to Barbara Cullen
