Notes
Ralph Henry Whitrow was born at Tunbridge Wells, Kent on 20 December 1896, the younger son of Mary (née Davey) and Benjamin Whitrow, a chemist and druggist. He was educated at Tonbridge School from 1910 to 1916, where he won the School Prize in 1916.
Ralph Whitrow enlisted in the Royal Artillery on 28 August 1916 and attended an Officer Training Unit before being commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery (Special Reserve of Officers) on 13 January 1917. He served in France. Ralph Whitrow was demobilised on 20 June 1919 and entered Worcester College, Oxford on 10 October that year, achieving 2nd class honours in Modern History in 1922. While at the College he was a member of the Boat Club, rowing in the 2nd Torpid in 1921. He went on Cuddesdon Theological College, Oxford, and was ordained in 1923. He relinquished the rank of Lieutenant when he transferred to the Royal Army Chaplains’ Department with the rank of Chaplain 4th Class on 13 October 1928.
Ralph Whitrow married Brenda Muriel Bent on 6 July 1932, and they had three children, William in 1933, and twins John and Lucy in 1936. Following the outbreak of the Second World War he was called up for war service, promoted to Chaplain 3rd Class, and appointed as Senior Chaplain to 45 Divisional Headquarter at Exeter. On 17 May 1944 he took up an appointment as Deputy Assistant Chaplain General London District and was appointed as Chaplain to the Brigade of Guards.
On 18 June 1944 Ralph Whitrow was the officiating Chaplain at a service at the Guards Chapel in Whitehall to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo and the recent success in the Normandy landings. The service was in progress when the Chapel was hit by a V1 ‘Doodlebug’ rocket, the explosion completely destroying the roof and supporting walls. The Reverend Ralph Whitrow, Chaplain 2nd Class, was among those killed. He was 47 years old.
Ralph Whitrow is buried at West Hill Old Cemetery in Winchester, and is commemorated on the war memorials at Tonbridge School and Worcester College, Oxford.