Stanley Robert Charles Bower Jr. : Short Biography

Robert Charles "Stanley" Bower Jr., son of Robert Charles Stanley Bower Sr. born in Dublin, Ireland in 1852 and Elizabeth Hanna born in County Down in 1855. Stanley was born into the Church of Ireland in Antrim County, in Belfast #2, in Ireland, in 1897. His siblings were Elizabeth, born in 1879; Minnie, born in 1884; Bertha, born 1885, who married Edward Irvine Keith in Belfast in 1912; Edith, born and died in 1888, and Eveline born in 1895 and who married Malcolm Alexander Deane in Belfast in 1916. Stanley was an Engineer at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. A year into World War I, Stanley was drafted and entered the British Army, Northern Regiment, on 29 July 1915, just three days shy of his 18th birthday, as a Company Quarter Master Sergeant. The CQMS is in charge of supplies, transport, stores, weapons, ammunition and accommodation. He was stationed in France along what is now known as the Western Front. Stanley became a Commissioned Officer 19 January 1917 and served in the Army Motor Pool. He was promoted to Lieutenant, then to Captain. Stanley was an avid Boxer and would fight any man on two feet during his military service. During the height of the war, in January 1918, Stanley and his girlfriend Sally and three of her family members applied to immigrate to the United States. Shortly before the war ended on 11 November 1918, Stanley ignored his military assignment, left his unit, somehow crossed the English Channel, made his way through England to cross the Irish Sea to see his girlfriend Sally in Belfast. His adventure ended when, hiding in a haymow, he was arrested by military police. He was transferred to London and was taking his first step to board the train that would take him to the Channel and back to the war in France. A Sergeant stepped up and said, "Buddy, you might as well go back home. The war is over!" Stanley returned to Belfast and his job at Harland and Wolff shipyards. Stanley and Sally continued to court by taking walks and talking, often climbing Caves Hill, just north of Belfast. Unfortunately, for Ireland, the Irish War of Independence started just a few months later on 21 January 1919 and lasted until 11 July 1921. It was a tumultuous time in Ireland. Stanley married Sarah Jane "Sally" Hutchinson in Belfast, Ireland 24 September 1919 at Newington Presbyterian Church in Belfast. Sally was born in 1896 in Aghadowey, Coleraine, Londonderry, Ireland to Knox and Margaret (neé Forgrave) Hutchinson of Errigal, Coleraine, Ireland. Stanley and Sally, along with Sally's mother Margaret Hutchinson, her oldest sister Maggie, and younger brother Hugh, emigrated from Ireland in March of 1920 from Londonderry and went to Niles, Ohio, the United States. Stanley took a job as a painter making $.24 per hour, working 12 hour days. (About $15 per week) In Ireland, he made more than that for an 8 hour day. Average wage in Ireland was about $10 per week, but Stanley was an engineer and was paid better than that. Shipyard hours were 7:50am to 5:30 pm with an hour lunch, and half day on Saturdays. In 1921, Stanley got a job at General Electric, in Niles, OH as a mechanic and engineer, a job he held for the next 40 years, retiring in 1961. In the early years when money was scarce, Stanley wanted to return to Ireland to see his mother who was in failing health. He wrote to her saying he wanted to come, but could only pay ships passage for one. Her response was that if he couldn't bring Sally and Bob, then he shouldn't come at all. Stanley never saw his mother Elizabeth again before she died. After their children were grown, Stanley and Sally were able to return to Ireland three or four times to visit. Stanley passed away 26 December, 1977 in Latrobe, PA. He is buried in Niles City Cemetery, Niles, OH.