Dow, John
Rank: Captain
Regiment: Indian Medical Service
Biography: Son of Peter Dow, schoolmaster, Elgin ; born Dallas, Morayshire, 14 June 1889; educated at West End School and Elgin Academy, afterwards at Fordyce Academy where he was Seafield medallist ; graduated M.A., 1910 ; M.B., 1914. He was appointed one of the House Surgeons at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, which he left in the spring of 1915 on taking a commission in the R.A.M.C. (T.F.). He was gazetted to the 2/1st Highland Casualty Clearing Station, from which he was transferred a year later with the rank of Captain to the Indian Medical Service. In India, he served in Peshawar and Kisalpur, and was then sent to Mesopotamia where he remained for a year, doing valuable and important work connected with the staffing, equipment and transport of hospitals. From Mesopotamia he was ordered to Persia, where he served for a year and a half. While working at an outpost fort, Khaneh Zinian, thirty miles from Shiraz, influenza broke out. He remained on duty till himself stricken with the disease, when he was removed to Shiraz where he died two days later—on 5 November 1918. Dow has been described as having "the quiet humour of the true Northman", whilst his enthusiasm for his profession was great.
Date of Death: 05 November 1918
Burial Details: Buried at Shiraz British Cemetery, Persia, Grave 13.
Publication: Roll of Service, edited by Mabel Desborough Allardyce. Published 1921.
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