Albert David "Alby" Lowerson

At Mont St Quentin on 1 September 1918, Sergeant Albert David “Alby” Lowerson faced a German strongpoint armed with 12 machine guns. With only a handful of men around him and enemy fire sweeping the battlefield, he did not wait for someone else to act. He rallied a storming party, attacked the position, captured 30 prisoners and 12 machine guns, then refused evacuation even after being seriously wounded. That combination of aggression, leadership and determination earned him the Victoria Cross.

Albert David Lowerson was born at Myrtleford, Victoria, on 2 August 1896. Before the First World War he worked as a prospector, searching for gold around Adelong in New South Wales. In July 1915 he enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force as Private 2358 and was posted to the 21st Battalion, AIF. The young Victorian soon found himself in some of the hardest fighting endured by Australian troops on the Western Front.

Lowerson’s courage was evident well before the action that made his name. During fighting at Armentières and Pozières in 1916 he was recommended for the Military Medal, although the recommendation was unsuccessful. He was wounded repeatedly during his service, eventually suffering four separate wounds. Even so, he remained an effective and respected front-line soldier.

His defining moment came during the Australian assault on Mont St Quentin, north of Péronne, on 1 September 1918. The attack encountered fierce resistance, with German machine-gun positions contesting almost every stretch of ground. According to Lowerson’s Victoria Cross recommendation, he moved among his men under heavy fire, directing and encouraging them as they fought forward.

When Lowerson saw that the troops on the left had been stopped by a heavily defended strongpoint, he acted immediately. He gathered seven men into a storming party and attempted to attack the position from both flanks. One group of three was struck down almost at once. Lowerson then pressed the attack himself, using bombs against the position and helping overwhelm its defenders. The result was extraordinary: the strongpoint was captured along with 12 machine guns and 30 German prisoners.

Lowerson was severely wounded in the right thigh during the fighting, but he refused to leave the front line. He remained until the prisoners had been sent to the rear and the captured position had been reorganized and secured. Even then he resisted evacuation, remaining with his battalion until the seriousness of his wound finally forced him out two days later. His recommendation described the Mont St Quentin action as the culmination of a series of gallant performances during the preceding week and praised the influence his leadership had on the men around him.

For his actions at Mont St Quentin, Lowerson was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration for valour in the British and Commonwealth military tradition. His award was published in the London Gazette on 13 December 1918, in Issue 31067. The official wartime record praised his conspicuous bravery, tactical skill and leadership under intense machine-gun and sniper fire.

The Victoria Cross was the central honour of Lowerson’s military career, but his service stretched far beyond one battle. His First World War campaign service brought entitlement to the 1914-15 Star, British War Medal 1914-1920 and Victory Medal. His Victoria Cross survives in the Australian War Memorial collection, where it is accompanied by his service medals from both World Wars and his King George VI Coronation Medal.

Lowerson returned to Australia in 1919 and was discharged as medically unfit. Back in Myrtleford, he acquired a property that he named “St Quentin”, a lasting personal reminder of the battlefield where he had performed the action that earned him the Victoria Cross. His association with Australia’s VC community also continued in public life. A 1927 Australian War Memorial photograph shows Lowerson among a large group of Victoria Cross recipients assembled for an Anzac Day march in Melbourne.

When the Second World War began, Lowerson once again entered military service, this time under service number V8081. His later Australian service brought entitlement to the War Medal 1939-1945 and Australia Service Medal 1939-1945, adding a second generation of wartime service to a career already distinguished by the Victoria Cross. The complete modern Australian order of wearing places the Victoria Cross first, ahead of his First World War, Second World War and Coronation medals.

Lowerson died at Myrtleford on 15 December 1945, aged 49. His death came only months after the end of the Second World War. He had served Australia in two global conflicts, endured repeated wounds, and carried the memory of Mont St Quentin with him for the rest of his life.

What makes Albert David Lowerson’s story endure is not simply that he won the Victoria Cross. It is the manner in which he earned it. Under machine-gun fire, with men around him being killed and wounded, Lowerson identified the position that was stopping the attack and personally helped break it. Even after he was wounded, his first concern was not himself but the security of the captured position and the men depending on him.

More than a century later, Sergeant Albert David “Alby” Lowerson VC remains closely associated with the Battle of Mont St Quentin, the 21st Battalion AIF, the Australian Imperial Force and the tradition of Australian Victoria Cross recipients. His Victoria Cross survives in the Australian War Memorial as a tangible record of a moment when personal courage changed the course of an attack.