Last Coronation duty survivor Glyn dies at 92
A former policeman who is thought to have been the last survivor of the Shropshire contingent who were on duty at the Queen's Coronation in 1953, lining the procession route, has died at the age of 92.
And as a teenager Glyn Rowlands was one of Shrewsbury's Home Guard defenders.
In true Home Guard fashion, had German panzers rolled towards the county town he would have grabbed a Blacker Bombard anti-tank weapon, loaded it up in the square carrier on the front of his father’s tradesman's bicycle, and pedalled to its firing position at the junction of Berwick Road.
The funeral is at Shrewsbury crematorium on February 4, at 10.45am, with donations in lieu of flowers to the Midlands Air Ambulance.
Born at Berriew on July 16, 1926, his parents rented Coton Hill Farm, off Corporation Lane, Shrewsbury, from the mid-1930s. Aged 16, he joined the Home Guard, and had many anecdotes about those days.
He served in E Company, the Coton Hill Company which covered the patch from Shelton Rough in the west, to Hencote in the north east.
The Corporation Lane platoon was based at Coton Hill Farm, his home at the time. Outbuildings and the farmhouse were used to store materials, arms and ammunition.
He was called up into the Army in 1944 and rose to the rank of Company Sergeant Major.
Daughter Rhian Piprell said: "On demob dad returned to Shrewsbury and joined the Shropshire Constabulary. I have a photograph of the contingent of Shrewsbury Constabulary that went to the Coronation and stood in the pouring rain in Downing Street.
"Dad said he was the last living member of the contingent. He had some wonderful stories of being on the beat in Shrewsbury in the 1950s.
"In the mid-1950s dad left the police service and became an education welfare officer working from the Shirehall. We lived for a time in Church Preen before moving back to Bayston Hill and Copthorne in the 1960s.
"Mum Janet was an SRN in Shrewsbury. She trained at the Royal Salop Infirmary and they met at a dance."
In the late 1960s Glyn moved to Wigan as chief education welfare officer before taking a similar role in East Sussex before retiring to Bala, later living in Welshpool and Shrewsbury.
"While in Bala he was known fondly as 'Glyn Fuchsia' owing to his passion for growing fuchsias. He would give talks on them. Throughout his life he was a passionate gardener.
"To save money for their first house dad grew chrysanthemums and sold them in Shrewsbury market where my grandmother had a stall."
Glyn is survived by Rhian, his sister Hilda Ralphs from Barrowsbridge in Lancashire, and brother Wynn Rowlands of Arddleen.
