Patrick Fowler

Trooper Patrick Fowler (died 1964, aged 90), from Dublin, was a member of a cavalry regiment of the British Army, the 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own) who served during World War I. During an advance, Fowler was cut off from his regiment, and after surviving alone in the woods for five months, was hidden by French civilians living in territory occupied by the German Army. He is therefore notable for spending most of The Great War hiding in a wardrobe. He managed to survive the war and moved to Scotland after leaving the army.

World War I On 26 August 1914, Fowler took part in the Battle of Le Cateau, but he was cut off from his regiment during a German advance. For five months, Fowler lived in the local woods, until he was discovered by a local man, Louis Basquin, on 15 January 1915. Instead of handing him over to the Germans, Basquin took him to the Bertry farmhouse of his mother-in-law, Madame Belmont-Gobert, and her daughter Angèle. It was decided to hide Fowler in a wardrobe that was high, and deep.

However, soon after Fowler moved in, sixteen German soldiers were billeted at the farm. As a result, the Germans spent much of their time in the same room as Fowler, unaware that he was hiding in the wardrobe. Fowler had to remain completely still and silent in order to avoid being spotted. He could only come out at night, and had to live on a small amount of food that was shared by those helping him. The German High Command then sent orders for the farmhouse to be requisitioned and the family to be moved to a small cottage. Madame Belmont-Gobert asked the billeting Germans to help her move, which included moving the wardrobe with Fowler inside it. Luckily for Fowler, none of the Germans looked inside.

A sketch inspired by Fowler's time in the wardrobe was included in a Horrible Histories special about World War I in 2014 (series 5, episode 15, 'Frightful First World War Special', first shown 4 August 2014 ).

In 2017 Fowler was the subject of an episode of the Futility Closet Podcast, where his experience living in a wardrobe was compared with the experience of Harriet Jacobs, a North Carolina slave and future author.