Arthur Spurling (Spurling variant)
Arthur Rowe Spurling (1896–1984) was a Bermudian infantryman and airman who became a First World War flying ace with six credited victories. He won the Distinguished Flying Cross for a 1918 action in which he and his observer fought their way through a formation of about thirty German fighters.
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Variant spelling: this person bears the related surname Spurling, not Spurlin.
Arthur Rowe Spurling (19 May 1896 – 1984), known as Rowe, was a Bermudian soldier and airman of the First World War. As a flying ace he was credited with six aerial victories.[1][2] He was born in Hamilton into a prominent Bermudian family.[1] According to The Royal Gazette, the parliamentarian Sir Stanley Spurling was his uncle,[3] which made Sir Stanley's son, Sir Dudley Spurling, his first cousin. See also Spurlings of Bermuda.
Infantry service
When the First World War began, Bermuda's volunteer units offered drafts for the Western Front. Spurling joined the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC) contingent in February 1915.[1][3] The contingent, a captain and 88 other ranks, left Bermuda on 7 May 1915 and was attached to the 1st Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment. On 23 June 1915 it reached France as the first colonial volunteer unit at the front.[1] Spurling was wounded twice in July 1916, in the hand on 3 July and in the foot on 13 July. A postcard he sent home to his half-sister says he had been "buried for a few hours" and treated for shell shock.[1][3]
Royal Flying Corps
Spurling was commissioned in July 1917 and chose the Royal Flying Corps.[1][3] He received Royal Aero Club aviator's certificate 5148 on 21 August 1917. In July 1918 he joined No. 49 Squadron, which flew the Airco DH.9, a two-seat light bomber.[2][1] On 25 July 1918 he and his observer, Sergeant Bell, shot down a Fokker D.VII over Mont-Notre-Dame.[2][4]
On 23 August 1918 Spurling lost touch with his formation in cloud on the way back from a bombing raid. Thinking he was over British lines, he came down to land at an airfield that was in fact German. At 2,000 feet a Fokker attacked him, and he then saw about thirty more German fighters. He dived through the middle of the formation, shooting one down in flames and sending two others into a spin. When five of them closed on the bomber, Bell shot down two in flames.[2][4] The Aerodrome credits the pair with five victories near Lens in that action, which made Spurling an "ace in a day".[2][1] Spurling received the Distinguished Flying Cross, gazetted on 2 November 1918, and Bell received the Distinguished Flying Medal.[2][4] The Bermuda Colonist printed an account of the fight on 18 October 1918.[5]
Sources differ on some details. Wikipedia's articles name the observer Frank Bell, while The Aerodrome lists him as "Sgt George W Bell".[4][2] The Wikipedia article on Bell explains that he was born George Stanley Bell, re-enlisted in 1915 as Frank William Bell and signed his log book "G. W. Bell".[4] Wikipedia's article on Spurling places his sixth victory two days after the 23 August action.[1] The Aerodrome and the article on Bell put it on 25 July 1918, before that action, and a Royal Gazette report of the medal sale dates it to July 1918.[2][4][6]
Second World War and later life
Spurling returned to civilian life in Bermuda after the war but rejoined the RAF in the Second World War and reached the rank of squadron leader. He served with the air-transport organisation that ferried aircraft and personnel across the Atlantic: Transport Command, according to Wikipedia, or Ferry Command in Canada, according to The Royal Gazette. Both sources credit him with identifying a Nazi spy in Canada.[1][3]
After the war he ran a taxi business, imported mushrooms and started the Rowe Spurling Paint Company. Wikipedia says the company still exists.[3][1] He married Ilys Darrell in 1948. In the early 1970s the couple moved to Guernsey, planning eventually to return to Bermuda. He developed Alzheimer's disease instead and died in a nursing home in England, aged 88.[3][1] His body was flown back to Bermuda for a funeral at the Anglican cathedral, and he is buried in Pembroke Parish.[3][1] Wikipedia gives his year of death as 1984 and The Aerodrome gives 1982; both place his death in Surrey.[1][2]
Medals
In 2009 his family sold his Distinguished Flying Cross, 1915 Star trio, original copies of the Bermuda Colonist, photographs and papers through the auctioneers Warwick & Warwick in England. The estimate was about £3,000.[3] At the sale on 12 August 2009 the group fetched £12,650 from an anonymous bidder in the room. A Bermudian relative, the former MP Rick Spurling, had bid £3,500 by telephone.[6][3] (Wikipedia dates the sale to 1989.)[1]
See also
- Dudley Spurling (Spurling variant) · People strong
Sir Dudley Spurling (1913–1986) was a Bermudian lawyer, 1936 Olympic swimmer, 1934 Empire Games discus thrower and Speaker of the House of Assembly of Bermuda (1972–76). He was a founding partner of the law firm now called Appleby. - Spurlings of Bermuda (variant spelling) · Genealogy strong
In Bermuda the name is spelled Spurling, and Forebears ranks it the island's 202nd most common surname. Bermudian Spurlings have included the banker and parliamentarian Sir Stanley Spurling (1879–1961), his son Sir Dudley Spurling, Speaker of the House of Assembly, and his nephew Arthur Rowe Spurling, a First World War flying ace. - Spurling (surname) · The Surname strong
Spurling is the fuller spelling from which Spurlin derives. Unlike Spurlin, it is well established in England, Australia and especially Bermuda as well as the United States. - Spurlins in the World Wars · History strong
Five Army soldiers surnamed Spurlin, from Alabama, Arizona, North Carolina and Texas, appear on the War Department's 1946 lists of World War II dead. Two are buried in American Battle Monuments Commission cemeteries in Italy and the Philippines. - The Spurlin name outside the United States · Culture strong
Spurlin is an overwhelmingly American surname today, with about 98% of bearers in the United States. The spelling is older than American settlement: English archives record Spurlins in Middlesex and Bristol between 1670 and 1717, and 18th-century leases name a field called 'Spurlins' in Hertfordshire. Outside the U.S. the related form Spurling is far more common. - Notable Spurlins · People strong
An index of notable people surnamed Spurlin, with related Spurling-surname figures listed separately as variants. - Spurlins in public service · People strong
A roundup of people surnamed Spurlin (and, separately, Spurling) in government, politics, the military and the courts, from a 19th-century Indiana sheriff to a Kentucky utility commissioner and recent local candidates, with links to the individual articles.
References
- ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ Arthur Spurling — Wikipedia — Biography, BVRC and Lincolnshire Regiment service, RAF career, later life Reference
- ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ Arthur Rowe Spurling — The Aerodrome — Birth and death details, Royal Aero Club certificate, DFC citation (London Gazette 30989/12973), list of six victories Reference
- ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ Hero's medals up for auction — The Royal Gazette (8 August 2009) — Family, wounds, commission, WWII service, later life, auction estimate; read via Internet Archive snapshot, 2016-03-03 News
- ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ Frank Bell (RAF airman) — Wikipedia — Victories of 25 July and 23 August 1918 with Spurling; DFC and DFM Reference
- ↑ An audacious attack — The Royal Gazette (8 August 2009) — Reprints the Bermuda Colonist account of 18 October 1918; read via Internet Archive snapshot, 2016-03-04 News
- ↑ ↑ Bermudian's Great War medal quadruples auction expectation — The Royal Gazette (14 August 2009) — Sale for £12,650; July 1918 victory; read via Internet Archive snapshot, 2016-03-04 News
Last reviewed 2026-09-24.