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.
[1] However, the Germans failed to find Fowler as he had temporarily been hidden under a mattress, because, so Madame Belmont-Gobert later claimed, she had a premonition that the wardrobe would be searched.
After the war had finished, Fowler moved to the 8,400-acre (34 km2) Glenernie Estate in the Scottish Highlands, where he lived with his wife and three daughters.
Madame Belmont-Gobert was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire as a reward for her efforts in keeping Fowler hidden.
In response, the French War Minister Paul Painlevé demanded that the British government would not have to pay Madame Belmant-Gobert any more money, because they would give her a pension.