On 17 September 1914, Bowes-Lyon married Lady Christian Norah Dawson-Damer (7 August 1890 – 29 March 1959), daughter of the 5th Earl of Portarlington. Their daughter, Rosemary, was born the following year. Rosemary was only two months old when Fergus died in the line of duty on 27 September 1915, only 10 days after the first anniversary of his wedding. His issue:
Rosemary Luisa Bowes-Lyon (18 July 1915 – 18 January 1989) married Edward Wilfred George Joicey-Cecil (14 January 1912 – 6 October 1985) on 28 April 1945. They have two children and four grandchildren:
James David Edward Joicey-Cecil (24 September 1946) he married Jane Susanna Brydon Adeley on 5 April 1975. They have two daughters:
Elizabeth Anne Joicey-Cecil (8 February 1950) she married Alastair Richard Malcolm on 16 March 1971. They have two sons:
World War I
In the First World War Bowes-Lyon served with the 8th Battalion, Black Watch: as a lieutenant since 19 August 1914, and as temporary captain since 17 November. Alfred Anderson, later the last surviving Scottish soldier of the conflict (and the last surviving British soldier to have been awarded the 1914 Star), was his batman.
At the time of Bowes-Lyon's death, his brother John was also serving with the Black Watch. His younger brother Michael was at home recovering from wounds and his eldest brother, Lord Glamis, had recently left the Black Watch after being wounded.[2] His mother, Cecilia Bowes-Lyon, Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne, was severely affected by the loss of her son, and after his death became an invalid, withdrawn from public life until the marriage of her daughter Elizabeth to the future king George VI in 1923.[5] Fergus's widow later married Captain William Frederick Martin (d. 6 October 1947).[6] His widow died on 29 March 1959, aged 68.
In November 2011 Bowes-Lyon's grandson supplied family records to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission detailing his original burial place, and showing that it had remained marked until the end of the war. As a result, in August 2012 his place of commemoration was moved to the Quarry Cemetery, Auchy-les-Mines, marked by a headstone inscribed with his details and the words "Buried near this spot" as the precise location of the grave is still not known.[7][8]