Albert James Gow was born in Carlton in 1884, after his father emigrated to Melbourne from Scotland and married locally born, Lucy Parsons. The family moved to Footscray where Albert became a Vice President of the Scottish Thistle Club [not football] in 1907. More focused on Footscray Thistle Cricket Club, Albert was nonetheless recognised by its football arm as one of the members who enlisted.
Despite a number of AWL hiccups, Albert was promoted twice and had attained the rank Sergeant when he returned to Australia in October 1918.
Albert seems to have few post war sporting acknowledgements and died in 1952 in Footscray, at the age of 68.