Robert Owen Bristowe was born on 5th September 1888 in Sydenham, Kent. Aged 2, he was living with his widowed mother and one elder sister.

He joined Charterhouse School in 1902 and continued his education there until 1907. He left Charterhouse and moved on to Sandhurst, then joining the Devonshire Regiment. He was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant on 14th October 1908 and joined the 2nd Battalion Devonshire Regiment on 21st November at Plymouth. He was gazetted Lieutenant on 4th May 1911.

Mobilisation on 4th August found the 2nd Devons in Egypt where their first task was to protect the Suez Canal. He embarked at Southampton on 4th/5th November 1914 and disembarked at Le Havre two days later. The Devons began training for the Front on 8th November and by mid November were in the trenches near Neuve Chapelle.

For a couple of months the 2nd Devons continued in the trench lines and sick rates and casualty rates were high. By the end of its first four months in France the Battalion had 10 Officers and 268 men on the casualty list.

Robert took part in the battle of Neuve Chapelle on 10th March 1915. The Regimental history records the following: "...the leading platoon of the right column of the Devons, under Lt. Bristowe, pushed across 'No Man's Land' under cover of rifle fire. Colonel Bliss and many of the men were hit, Lt. Bristowe fell just after getting into the German trench..."

His commanding officer later wrote "I have never know any person so universally admired and loved as he was by everyone"

After his death, Robert was recognised and gazetted Mentioned in Dispatches in a dispatch of 5th April 1915.

He is buried in the Royal Irish Rifles Cemetery, Laventie.