Name
Harold Bowman
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
01/08/1916
19
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Lance Corporal
828
Royal Fusiliers *1
23rd (County of London) Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
ABBEVILLE COMMUNAL CEMETERY
VI. F. 14.
France
Headstone Inscription
THE NAME OF THE CHAMBER WAS PEACE WHERE HE SLEPT TILL BREAK OF DAY
UK & Other Memorials
Aldenham School Memorial, Aldenham, Hitchin Town Memorial, Stained Glass Window, Hitchin Boys Grammar School, Holy Saviour Church War Memorial, Radcliffe Rd., Hitchin, St Mary's Church Roll of Honour, Hitchin
Pre War
Harold was born in Stotfold, Beds., circa 1897. His parents were James Harold and Florence Mary Bowman (née Greaves), who had married on 20 May 1896 at Penistone, St John the Baptist, Yorkshire.
In 1901 James (36) and Florence (30) were living in The Avenue, Hitchin. James was a flour miller in the family business between Hitchin and Ickleford. The had one child; Harold aged 4. A servant was present.
Harold and attended the Hitchin Grammar School. The School Register first mentions him as attending the 2nd Form in the Summer Term of 1905 and he left the 3rd Form in the summer of 1907.
By 1911 he was at Aldenham School, Aldenham where several of the wider family were schooled. His parents were then recorded at 26 The Avenue, Hitchin, with James still a flour miller in the family business, but now also listed as an employer. Also present were his sister Agnes Bowman, a son, Geoffrey (6) and Constance Dulcie Bowstead a governess and Martha Annie Montgomery a servant. James’s wife Florence has yet to be found.
Harold was officially recorded as born in Stotfold, Beds., living in Hitchin when he enlisted in London. Other sources suggest that Harold was recruited in Hitchin and at first was a bugler in the Royal Fusiliers. His Regimental Number was Spts/828. He was mobilised by October 1914.
Wartime Service
He served in France from 16 November 1915
He was in the 23rd Battalion in France at the time of his death. The Battalion had been formed on the 25th September 1914 at the Cecil Hotel in the Strand, London by E. Cunliffe-Owen, the recruits having mainly sporting interests and in consequence it was called the ‘1st Sportsmen's Battalion’. It was in the 99th Brigade of the 2nd Division of XIII Corps, 4th Army and Harold landed at Boulogne with the Battalion on the 16th November 1915.
From the 15th July to the 3rd September 1916 a violent clash took place for the possession of Delville Wood. On the 27th July 1916 the 23rd Battalion of the 99th Brigade took the place of honour which resulted in the wood being cleared of German troops by the following day. The casualties were heavy and by the end of the fighting the wood was a vast tangle of fallen trees and undergrowth, bare stumps, shell-holes and dead soldiers. The Battalion lost 12 officers and 276 other ranks at this time, about one third of its fighting strength. Abbeville, where he died of wounds, was the location of the British Red Cross No. 3 Hospital and Nos. 2 & 5 Stationery Hospitals. He would have been brought there via Amiens.
His private inscription on the stone reads "The name of the chamber was peace where he slept till break of day".
Additional Information
*1 Believed more correctly, (County of London) Bn. London Regiment.
Acknowledgments
Neil Cooper
Adrian Dunne, David C Baines, Jonty Wild
