Name
Leonard Henry Bowsher
1894
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
17/08/1917
23
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Serjeant
14298
Bedfordshire Regiment
7th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
TYNE COT MEMORIAL
Panel 48 to 50 and 162A.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
St Mary’s Church Memorial, Apsley End, John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, Abbots Langley Village Memorial
Pre War
Wartime Service
Biography
Neither Leonard nor his brothers William and George Bowsher are listed in any of the records for those serving from Abbots Langley, but all have a claim to be considered Abbots Langley “men”.
Leonard was first identified in the Soldiers Died in the Great War archives as being born in Abbots Langley. He was born at Nash Mills 27 July 1894, which at the time was part of the Civil Parish of Abbots Langley. He was baptised at St Mary's Church, Apsley End on 30 September 1894. He was one of four sons Through the research of Leonard, it was identified that his brother William, who had lived with the family in Nash Mills when it was part of the Parish of Abbots Langley, had also served and died in the Great War, and could also be considered as an Abbots Langley soldier. It was subsequently found from the Hertfordshire Absent Voter Lists that a third brother George Edward Bowsher, gave his home address at Abbots Langley. George survived the War and returned to Nash Mills after being de-mobilised.
His record was initially found in the Soldiers Died in the Great War records where he was listed being born in Abbots Langley, and subsequently his brother William was also identified in that archive. Eventually information about his other brother, George, was found in the Absent Voter Records, where he gave Abbots Langley as the Parish of his residence in the autumn of 1918. William was killed in action in September 1916, whilst George survived the War and returned to Nash Mills after being de-mobilised.
Leonard was born at Nash Mills in the autumn of 1894, which at the time was part of the Civil Parish of Abbots Langley. They had moved to Nash Mills, Abbots Langley by 1894 as William's two youngest brothers were born there, but his father died in 1897, aged 39. On the 1901 Census the family were living at Nash Mills, Apsley End, Abbots Langley, Herts, where his widowed mother was working as a Hand Envelope Folder at home. Her brother Richard Culpitt was living with her and her four young sons, William, George, Leonard and Frederick.
They remained in Nash Mills in 1911 at which time his mother was a 'Chapel Caretaker' and all four sons and his Uncle Richard were working at John Dickinson & Co.
Leonard enlisted at Hertford and joined the Bedfordshire Regiment. He was sent to France in January 1916 and posted to the 7th Battalion, having also been promoted to Corporal.
He would have seen action during the Battles of the Somme - the Battles of Albert, Bazentin, Thiepval and Ancre and was promoted to Sergeant. The following year the Battalion were involved operations on the Ancre, the Battle of Arras and Third Battle of the Scarpe.
On 10 August 1917 the Battalion were at Glencorse Wood and about to take part in an attack to capture Westhoek. Fighting continued for several days during which Leonard was killed in action on 17 August 1917, aged 23,
A local newspaper report stated that he had been killed by a shell in a communication trench and printed a copy of a letter received by his mother from fellow Sergeants offering condolences, which stated that he had been laid to rest near the village of Zillebeke in a properly marked grave. When hostilities ceased his body was not found or not identified and his name is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Belgium.
Additional Information
Brother to William Bowsher who served with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and who died on 15 September 1916, and who is also named on the Hemel Hempstead Memorial. His mother received a pension of 10 shillings a week in respect of Leonard and his brother William. His brother George also served, firstly as a sergeant in the 10th Lincolnshire Regiment and later as a Second Lieutenant with the Norfolk Regiment, and survived the war.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Roger Yapp - www.backtothefront.org, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org., www.hemelheroes.com.
