Name
William Harvard Bowsher
8 July 1890
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
15/09/1916
26
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
202268
Royal Welsh Fusiliers
4th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
British War and Victory medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
THIEPVAL MEMORIAL
Pier and Face 4 A.
France
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
St Mary’s Church Memorial, Apsley End, Hemel Hempstead Town Memorial, John Dickinson & Co Memorial, Apsley Mills, Apsley, Abbots Langley Village Memorial
Pre War
William Harvard Bowsher was born in Islington, Middlesex on 8 July 1890, the son of William and Mary Bowsher, and baptised on 3 August at Holy Trinity Church, Hoxton. He was the eldest of four sons. The family were then living at 30 Arlington Street, Hoxton and his father was working as a machine ruler for a stationery company.
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 and his widowed mother was working at home as a hand envelope folder. Her brother Richard Culpitt was living with his sister 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.
Wartime Service
William enlisted in Watford, initially with the Bedfordshire Regiment, but after training, he was transferred to the 4th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers and served in France from July 1916. The Battalion joined the 47th (London) Division near Albert on 1 September 1916.
He first saw action at the Battle of Flers-Courcelette and took part in the capture of High Wood on 15 September, but was listed as missing, only being officially declared killed in action a year later, aged 26.
He has no known grave and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France.
Biography
Neither William nor his brothers Leonard 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 in the autumn of 1894, which at the time was part of the Civil Parish of Abbots Langley. 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.
William Harvard Bowsher was born in Islington on the 8th July 1890, the eldest of four sons of William and Mary Bowsher and baptised at Holy Trinity Church, Hoxton, Hackney, on 3 August 1890. His father died in 1897 and 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.
He enlisted in Watford and initially served with the Bedfordshire Regiment (reg. no. 26091), later transferring to the 4th Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, serving under reg. nos. 10689 & 202268. He was killed in action on 15 September 1916 near Highwood at the Somme, age 26, however little else is known about his service record.
He was commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing on the Somme, and on the St Mary’s Apsley End Roll of Honour, on the Hemel Hempstead War Memorial, and on the John Dickinson War Memorial, which indicated that at some point he would have been employed at one of Dickinson’s Mills.
Additional Information
Brother to Leonard Bowsher who served with the Bedfordshire Regiment and died in 1917, and who is also named on the Hemel Hempstead Memorial. His mother received a war gratuity of £3 and pay owing of £1 9s. She also received a pension of 10 shillings a week in respect of William and his brother Leonard. 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, Jonty Wild, www.dacorumheritage.org.uk, www.hemelatwar.org., www.hemelheroes.com.
