Name
Walter Dowler
1885
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
18/11/1914
29
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Driver
25085
Royal Field Artillery
46th Battery, 39th Brigade
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 (Mons) Star, British War and Victory Medals
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 5 and 9.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
N/A
UK & Other Memorials
St Mary’s Church Memorial, Rushden, Not on the Baldock Memorials
Pre War
Walter Dowler was born in 1885 in Rushden, Hertfordshire, the son of Thomas and Susan Dowler (nee Webster) and baptised on 10 May 1885 in Rushden. His father had been born in Rushden and his mother in Norwich.
On the 1891 Census the family were living at Norton Street, Baldock, where his father was working as an agricultural labourer. By 1901 Walter was a lodger at the Black Eagle public house and lodging house, Norton End, Baldock, the home of William and Lucy Turner and their daughter Ethel. He was one of ten lodgers living there and was working as a hay binder
Although Walter has not been found on the 1911 census, his parents were living at Mill End, Rushden, Buntingford, Herts.
He married Nellie Margaret Eames on 3 September 1913 at All Saints Church, Headley, Surrey. By that time he had joined the Royal Field Artillery and gave his address as Bordon, Headley, Hants. Their daughter Phyllis Margaret was born on 14 August 1914.
Wartime Service
As a serving soldier, Walter was mobilised at the outbreak of war and served in France from 16 August 1914. His next of kin was given as his wife Nellie who was said to be living at Fir Tree Cottage, Headley, Borden, Hants at the time of his death. Borden is still is a military area.
No service records have survived but it is known that he was Driver Dowler (reg. No. 25085) in the 46th. Battery, 39th. Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. He most probably worked with the horses pulling the gun carriages and they were providing artillery coverage for the 1st Infantry Division.
He would have been involved in the retreat from Mons, the Battles of the Marne and the ‘Race to the Sea’ before the 1st. Passchendaele.
In the days prior to the 13 November, the last day of the battle, the 1st. Division was holding the line during the big enemy attacks as the Germans tried to get past Gheluvelt along the Menin Road to Ypres. Although the 1st. Division was pulled back after 13 November their artillery would still have been left assisting others ‘holding the line’ and would have been under fire from the enemy.
Driver Walter Dowler was killed on 18 November 1914, aged 29, just 3 months after arriving in Europe. He has no known grave as his body was not recovered for burial and his name is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial (Panel 9) in Belgium, alongside 54,000 others who were not found but still lie on the battlefields.
Additional Information
His widow, Nellie, received a war gratuity of £5 and pay owing of £13 18s. She also received a pension of 15 shillings a week for herself and their daughter Margaret. N.B. Nellie also had a daughter Joan in 1917 and a note on the pension records states no pension was to be issued in respect of the child born 25 August 1917.
Brother of Thomas Henry Dowler who served with the Bedfordshire Regiment and died 27 July 1916 and who is also listed on the St Mary's Church Memorial, Rushden.
Acknowledgments
Brenda Palmer
Malcolm Lennox, Jean Handley
