{"id":144,"date":"2016-11-18T14:27:05","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T14:27:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/rochesterborstalfirstworldwar\/?p=144"},"modified":"2016-11-18T14:39:30","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T14:39:30","slug":"bowes-reginald-leonard-ronald-1895-1917","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/rochesterborstalfirstworldwar\/2016\/11\/18\/bowes-reginald-leonard-ronald-1895-1917\/","title":{"rendered":"Bowes, Reginald Leonard Ronald (1895-1917)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reginald Bowes was born in Chatham early in 1895.\u00a0 He lived at Fort Pitt Military Hospital<\/a> in Chatham where his father, Peter Bowes, was a barrack labourer.<\/p>\n

Reginald\u2019s father was from Ireland and his mother, Alice from Wiltshire.\u00a0 Peter was himself a retired soldier, having been a gunner in the Royal Horse Artillery.\u00a0 He married Alice, a former domestic servant, in London in 1887.<\/p>\n

On Census night (31st<\/sup> March) in 1901 the Bowes\u2019 family were in the hospital with several dozen soldier patients (many from the Royal Engineers), some nurses and a few other resident families.\u00a0 In addition to his parents, Reginald lived with three older brothers, aged 13, 10 and 8, and a 3-year-old sister.\u00a0\u00a0 [The 8-year-old, Victor, also died in the First World War \u2013 see Bowes, Victor Harold.<\/a>]\u00a0 Fort Pitt became a military hospital in the early 19th<\/sup> century and briefly housed the first army medical school in the 1860s.\u00a0 Not long after the First World War the hospital was closed and replaced by a girls\u2019 secondary school on the site.<\/p>\n

Reginald still lived at the hospital with his family in 1911, although only he and his sister and their parents were still at home at the time of the census.\u00a0\u00a0 Now aged 16, Reginald was working as a telegraph messenger.\u00a0 In August 1911 he became an assistant postman for the General Post Office and was promoted to postman in 1913.<\/p>\n

Reginald volunteered for Kitchener\u2019s army, joining the Royal Engineers and holding the rank of driver.\u00a0 He was in the 128th<\/sup> Field Company; his service number was 34306.\u00a0 \u00a0His company joined the 23rd<\/sup> division on the Western Front from April 1915.\u00a0 This division fought on the Somme in 1916 and at the 3rd<\/sup> Battle of Ypres the following year.\u00a0 Reginald died of wounds on 31 August 1917 and is buried in the New Military Cemetery at Reningelst,<\/a> south of Ieper (Ypres).\u00a0 Reningelst was a field ambulance station, being at a safe distance from the front line.<\/p>\n

Reginald\u2019s father died only a few months after him, on 4 January 1918, and is buried in the Fort Pitt Military Cemetery, next to his workplace. \u00a0Reginald\u2019s mother, Alice therefore was authorised in 1919 to receive the pay her son was owed.\u00a0 Reginald\u2019s age is incorrectly recorded on his gravestone which states he was 26 years of age, when in fact he was just 22.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

Ancestry.co.uk<\/p>\n

Free BMD.\u00a0England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915<\/em><\/p>\n

1881 England Census<\/em>\u00a0Class:\u00a0RG11<\/em>; Piece:\u00a02143<\/em>; Folio:\u00a0175<\/em>; Page:\u00a08<\/em>; GSU roll:\u00a01341517; <\/em>Class:\u00a0RG11<\/em>; Piece:\u00a02435<\/em>; Folio:\u00a038<\/em>; Page:\u00a018<\/em>; GSU roll:\u00a01341586.<\/em><\/p>\n

1901 England Census<\/em>\u00a0[database on-line]. Class:\u00a0RG13<\/em>; Piece:\u00a0731<\/em>; Folio:\u00a080<\/em>; Page:\u00a02<\/em><\/p>\n

1911 England Census<\/em>\u00a0[database on-line]. Class:\u00a0RG14<\/em>; Piece:\u00a03926<\/em><\/p>\n

British Postal Service Appointment Books, 1737-1969<\/em>\u00a0[database on-line].\u00a0POST 58<\/em>; Reference Numbers 105 <\/em>\u00a0& 108<\/em><\/p>\n

National Army Museum; Chelsea, London, England;\u00a0Soldiers’ Effects Records, 1901-60<\/em>; NAM Accession Number:\u00a01991-02-333<\/em>; Record Number Ranges:\u00a0883001-884500<\/em>; Reference:\u00a0540<\/em><\/p>\n

UK, Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914-1919<\/em><\/p>\n

London Metropolitan Archives, Saint Martin, Kentish Town, Register of marriages, P90\/MTN, Item 016<\/p>\n

UK and Ireland, Find a Grave Index, 1300s-Current<\/em><\/p>\n

Other Sources:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.longlongtrail.co.uk\/army\/order-of-battle-of-divisions\/23rd-division\/<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.cwgc.org\/find-war-dead\/casualty\/152471\/BOWES,%20REGINALD%20LEONARD%20RONALD<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n