Private Frank Henry Bowyer of the 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers The

Private Frank Henry Bowyer of the 1st Battalion Royal Fusiliers
The First Soldier with Family in Lavendon to Die 100 Years Ago, 20th November 1914
Frank Henry Bowyer’s name is one of 21 listed on the Lavendon Village
War Memorial who made the ultimate sacrifice during WW1. He was the
first soldier from a family in Lavendon to die in the Great War some 100
years ago. His death on 20th November 1914 was only a few months after
the British declaration on 4th August 1914.
Frank was born in 1882 in nearby Sherington where the family was living in
Water Lane. His parents were Frederick Bowyer from Stevington and
Rachel Bunker from Sherington. Frank’s father and Grandfather were both
matting manufacturers and his mother Rachel was a straw worker, possibly
in the same business. Rachel died when Frank was only two years old and
so it was unlikely that he ever truly remembered her. At that time Frank was the youngest of three
children. His father went on to marry Ellen Redmond of Cranfield where the family went to live.
There Frank eventually acquired six more half-brothers and sisters. In about 1900 the family
returned to Sherington where Frank gained three more half-siblings.
Shortly after 1906 those members of the family still living at home moved to Olney Road in
Lavendon, but not so Frank. He had already left home and enlisted with the Royal Fusiliers. In 1901
at the age of 19 he was to be found with the 4th Battalion billeted at the Shaft Barracks on the
Western Heights of Dover in Kent. He eventually left the Colours and became a Reservist, and by
1909 Frank was living in ‘civvy street’ at Islip near Thrapston lodging with a Mr & Mrs Stafford.
When war was declared Frank re-joined the Royal Fusiliers in the 1st Battalion which was mobilised
as part of the British Expeditionary Force, landing in France on 16th August 1914. The BEF travelled
through northern France and arrived in the Mons area on 22nd August. The following day it seems
that Frank was immediately involved in the Battle of Mons, the first encounter of the War between
German and British Forces. The British Forces were heavily out-numbered and a retreat was
ordered. The Germans pressed on with their advance to Paris but following a series of Allied
counter-attacks it was the turn of the German forces to retreat. Between September and November
both forces were seeking to exploit or protect their northern flanks and there followed what has
been called ‘the Race to the Sea’ with each Army trying to side-step each other around the northern
flanks into unoccupied territory.
A number of very distinct battles occurred during this period, notably including the First Battle of
Ypres, 19th October – 22nd November. It was clearly towards the end of this period of battle that
Frank lost his life, little more than 3 months after he had rejoined the colours. The relevant war diary
records that his unit was entrenched at Chapel d’Armentieres during the week or so preceding his
death. The weather had been very wet with the trenches full of water and unstable as a result. One
officer was killed whilst sleeping when a dugout collapsed on him. Snow and freezing cold followed.
The diary notes that the men had been in the trenches continuously for some 35 days prior to 20
November. On that day the diary simply records “Still freezing. One private killed by sniper.” This
was likely to have been Frank Bowyer’s end. He thus had the dubious distinction of being the first
soldier with a family still in Lavendon to be killed, so soon after the start of the War.
Frank’s name appears on the Ploegsteert Memorial which stands in the Berks Cemetery Extension a
few miles north of Armentieres. In addition to the British War and Victory medals, Frank was entitled
to the so-called Mons Star (1914-15 Star) marking his very early involvement in WW1. A Memorial in
London’s High Holborn is given to the memory of 22,000 other Royal Fusiliers who also fell in the
Great War.
As already noted, Frank’s mother Rachel had died in 1884; his father Frederick died in 1912. Perhaps
because of that Frank died without leaving a Will, something which most soldiers were urged to do
before joining active service. The military made enquiries following Frank’s death and there is a
touching letter on record in reply to the military that reads:
“Mrs Stafford of this village whom I have known for the last six years has shown me your
letter re Private Frank Bowyer of the 1st Batt Royal Fusiliers who was killed in action.
The above lodged with Mrs Stafford for 5 years. He had no place which he called a home as
for years he had seen nothing of his Step Mother and he looked on this place where he
lodged, Mrs Stafford’s house, as his home...
Mrs Stafford tells me that Bowyer said to her that he wished her and her husband to have all
that belonging to him if he should not come back.”
As a postscript, Frank’s elder birth brother, William Frederick Bowyer, also served in the military
having enlisted in the Middlesex Regiment in 1899. He served in India between 1901 and 1910 and
was also mobilised on 5th November 1914 to serve with the BEF. He survived the War, but their halfbrother Freddie (Frederick Thomas Bowyer) was less fortunate. He had volunteered with the
Bedfordshire Regiment in May 1915 and took part in many battles, including the Somme and Ypres.
Sadly, in April 1918 he too was killed aged about 22 – his name is also recorded on the Lavendon
memorial. More senior residents of Lavendon will recall that another of Frank’s half brothers, Alf
Bowyer, who died age 89 in 1995, lived at the Pump House in the High Street. He made available the
land that became the present day village playing field.
© Nigel Stickells, July 2014

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