THE FALLEN OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
ABLE SEAMAN WALTER JAMES BOWELL
He was born in the son of George and Amy Bowell of Steeple Aston. After the death of his father in 1908, his mother moved with him to Bath where she worked as a housekeeper. Je was working as a machinist in a corset factory when he enlisted into the Royal Navy in Portsmouth on 13th August 1913 in Portsmouth. He signed on as a Boy 2nd class for 12 years and trained at HMS Impregnable and HMS Ganges. He joined the pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Albermarle on 8th January 1913 as a Boy 1st class. He then transferred to HMS Bulwark, another pre-dreadnought battleship in May 1913, being made up to an Ordinary Seaman in August that year. He left her to join HMS Zealandia, below, a King Edward VII battleship on 19th August 1913.
On 25th Juky 1914, he was slightly injured when the cutter he was on was crushed between Zealandia and the collier Greenhill. He was with her when the First World war broke out in August 1914, where she was part of the 3rd Battle Squadron and was frequently put to sea to search for German ships, but saw no action in this period. Ordinary Seaman Bowell left her on 30th September 1914. He then went ashore in Portsmouth until joining HMS Queen Elizabeth, below, a dreadnought battleship, on 21st December 1914 and Walter Bowell was made an Able Seaman later that month.
From February 1915 she took part in operations in the Dardanelles in support of the Gallipoli campaign being withdrawn in March that year and returning to Scapa flow. He left the ship on 25th November 1915 to undergo training at HMS Vernon, the RN torpedo school. He was assigned to HMS Dido, a submarine depot ship on 27th March 1916 before joining another submarine depot ship HMS Dolphin in April 1917. He joined HMS Crescent on 30th June 1917, a Submarine depot ship at Scapa Flow. On 1st January 1914 he joined the crew of HM Submarine K14, below, in 13th Submarine Flotilla.
On 31st January 1918 the 13th Submarine Flotilla were involved in Operation FC1, an exercise to test the deployment of the Grand Fleet, rendezvousing in the North Sea. The operation began at 6.30pm with a line of some 40 ships sailed down the Firth of Forth. Eight armed trawlers were in the area sweeping for mines, although they were unaware that the fleet would be passing by. Just as the 13th Flotilla was passing the Island of May, two of the minesweepers appeared out of the mist, veering in front of K14 which caused the Commander, Thomas Harbottle, to change course suddenly. K14 avoided the minesweepers but was then rammed by K22. Both submarines were badly damaged with K14 liable to sink any moment, their crews being rescued by HMS Ithuriel. K14 did not sink however and was recovered and repaired.
Able Seaman Walter Bowell was one of two crew members of HM Submarine K14 killed in the collision on 31st January 1918. He was aged 22 and is buried in Long Compton Churchyard, his parents living at 9, Council House, Long Compton at the time of his death.
The exercise became known as "The Battle of May Island" as two mor K class submarines were accidentally rammed and sunk with the loss of 103 men.
PRIVATE CHARLES THOMAS CLARK
He was born in July 1890, the son of Thomas and Esther Clark of Main Street, Long Compton. He worked as a farm labourer. he enlisted into the 11th(Service Battalion), The Royal Warwickshire Regiment as a Private on its formation in Warwick in September 1914. He was sent to France with his Battalion on 3oth July 1915 and the orders of the 37th Division. At the beginning of 1916 they had been based at Hannescamps, nortof the Somme but at the end of June that year they were ordered to march to Albert in preparation for the Somme Offensive. They were in reserve for the initial phase of the offensive, the Battle of Albert from 1st July, but on 15th July were ordered to attack the village of Pozieres. The battalion advanced at 0920 under cover of a heavy artillery bombardment but were stopped short of the village by heavy German machine gun fire and force to take shelter. A second attempt was made at 1800 with the Battalion now reduced to 585 officers and men, but with the same result as the artillery barrage had failed to eliminate the German machine gunners. Out of the battalion's compliment that had taken part in the two assaults 465 where casualties by the end of the day, a loss rate of nearly 50%.
Private Charles Clark was killed in action on 15th July 1916. He was aged 26, his body was never recovered from the battlefield and he is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, having no known grave.
PRIVATE COWLEY
PRIVATE COWLEY
PRIVATE ROBERT WILLIAM COWLEY
He was born in Aston, Birmingham, the son of Robert and Emily Cowley. The family later moved to Long Compton where he worked as a waggoner on a farm. He had enlisted into the King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment on 10th December 1915. He married Charlotte Davis in Long Compton in April 1916, being posted to the 7th(Service) Battalion in France shortly after. he saw action in various phases of the Somme Offensive in 1916, The Arras Offensive and th Third Battle of Ypres. In 1018 they fought to halt the German Spring Offensive before taking part in the 100 Days Offensive that led to the defeat of Germany. At some point Private Robert Cowley was wounded in action and evacuated back to the UK. He was discharged from the Army on 27th June 1919 under Kings Regulation 392 para XVI, no longer physically fit for active service. He died on 24th March 1920 aged 28 and is buried in Birmingham Yardley Cemetery.
PRIVATR JAMES THODORE CRUMP
He was born in March 1896, the son of Henry and Letitia Crump of Fifield, Oxfordshire, the family moving to Long Compton. At the age of 15, he was boarding in Royal Leamington Spa where he worked at a greengrocers. At the time of his enlistment he was back living in Western Lodge, Long Compton working as a motor engineer. He enlisted into the Royal Garrison Artillery on 23rd November 1914 in Oxford. He then transferred to the Royal Warwickshire Regiment on 1st June 1015. He was posted to 9th (Service) Battalion in Gallipoli, arriving at Suvla Bay on 18th September 1915. Between 19th and 20th December 1915 they were evacuated from Suvla Bay to the Helles bridgehead, In January 1916 they fought against Turkish attacks on helles before being evacuated back to Port Said in Egypt by the end of the month. From February 1916 the Battalion as part of the 13th Western Division began to move to Mesopotamia, where they unsuccessfully attempted to relieve the siege of kuu-al-Amara. On 3rd June 1916 he was admitted to the 42st field Ambulance suffering from dysentery returning to his unit 4 weeks later. From this moment on he was dogged by ill health, suffering 5 more bouts of dysentery as well as heat exhaustion and malaria. He was eventually evacuated hack to England in April 1919. He was discharged into the Army reserves but died of illness on 6th February 1920 aged 23 and is buried in Long Compton Churchyard.