William Cowlard (1889-1916)

Post date: Jan 05, 2016 3:1:23 PM

William was born in the second quarter of 1889 at Chelsfield, Kent to John and Emily Cowlard. His father John was a farm labourer who at the time of the 1901 and 1911 censuses was living in Halstead (Lamberhurst Cottages/Station Road), Sevenoaks. From the 1911 census we learn that his parents had been married 42 years and had had 11 children born alive but 7 had already died. It is likely that John was the baby of the family and in 1911, aged 22, he was the only one of the 4 survivors still at home, working as a "carter with horses".

He married Florence Huntley in the 3rd quarter of 1912 (in Bromley) and they moved to Wateringbury probably so that he could work at Jude Hanbury's brewery. They had two children, both baptised at Wateringbury Church, a son Edward Arthur, baptised on 6th September 1914 and a daughter baptised 28th August 1916, just a month before his death at the Somme, and who we can assume he never saw.

His service record is not available but possibly he was a conscript, as he was still at home in late 1915 when his daughter was conceived. He does not appear on any of the vicar's lists of those serving until he is included in the January 1917 roll of honour after his death. Conscription was introduced in January 1916 for single men aged 18 to 41 and extended to married men in May 1916. His entry at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission shows that his service number was 33154 and he was a private in the 10th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment and that his parents and wife were living at Camden Cottages, Wateringbury. (Camden Cottages are 185 Tonbridge Road) . He died on 29th September 1916 aged 27. He is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial Pier and face 3A and 3D.

The National Archives reference for the war Diary of William's battalion is WO 95/2156/2 but given the absence of his personal service record we do not know when he joined the battalion, which had arrived in Boulogne from Folkestone on 10th September 1915 and in the battle of Loos in late September was pitched into attacking Hill 70 with heavy losses. The battalion spent a long time near Armentieres with periods in the trenches and other times in billets. If the KM obituary (quoted below in full ) is correct he was possibly a conscript rather than a volunteer and was not with his battalion for long.

The War Diary of 10th Battalion Yorkshire Regiment (62nd Infantry Brigade, 21st Division) for 1st to 3rd July 1916 laconically records: "Took part in Battle of Somme and got as far as Crucifix Trench where relieved." They were involved in clearing Mametz Wood in mid July. The diary for the days immediately before William's death on 29th September is transcribed below:

27th September: In trenches very busy consolidating. Trenches run from N. 27.D. 2 to N. 27 C.5.9. Considerable enemy shelling. As we marched up to the trenches we had a very unfortunate bomb accident which wounded 8 men of Battalion bombers². The enemy placed a very heavy barrage behind our support line, probably on account of attack by Division on our left. Moved Battalion H.Q. to N 33 a. 2 ¹/_{2 .} 7 ¹/_2. Arrived there at 7 p.m. and found a stranded "Tank"¹ about 100 yards away.

28th September: In trenches: a fairly quiet night; consolidating hard; a few shells coming over all the time; about 8 p.m. rather heavy shelling on front line and supports causing casualties-Capt. W.R. Knott wounded; 2nd Lieut. O.H. Ball killed.

29th September: In trenches: another fairly quiet night; good digging done through night; also through day which was very thick and misty during the day; the enemy put over burst of shells; an attempt was made to remove "Tank" but it was quite unsuccessful. The Battalion was relieved by the 7th D.C.L.I. The relief was completed at 9.30 p.m. The battalion marched into bivouac at S.16.d. -S.22.a.

30th September: in bivouac as above, the battalion resting and cleaning up. Kit inspection etc.

William along with 72,000 others (including from Wateringbury: George Datlen, Frederick Adams, Albert Herbert, Lewis Newman, Frederick Latter, William Butchers, Thomas Weller and George Pearce, ) with no known grave, is commemorated on Pier and Face 3A and 3D of the Thiepval Memorial, designed by Sir Edward Lutyens, and located on the D73 next to the village of Thiepval, France.

His death was reported (with photo) in the Kent Messenger of 4th November 1916 as follows:

Pte William John Cowlard (Wateringbury)

Yorkshire Regiment

Killed in action

Pte. Cowlard leaves a widow and three young children, who live in Vicarage Cottages, Wateringbury. He had worked for four years for Mr. Wm. Jude at the Kent Brewery and before that for Mr. Bowen (Halstead) for ten years. He joined the army on April 8th 1916 and was killed in action on 29th eptember in France, having probably been transfered to the Northumberland Fusiliers. He was 27 years of age and much respected both at Wateringbury and at Halstead. A memorial service was held at Wateringbury Parish Church on Sunday afternoon last.

Further tragedy shortly followed for the family, as the following report shows:

Extract from Kent Messenger of 28th July 1917

WATERINGBURY

FATAL BURNS.—Mr. Neve, the County Coroner, held an inquest at the Queen’s Head on Saturday on Edward Arthur Cowlard, aged three, son of Mrs. Cowlard of No. 2 Vicarage Cottages, Wateringbury, whose hus­band, a former employee of Messrs. Jude, Hanbury and Co., was killed at the Front some months ago. The child, it appeared, was left at home in the care, of his grandmother while his mother went to work at Messrs. Leney’s. The grandmother had occasion to leave the living-room, and, hearing screams, rushed back to find deceased in flames. These were speedily extinguished and a doctor was sent for. The little fellow was however exten­sively burned about the body and two days later succumbed to shock. The evidence showed that the fireplace was protected by a guard, and it was suggested that in all probability the deceased put a stick into the fire and in that way set himself alight. The jury returned a verdict of “Accidental death.”

But despite this tragedy his wife still found it possible to insert the following notice in the Kent Messenger of 29th September 1917:

COWLARD—In loving memory of William John Cowlard, the beloved husband of Florence Maude Cowlard, who was killed in action

Sept. 29th, 1916, aged 27 years.

One year has passed, our hearts still sore. As time rolls on we miss him more. His loving smile, his welcome face,

Nought can fill that vacant place.Thy will be done is hard to say, When those we love are called away.

Notes

1. Tanks went into action for the first time less than two weeks earlier on 15th September so this would have been a very new site particularly as their introduction had been shrouded in extreme secrecy. The tank would have been a Mark 1 tank, one of 31 (17 failed to get to their start point) in action on the 15th September: 15 returned safely; 11 were destroyed by shelling; 8 had mechanical failure;14 ditched or bellied of which tank referred to was one. The immediate results were mixed but at end of 1918 German military ascribed a large part of their defeat to large numbers of British tanks. See map 70 on pages 390 to 391 of The Western Front Companion by Mark Adkin.

2. Bombers and bombs were the terms used in WWI for grenade throwers and grenades; being able to lob a bomb into an enemy trench dugout or machine gun post became an important part of trench warfare. Before 1916 British bombs were rather a hotchpotch of makeshift devices, several of which were very unsafe. By this time the No 5. Mills Bomb had been introduced which was of a spring-mechanism type (requiring removal of a pin) and generally safer (for the user) than the earlier percussion (exploded on hitting ground or other solid object) or ignition (fuse lit by match etc.) types. The greatest grenade battle of the war had just taken place on Pozieres Heights (26-27 July 1916) between the Australians with British support and the Germans in which 15,000 bombs were thrown in one night. The No 5 Mills Bomb weighed about 1.5 lb and had a segmented iron case. When the pin was removed the lever was kept down by the thrower's hand and only when thrown did lever release a spring which hit the detonating cap. Bombers were trained initially by the Royal Engineers on a brigade basis but then deployed at a battalion level.