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Gdsmn. Herbert Henry Bowker
British Army 3rd Btn. Grenadier Guards
from:274 Audley Range, Blackburn, Lancashire
Herbert Bowker attested on the 12th of December 1915, Age 25, Height 5ft 9¼in, Chest 35 in. He was mobilised on the 9th of January 1917 and posted to the Depot at Caterham, Surrey two days later. He joined 3rd Battalion, Grenadier Guards and crossed to France on the 3rd of April 1918 On the 27th of April he attended the Lewis Gun School in the field and returned to his battalion on the 11th of May. On the 20th of July 1918 he suffered a wound to the scalp and was hospitalised at Frevent, Trouville and Harfleur in France Henry returned fit to his battalion on the 4th of October 1918. He was granted UK leave from the 5th to 26th of February 1919 and was discharged to Class Z Reserve on the 8th of March 1920 with no pension awarded.
The family was based in Leeds but moved to Blackburn early in the 20th century because Herbert's father had got work as a skilled carpenter in the town centre. Before the war (1911 census) my uncle worked in the cotton industry as a mule piecer cotton. Post WW1 he was employed as a railway passenger porter.
His death on 7th of June 1921 is attributed to Acute Brights Disease (kidneys). He is buried in Blackburn Old Cemetery in a unmarked grave, which also holds his sister Hilda Florence and father Albert William. As a child I remember visiting the grave with his surviving sisters my aunt Ethel and my mother Gertrude. It was summer so I assume it was 7th June or very close.
Herbert's proud parents' living room was dominated by an about A3 size studio photographic photograph of their son in Grenadier Guards dress uniform which had brass lapel badges in the form of a ball shape with flames emerging. Two medals were in a small box (with other items) in a sideboard drawer. I remember the end of WW1 rainbow ribbon - the other would have been service related. Decades after they were awarded they looked rather neglected.
