230541 Lt. Edward John Bowie British Army 2nd Battalion Royal Fusiliers from:Chiswick, London Edward John Bowie was my maternal grandfather
He was born 31st December 1892, Ely Place, Holborn, of Scottish descent (parents alleged to have walked from Rosehearty to London 1891). He would have been educated locally to homes in Hammersmith and then Chiswick. His father was a shop manager.
In 1907/08 joined the Crown Agents in the City of London, aged 15/16.
On the 15th February 1912 left the Crown Agents with a certificate of exemplary service after four years.
and worked from 1912 as Bank Clerk at Alexander's Discount House, 24 Lombard Street.
On the 17th of October 1914 Edward joined the RNVR AA Division based at HMS President, St Katherine's Dock, service no AA97 and served in the Anti Aircraft Corp of Royal Naval Air Service. Rank unknown. He may have spent time serving in The Dover Patrol (discharge papers addressed from Connaught Barracks, Dover).
On the 8th of June 1915, he was discharged from RNVR having being commissioned in the Army. Character VG.
On the 29th of June 1915, commissioned, 2nd Lieutenant in the Infantry. He was in 2nd Royal Fusiliers, part of the 29th Division. served in Gallipoli and was wounded. I have photographs of him in Suez dated 1915 though whether before or after Gallipoli I cannot say; nor can I say if he left Gallipoli in January 1916 with the 29th Division and travelled directly to France or not.
In 1916 he was in France with the 29th Division and on the 15th May 1916 he was promoted to lieutenant. After this, on the Somme, he received a very serious head wound (which resulted in him having steel plate for rest of his life) and was buried alive; he was dug out and at first taken for dead He suffered from severe claustrophobia for the rest of his life. He was in Ward B Millbank Hospital, London in July 1916 (again I have photographs).
On the 19th November 1917, he was invalided out of army due to his wounds. I have photographs of him in uniform on horseback convalescing at Torquay in November 1917. He returned there on honeymoon in 1922.
In 1917/18, he returned to Alexander's Discount House and by WWII was the general manager. During WWII, as the head of a discount house, he was in a reserved occupation under the Bank of England. Because of claustrophobia he could not travel on trains; he used a gas powered car (with a balloon on top) to drive to London. After Alexander was blitzed in November 1940 he lived in the rubble of the office for a few days to protect the premises (more photos).
My Mother and her sister were evacuated to the home of Edward's brother, Douglas Bowie, in Canada in July 1940 a few weeks before SS Benares was torpedoed. Their house in Wallington, close to the fighter station at Croydon, was badly bombed in late 1940 and a tree in the garden took a direct hit from a doodlebug on 11th December 1944, blowing Edward out of bed and the ceiling collapsing on my grandmother. Edward died on 22nd January 1946 in St George's Hospital from pancreatic cancer and the long term effect of his wounds; this was three days before the girls got back from Canada. They were told on the boat and Edward was buried before they got home.
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