246925 Pte. Albert Ernest Bowden Australian Imperial Force C Company 32nd Battalion from:Kirupp, Western Australia Albert Bowden was born in London, Middlesex, in 1890 to Thomas Lyle Bowden and Louisa Ann Bowden (nee Neck).
Albert was 24 and 8 months old and working as sleeper hewer (cutting wood sleepers for building train tracks) in Kirupp, Western Australia, when he enlisted in AIF in Western Australia on 1stof June 1916. At the time his parents lived in Pyworthy, Devon, England. Albert was transferred into C Company, 32nd Battalion on 16th August 1916 and assigned regimental number 892.
He trained at Blackboy Hill Camp, Western Australia, and Cheltenham Camp, South Australia. He embarked for the war on the HMAT Geelong on 18th of November 1915 departing from Port Adelaide, South Australia. He disembarked in Suez, Egypt, on 18th December 1915. In Egypt, as part of the defence of the Suez Canal, he underwent training for 6 months with his unit before embarking on the HMAT Translyvania on 17th of June 1916 at Alexandria.
He disembarked from the Translyvania in Marseilles, France, on 23rd June 1916 and, along with his unit, was entrained northwards to the Western Front near Armentieres. He suffered a shrapnel bullet wound to his right shoulder during the disastrous Battle of Fromelles on 19th of July 1916.
On 20th of July 1916 he was evacuated from the battlefield and shipped to England. On 25th of July 1916 he was admitted to the Middlesex War Hospital, Napsbury. On 10th of August 1916 Albert was admitted to the Bricket House Hospital from which he was discharged just prior to 18th of September 1916.
He rejoined the 32nd Battalion at Fricourt on the Somme battlefield on 9th of February 1917. Albert spent most of the war in the field with the 32nd Battalion without further injury and only suffered one bout of mumps during March-April 1917.
He survived the war and departed Liverpool, England, on the HT Wyreema on 13th April 1919 and returned to live in Western Australia. At a later date he returned to live in England, at Great Knowle, Pyworthy, Devon. He passed away in 1970 aged 79 and was buried in St. Swithun Church graveyard, Pyworthy, Devon.
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