Charles Bowley
- Family History
- Military History
- Extra Information
- Photographs
Charles was the son of Arthur and Emily Bowley (née Marshall). Arthur was born in Gotham and Emily in East Leake and were married at East Leake St Mary on 5 December 1869. They had three children who were born in Gotham: Mary Ann b. 1871, George b. 1876 and Charles birth registered 1879 (J/F/M). In 1871, before the birth of their first child, Arthur (23), a gypsum miner, and Emily (19) were living in Gotham. Emily died in 1880 aged about 29 when her youngest child Charles was just over a year old. The widowed Arthur was living on Chapel Street, Gotham, in 1881 with two of his children Mary (9) and George (3). Also in the household was a lodger, Thomas Bowley (35 b. Gotham), who was also a gypsum miner. Charles (2), described as a 'nurse child', was living with Thomas and Sarah Dring, also of Chapel Street. By 1891 Arthur (44) and his two children Mary and Charles were living on Malt Street, Gotham. His son George was living at The Rushes, Malt Street, Gotham, a servant in the household of Benjamin Howard, a farmer. George married Charlotte Ann Dabell at Gotham St Lawrence on 23 December 1900 and in 1901 they were living on Wallis Street Gotham. His father, brother and sister were also living on Wallis Street along with Arthur's widowed brother, Sydney Bowley (66). Arthur Bowley died in 1906. In 1911, George, a labourer at the gypsum plaster mines, was living at The Rushes, Gotham, with his wife Charlotte and children Emily, Edith May, Alice and Sydney togther with his wife's widowed father, Joseph Dabell, a farm labourer. Mary Ann was living on Bag Lane, Gotham, and working as a charwoman. Charles had married Jane Price Powdrill (b. 1881) in 1903 and in 1911 they were living at Meadow End, Gotham, with their two children Arthur Lewis (b. 1904) and Gertrude (b. 1906). Charles was working as a gypsum labourer. Charles' widow, Jane, did not remarry and in 1939 when the England & Wales Register was compiled she was living at Quarndon Hill Cottage, Quarndon Hill (Belper Rural District), with her son Arthur, a handyman poultry feeder, and daughter Gertrude, a shorthand typist. Jane died in 1971. Charles nephew, Charles Bowley (b. 1 July 1917), was killed in the Second World War. (See 'Extra information')
Charles Bowley enlisted in Nottingham, initially serving (22914) with the Sherwood Foresters. He was later transferred to the 3/5th battalion Lancashire Fusiliers. He died of wounds on 6th May 1917 and is buried in Longuenesse (St Omer) Souvenir Cemetery, France (grave ref. IV B 72).
CWGC headstone personal inscription: 'Greater love hath no man than this' Nottingham Evening Post, ‘Roll of Honour’, 4 June 1917: ‘Bowley. Died of wounds, May 6th, Private Charles Bowley, Lancashire Fusiliers, of Gotham. Thy grave’s too far for us to see, but in our hearts we treaure thee. From his heart-broken wife, family, and sister.’ (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk) Charles Bowley was recorded on the 1881 Census as a 'nurse child' in the care of Thomas and Sarah Dring of Chapel Street, Gotham. Thomas and Sarah's daughter Elizabeth married Nathan Bowley, also of Gotham. Elizabeth and Nathan's son George William served in the 2/7th Bn Sherwood Foresters (266954 Private) and was killed on 26 September 1917. (See record on this Roll of Honour). Charles' nephew, Charles Bowley, the son of his brother George, was killed in the Second World War. CWGC 2492073: Able Seaman Charles Bowley Royal Navy, served HMS President III (SS Empire Attendant). Died 15 July 1942 age 25. Commemorated Portsmouth Naval Memorial. ‘Son of George and Charlotte Bowley; husband of Ethel May Bowley, of Ruddington, Nottinghamshire.’ SS Empire Attendant: 'On 2 Mar 1940, the Domala was bombed by a German aircraft, set on fire and beached in Solent. She was rebuilt as steam merchant Empire Attendant for Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). At 03.30 hours on 15 July 1942 the Empire Attendant (Master Thomas Grundy), dispersed from convoy OS-33, was torpedoed and sunk by U-582 south of the Canary Islands. The master, 49 crew members and nine gunners were lost. U-582 reported her victim under the former name Domala.' (uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship/1934.html)
