In memoriam
GEORGE SEAD GOWING
Died March 25th 1872
Aged 53 years
MARY ANN wife of the above
Who departed this life Oct. 28 1874
Aged 55 years
ALSO OF
(GEO)RGE SEAD GOWING
Died of wounds received in France
While serving with the
British Expiditionary Force
August 15th 1915.
Aged 33 years
Rest in Peace.
(Honour?) to those in Battle slain
(Who died?) that we might freedom gain
(To their) brave memory homage give
(On hist)ory’s page their deeds shall (live)
________________________
Interred at Chateau Rosenthal.
GOWING, GEORGE SEAD
Rank:…………………………......Private
Service No:…………………….3/10241
Date of Death:……………….15/08/1915
Age:…………………………….....33
Regiment:……………………....Suffolk Regiment, 2nd Bn.
Grave Reference:…………..Enclosure No.3 C. 10.
Cemetery:……………………...BEDFORD HOUSE CEMETERY
Additional Information:
Son of George Sead Gowing and Caroline Gowing, of Lowestoft; husband of Alice Maud Gowing, of Lowestoft.
CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/483712/GOWING,%20GEOR...
SDGW records that Private George Sead Gowing Died of Wounds on the 15th August 1915 whilst serving with the 2nd Battalion Suffolk Regiment. He was born and enlisted Lowestoft. No place of residence is shown.
There is a number of pictures of the Battalion from this period at the Imperial War Museum.
www.stedmundsburychronicle.com/galleryww1/galleryww1page_...
www.stedmundsburychronicle.com/Chronicle/C20pics/bellyach...
www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205183608
www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205024533
The Medal Index Card for Private 3/10241 George S Gowing, 2nd Suffolk Regiment, is held at the National Archive under reference WO 372/8/85692
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D2394520
His Service Records do not appear to have survived the incendiary attack during the Blitz on the Warehouse where all the Army service records were stored.
His headstone at Bedford House Cemetery can be seen here.
findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=11583326&a...
and here
www.flickr.com/photos/harlowirish/8202262983
He is also remembered on his mothers headstone in Lowestoft Cemetery.
findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=11583326&a...
1882 – Birth
The birth of a George Sead Gowing was registered in the Mutford District of Suffolk in the July to September quarter, (Q3), of 1882.
(Mutford district covered Lowestoft and the nearby villages).
1891 Census of England and Wales
The 8 year old George S. Gowing, born Lowestoft, was recorded living at a dwelling on Anguish Street, Lowestoft. This was the household of his parents, although only his mother Caroline was home on the night of the census. Caroline, (32?, born Lowestoft), describes herself as the wife of the head of the household and gives her occupation as Beatster or Net Mender. Her other children living with her are:-
Alice C……….aged 7……..born Lowestoft
James F………aged 5……..born Lowestoft
Clara C………aged 2………born Lowestoft
There is no obvious match for his future wife on this census.
1901 Census of England and Wales
The Gowing family are now recorded living at one of the Lifeboat Cottages on East Street, Lowestoft. However while mother Caroline, (42) is the only parent present and gives her relationship to the head of the household as wife, in the column for “Condition of Marriage” she is recorded as widowed. She still works as a Net Mender. Living with her are her children George S, (18, Fisherman), Alice C, (17, Net Mender), James F, (15, Fish Labourer), Clara C E, (11), Frederick W.B, (7) and Reginald A, (4) – all born Lowestoft.
The most likely match for his future wife is a 17 year old Alice M. “Browne”, born Pakefield, Suffolk, a live in domestic servant recorded at 21 Cathcart Street, Lowestoft.
1903 Marriage
The marriage of a George Sead Gowing to an Alice Maud Brown was recorded in the Mutford District of Suffolk in the October to December quarter, (Q4), of 1903.
1911 Census of England and Wales
The 28 year old George Sead Gowing, the mate on the Lowestoft Fishing Trawler “Prospector”, was recorded aboard his boat which was then moored at Padstow in Cornwall. George has been married 7 years and has had 4 children, of which 2 were then still alive.
However he is also recorded living with his wife and children at 9, Raglan Cottages, Raglan Street, Lowestoft, although he is now stated to have been married 8 years and to have had just 2 children, both still alive. His occupation is however given as a Mate on Trawler. His wife Alice, (27) was recorded as born Pakefield, Suffolk. Their two living children are Clara, (7, stated to be attending Clapham Road school) and Alice, (2) – both born Lowestoft.
The local council have put cemetery records online for the municipal cemetery. These show a 1 month old George Sead Gowing, child of George and Alice Gowing, was interred on the 23rd May 1908. His last address was The Hospital, Lowestoft.
apps.eastsuffolk.gov.uk/pages/cemeteries/Lowestoft/gower_...
Caroline Gowing was recorded as the head of the household at 9 East Street, Lowestoft. A widowed Net Mender, she lives there with her children Frederick, (17, Herring Fisherman) and Reginald, (14, Milk Boy). Caroline states she has been married 30 years and had had 6 children, all then still alive.
Post August 1911 it had become compulsory when registering a birth in England and Wales to also record the mothers maiden name. A check of the General Registrars Office Index of Births for England and Wales looking for children registered with the surname Gowing, mothers maiden name Brown \ Browne identifies one potential additional child of George and Alice. The birth of a George S Gowing, mothers maiden name Brown, was registered in the Mutford District in the October to December quarter, (Q4), of 1911.
As father George was a Fisherman I also checked out the Royal Naval Reserve records – a Royal Naval Reserve Trawler section was created in 1908 to provide an impromptu minesweeping force. However while I could find nothing for father George, there are three sets of records for a George Sead Gowing, born Lowestoft on the 2nd October 1911. These probably reflect extensions of his enlistment.
As service number AX 19391
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8477745
As service number DX 17105
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8506341
As service number EX 1486
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8532482
On the day
Without something like his service records or a more personal source, its difficult to know when George may have incurred his fatal wounds.
BEDFORD HOUSE CEMETERY
Location Information
Bedford House Cemetery is located 2.5 Km south of Ieper town centre.
Historical Information
Zillebeke village and most of the commune were in the hands of Commonwealth forces for the greater part of the First World War, but the number of cemeteries in the neighbourhood bears witness to the fierce fighting in the vicinity from 1914 to 1918.
Bedford House, sometimes known as Woodcote House, were the names given by the Army to the Chateau Rosendal, a country house in a small wooded park with moats. Although it never fell into German hands, the house and the trees were gradually destroyed by shell fire. It was used by field ambulances and as the headquarters of brigades and other fighting units, and charcoal pits were dug there from October 1917.
In time, the property became largely covered by small cemeteries; five enclosures existed at the date of the Armistice, but the graves from No.1 were then removed to White House Cemetery, St. Jean, and those from No.5 to Aeroplane Cemetery, Ypres.
ENCLOSURE No.2 was begun in December 1915, and used until October 1918. After the Armistice, 437 graves were added, all but four of which came from the Ecole de Bienfaisance and Asylum British Cemeteries, both at Ypres.
ENCLOSURE No.3, the smallest, was used from February 1915 to December 1916; the burials made in August-October 1915 were largely carried out by the 17th Division.
ENCLOSURE No.4, the largest, was used from June 1916 to February 1918, largely by the 47th (London) Division, and after the Armistice it was enlarged when 3,324 graves were brought in from other burial grounds and from the battlefields of the Ypres Salient. Almost two-thirds of the graves are unidentified.
ENCLOSURE No.6 was made in the 1930s from the graves that were continuing to be found on the battlefield of the Ypres Salient. This enclosure also contains Second World War burials, all of them soldiers of the British Expeditionary Force, who died in the defence of the Ypres-Comines canal and railway at the end of May 1940. The canal lies on high ground on the west side of the cemetery.
Commonwealth casualties buried in the following smaller cemeteries were either concentrated into Bedford House Cemetery after the war or if lost, are now commemorated in Bedford House Cemetery:-
ASYLUM BRITISH CEMETERY, YPRES, was established in the grounds of a mental hospital (the Hospice du Sacre Coeur) a little West of the railway station, between the Poperinghe road and the railway. It was used by Field Ambulances and fighting units from February 1915, to November 1917, and it contained the graves of 265 soldiers from the United Kingdom, nine from Canada, seven from Australia and two of the British West Indies Regiment.
BOESINGHE FRENCH CEMETERY No.2, a little South of Bard Cottage, contained the grave of one soldier from Canada.
DROOGENBROODHOEK GERMAN CEMETERY, MOORSLEDE, contained the graves of two United Kingdom soldiers who fell in October 1914.
ECOLE DE BIENFAISANCE CEMETERY, YPRES, was on the North side of the Poperinghe road, immediately West of the railway, in the grounds of a school (later rebuilt). It was used by Field Ambulances in 1915-1917, and it contained the graves of 133 soldiers from the United Kingdom, three from Canada, three from Australia and one of the British West Indies Regiment.
KERKHOVE CHURCHYARD contained the graves of five United Kingdom soldiers, who fell in October and November 1918, and seven German.
POELCAPELLE GERMAN CEMETERY No.4, between Langemarck and the Poelcapelle-St. Julien road, contained the graves of 52 soldiers from the United Kingdom who fell in 1914 and 1916.
ZONNEBEKE BRITISH CEMETERIES No.1 and No.3 were on the South and North sides respectively of the Broodseinde-Zonnebeke road. Zonnebeke was occupied by the Germans on the 22 October 1914, retaken by the French on the following day, and evacuated at the beginning of May 1915; retaken by British troops on the 26 September 1917; evacuated again in April 1918; and retaken by Belgian troops on the 28th September, 1918. Four British Cemeteries were made by the Germans on the Broodseinde-Zonnebeke road; No.1 contained the graves of 31 United Kingdom soldiers (mainly 2nd East Surrey) who fell in April 1915, and No.3 those of 69 who fell in April, and May 1915.
In all, 5,139 Commonwealth servicemen of the First World War are buried or commemorated in the enclosures of Bedford House Cemetery. 3,011 of the burials are unidentified but special memorials commemorate a number of casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials name casualties buried in other cemeteries whose graves could not be found on concentration. Second World War burials number 69 (3 of which are unidentified). There are 2 Germans buried here.
CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/55502/BEDFORD%20HOU...
Given how close this cemetery was to the front line it seems likely that his wounds were probably incurred no more than three days before the date of his death – more and he would most likely have been passed back down the medical evacuation chain.
The official regimental history has little pertinent to say – it was in an out of the same area of lime from the 24th July to the 2nd September, initially suffering the occasional heavy artillery barrage. Following an attack elsewhere on the 9th August apparently this sector became quitter. I suspect George’s wounds came from the general attrition of trench warfare rather than a specific action.
