WESTERN ROAD

 

20 Western Road

BOWCOTT Robert

Rank : Lance Corporal
Regiment : D Company 2nd/8th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
Service number : 43684
Conflict : WW1
Date of death : 2nd November 1918 aged 19
Buried : Awoingt British Cemetery, France, Grave III. A. 24.
Relatives : Son of John and Sarah Ann Bowcott, 20 Western Road, Stourbridge
Memorial : Stourbridge War Memorial
Also appears on : Stourbridge King Edward VI Grammar School WW1 Memorial
Credits : Researched by The Black Country Society. School records courtesy of King Edward VI school archives, researched by Sandra Taylor.

Details:
 

Robert Bowcott was born on 16th June 1899.  He entered as a Day Scholar at King Edward VI Grammar School on 14th September 1911.  At the time of his admission to the school his father is recorded as John Bowcott, a Store Keeper, and the family resided at 10 Lower Hill Street, Stourbridge.  Robert had previously been educated at Hill St Council School (Elementary).  He left King Edward VI Grammar School from Form VI on 27th July 1915 and took employment as a Bank Clerk with the London City and Midland Bank. 

He enlisted in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, probably in 1917, at the age of 18.  He was then transferred to the 2/8th Worcesters, the local second line Territorial battalion.  In 1918 they were in the 61st Division and suffered severely in the first of the German Spring offensives in March.

In the April offensive on the Lys the Division was moved to the front line when the Germans had broken through at Armentieres. Fortunes were reversed in the next six months and the Worcesters then took part in the Advance to Victory, starting in August and continuing to November.  

The battalion’s last battle was at Valenciennes, and was a complete success.  However, Lance Corporal Robert Bowcott was dangerously wounded in the battle and died of wounds on the 2nd November, only nine days before the armistice.