Description
1914-15 Star, Britsh War & Victory Medal, Bronze Memorial Plaque, 16825 Private Archibald Bowers, 1st Bn Hampshire Regiment, Killed in Action, First Day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916 with photograph of him.
1914-15 trio all officially impressed: “16825 Pte A. Bowers. Hamps. R.”
Memorial Plaque officially embossed: “ARCHIBALD BOWERS”
A complete Trio and Plaque Grouping for the First Day of the Somme.
The Battalion War Diary for the day reads:
“Great Offensive Begins – At 7:30am, the whole line assaulted. The brigade fonrt line consisted of East Lancs and Somersets and the second line of the Hampshires and Rifles Brigade. We had A Company, Half C and B Company in the front line – half of C Company to look after an enemy trench on right flank and D Company in reserve.
As soon as our troops left their trenches heavy machine gun fire was brought to bear on them from all directions and it was impossible even to reach the German Front Line.
Our casualties in Officers amounted to 100% and was also very heavy in other ranks. After lying about in shell holes all the day the men came back to their original front line.
That night the remains of the 11th brigade were relieved by the 10th Brigade and went back to billets in Mailly.”
The Royal Hampshire Regiment’s Museum has a detailed article on the day here:
They write the following about the day:
“The Hampshires left their trench at 7.40am after the East Lancashires had already been practically wiped out. The Hampshires fared little better. In a letter home one soldier described it as being ‘mown down like corn by machine gun fire and shell fire’. The majority of Hampshires were brought down just short of the German barbed wire, although the Commanding Officer, Colonel Laurence Palk, barely made it halfway across. The few men who did reach the wire had only one choice: to seek shelter in the shell holes in No Man’s Land. Here, mixed with survivors from the East Lancashires, they remained for the next 14 hours, pinned down and under constant artillery bombardment. Not until sometime after 10pm, when darkness fell, did these troops finally get an opportunity to scramble back to the safety of their own lines.”
Overall at the end of the day, Casualties were heavy, the 4th Division which they were apart of had almost 6,000 casualties.
Amongst the Officers, the casualty rate was 100% with none spared, they lost 11 Officers Killed in Action with another 15 being Wounded.
Amongst the Other Ranks, Archie was amongst those “Mown down like corn by machine gun fire and shell fire” with the dead or missing numbering 310 Men with 250 wounded, in total 586 members of the 1st Hants Regiment were left killed or wounded.
Born as Edward Archibald Bowers, in October 1895 in Newmarket, Suffolk, he was the son of another Edward Bowers, hence he went by his middle name Archibald instead, but was known by locals and friends with the nickname “Archie”.
He and his father were both involved in the local Newmarket racing industry, by the 1911 Census, his father was a “Stableman” and young 15 year old fresh out of school Archie was a “Stable Lad”.
He was initially a Cavalryman, he first worked in Captain Dewhurt’s Stable, joining the 7th Hussars, but elected to transfer to the Hampshire Regiment.
Captain Robert Henry Dewhurst, was a Cavalry Captain who was an expert hunter and rider, he specialised in Horse Racing, having established his training stables in Bedford, Lodge in Newmarket Suffolk during 1902.
Newmarket is renowned for Horse Racing, home to the Rowley Mile Racecourse, being the UK centre for the now multibillion pound racehorse breeding industry.
His younger brother Sidney Charles Bowers, of the Lincolnshire Regiment also fell when killed in action in France in October 1917.
If he had remained in the Cavalry as part of the 7th Hussars he might have missed out on most of the action, the 7th Hussars were due to remain in India at Bangalore until late 1917 when they were finally deployed to Iraq.
Archie instead joined the Hants or Hampshire Regiment, becoming part of the 1st Battalion.
He landed for service with them in the war in France on 20th July 1915.
