The Buffs - The Royal East Kents

[DaveBrigg]

That's fantastic Mick. He has a marked grave, so I assume that the body was later recovered. A newspaper report states that the telegram recording him as missing was followed soon after by the one stating that he was dead.

Presumably the date on the second page is a typing error, and should read 10-8-17. His memorial service was held on 1/9/1917. For the family it was a second tragedy; his older brother had been killed at Loos in 1915.

Many thanks

Dave

[Michael]

Yes it is a typo and should read 9-8-17. His service record can be found at Kew in WO 374/64245. For some reason I have this on my list of look ups but I can't remember why.

Very often you find the original telegrams in these records so you should be able to confirm the chronology.

The Battalion suffered so badly at the Scarpe during the previous month that it was reorganised into 2 companies. No1 Company had 2nd Lieut Stevens in command with Sowter, Seago and Sankey under him. No2 Company had a Captain and 2 2nd Lieut's.

Where was his memorial service held?

Mick Mills

Edited 3 January , 2006 by Michael

[DaveBrigg]

The picture above is of Arley House, home of the Sowter family in Brigg, and later incorporated into local council offices. Francis's death was reported in the Lincolnshire Star of August 18th, with the first telegram arriving 'on Wednesday... quickly followed by another one announcing his death'. The memorial service was reported in the edition of 01/09/1917 but was held on the Friday before, at St John's church, Brigg. It was attended by representatives of the Ancholme Rowing Club where Francis had been a member. The Rev Adler presided, and the Dead March was played.

The Sowters were a well known family, the eldest son George, a solicitor, was a captain in the local TA unit (1/5th Lincs), and his father, also George, was head of the family firm of solicitors, as well as being involved in the local council and pensions committees. The house was one of the largest in Brigg at the time, and was built near to the station to enable easy commuting to Scunthorpe. Francis was the sixth of seven children. I don't know when he enlisted (The MIC has no date) but he was aged 19 when he died, so it must have been after his brother had been killed.

Although described as a great success, the raid seems to have had a high casualty rate, with nearly half those taking part killed, wounded or missing, including 3 of the 4 officers. A disaster considering what you said earlier about casualties at the Scarpe. Possibly this was because it took place in daylight?

I was unsure about the number of prisoners taken. It mentions 80 to start with, but later states that 1, an officer, was brought back. Does this make sense to you?

many thanks

Dave

[Michael]

Dave

Thanks for the additional info. It's great when a thread turns out like this. The diary is confusing. I assumed that 80 prisoners were taken by the entire raiding party and that one of those was taken by the Buffs.

I agree that it was hardly a success for the Buffs with only 52 out of 90 men returning unscathed.

Do you want copies of his record when I get around to looking it up?

Mick

[DaveBrigg]

Mick

Thanks, I'd love to see his record. I'm hoping to go to the NA mid February, so I'll return the favour if I get there first. I have his older brother's papers - the father was administrator of his estate, and had to travel to Lincoln hospital and take a statement from a survivor who had seen Captain Sowter laying on his side, dead, before a death certificate could be issued.

Our sixth form have read and seen a production of 'Journey's End', where a young officer is killed soon after bringing back a prisoner on a trench raid, so this story has a particular resonance. On remembrance day we paid our respects at the town war memorial.

The family solicitors survived a little after the war, (without the 'and son' tag) before merging with another firm. This still exists, after several name changes, facing the house pictured above.

[Michael]

Dave

You'll probably beat me to Kew. The bad news is that the 6th Buffs War Diary is no longer viewable as an original document. Because it has been scanned you have to view it as pdf on one of the pc screens (that's if they're not all being used by the 'genes re-united' brigade).

Mick