44th Battalion Memorial, Winnipeg

Canadian Badge

Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-

Little is known of the early life of John Bowman. His attestation papers for the Canadian Expeditionary Force give his date of birth as 7th April 1887 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. His father is listed as Thomas Bowman living in Newcastle and his mother as Elizabeth Dodgson of Gateshead. It is not known when he arrived in Canada but at the time of his enlistment he was living in Winnipeg and working as a teamster.

Enlisting on 18th March 1916 as Private 719150 in “A” Company 107th (Timber Wolves) Battalion in Winnipeg, he spent six months at Camp Hughes, and then travelled by train to Nova Scotia to board the SS Olympic, arriving in Liverpool with the 107th Battalion on 25th September. Billeted at Witley Camp, Surrey, three months later Private Bowman was posted to the 44th (Manitoba) Battalion which fought as part of the 10th Infantry Brigade, 4th Canadian Division, and he joined them in billets at Vimy Ridge on 19th January 1917.

Just two weeks later, on 4th February, Private John Bowman was killed by a sniper’s bullet at Souchez.

John Bowman is remembered in Bensham on B134.02

In Canada he is remembered on their Virtual War Memorial and in their Book of Remembrance and on the 44th Battalion Memorial, Vimy Park, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Canadian Book of Remembrance
Canadian Virtual Memorial
The CWGC entry for Private Bowman