Summary
27088 Lance Corporal George Dowson, 7/8th Battalion, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers was killed in action 21 March 1918 and is buried at Tyne Cot Cemetery, Zonnebeke, Belgium.[1] He was about 22 years old and is commemorated on the Evenwood War Memorial and the Roll of Honour, St. Paul’s Church, Evenwood.
Family Details
George Dowson’s mother was Isabelle Dowson, who is understood to have had 2 children:
- George [2]
- Katy [Kathleen]
In 1913, Isabelle Dowson married widower Joseph Nicholson of Evenwood.[3] Joseph Nicholson’s first wife was Mary Ellen Knaggs who died in 1911. They had 4 children:
- Albert bc.1898
- Thebert bc.1900
- Elizabeth Ann bc.1903
- Alfred bc.1907
George Dowson lived at 22 West View, Evenwood [4] with Mr. and Mrs. J. Nicholson, his mother and step-father. [5]
Service Details
George Dowson enlisted at Newcastle-upon-Tyne and joined the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and was given the service number 27088. He must have joined up with his good friend Thomas Kirkup who was given the service number 27089. Details of Lance Corporal George Dowson have not been researched.
Above: 27088 Lance Corporal George Dowson seated & 27089 Lance Serjeant Thomas Kirkup.
The 7th and 8th (Service) Battalions were part of the 49th Brigade, 16th (Irish) Division. 23 August 1917, they amalgamated to become the 7/8th Battalion and 22 April 1918 it was reduced to cadre strength.[6] Others in the 49th Brigade included: [7]
- 7th (Service) Battalion, the Royal Irish Fusiliers
- 8th (Service) Battalion, the Royal Irish Fusiliers
- 7th (Service) Battalion, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
- 8th (Service) Battalion, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers
- 2nd Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment joined 14 October 1916
- 7th (South Irish Horse) Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment, joined 14 October 1917
- 49th Machine Gun Company joined 29 April 1916
- 49th Trench Mortar Battery formed 16 June 1916
The Division moved to France and served on the Western Front concentrating in the Bethune area then took part in the Battle of the Somme (fourth and fifth phases), 3 to 9 September 1916, the Battle of Messines 7 to 14 June 1917, the Battle of Langemarck 16 to 18 August 1917 and the Battle of St. Quentin (the First Battles of the Somme) 21 to 23 March 1918. [8]
The Regimental History of the Inniskillings has been examined and this has revealed a mystery. The 7/8th Battalion, the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers was involved on the first day of the German Spring Offensive at the Battle of St. Quentin, 21 March 1918 in France. However, Lance Corporal G. Dowson is buried at Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium some 60 miles to the north. There are 2 possible explanations: [9]
- He was undergoing training or was attached to another battalion in Belgium and by co-incidence was killed on the very same day as his comrades in the “Skins” faced the full weight of the German offensive.
- CWGC has recorded the incorrect date. The battalion was posted in the Ypres Salient a year earlier, 1917 however the war diary has not been researched. SDGW records “no data” for March 1917.[10]
Lance Corporal G. Dowson is recorded as having been killed in action 21 March 1918 and is buried at Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium. He was awarded the British War and Victory medals.[11]
Reports of “Missing”
In September 1918, the Evenwood Parish Magazine reported as follows: [12]
“In regard to military items, I have received the following news from a correspondent at home. Lance-Corpl. George Dowson, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Nicholson of West View, has been missing for more than a year.”
The date of his death is given as 21 March 1918, therefore this account does not seem to be accurate. Unless, of course, his date of death was in fact, 21 March 1917 when his battalion was based in the Ypres Salient.
In December 1919, the Magazine reported: [13]
“We sympathise with the parents and relatives of Pte. G. Dowson, who have received official notice that their son, missing since March 21st, must now be presumed dead.”
An agonising period of uncertainty finally came to an end with an official notice, “presumed dead” but some “closure” was available since George Dowson has a burial place in Tyne Cot Cemetery. It seems unusual that Lance Corporal G. Dowson is commemorated at Tyne Cot in the Ypres region when the evidence indicates that his battalion saw action in the area around St. Quentin, France. To date a satisfactory explanation has not been reached.
Burial
Lance Corporal G. Dowson is commemorated at grave reference XXXVI.F.19 Tyne Cot Cemetery, near Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Tyne Cot or “Tyne Cottage” is the name given by the Northumberland Fusiliers to a barn which stood near the level crossing on the Passchendaele to Broodseinde road. The barn which became the centre of several German blockhouses was captured in October 1917 in the advance on Passchendaele. The cemetery was greatly enlarged after the Armistice when remains were brought in from various battlefields. The Tyne Cot Memorial forms the north eastern boundary and commemorates nearly 35,000 servicemen from Britain and New Zealand who died in the Ypres Salient after 16 August 1917 and whose graves are not known. [14]
Commemoration
Lance Corporal G. Dowson is commemorated on the Evenwood War Memorial and the Roll of Honour, St. Paul’s Church, Evenwood.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Barbara Nicholson, Julia MacDonald & Major Dunlop, Enniskilling Museum.
REFERENCES
[1] Commonwealth War Graves Commission
[2] England & Wales Birth Index 1837-1915 Vol.10a p.186 Auckland 1896 Q2 possibly “our” George Dowson. There is another born 1901 but he would be too young to vote in the 1918 election, not being 21 years old.
[3] England & Wales Marriage Index 1837-1915 Vol.10a p.460 Auckland 1913 Q3
[4] 1918 Absent Voters List
[5] Evenwood Parish Magazine September 1918 and corroborated by Barbara Nicholson & Julia McDonald
[6] www.1914-1918.net/skins.htm
[7] http://www.1914-1918.net/16div.htm
[8] www.1914-1918.net/16div.htm & www.warpath.orbat.com/battles_ff/1916.htm &1917.htm & 1918.htm
[9] Major (Ret’d.) Jim Dunlop Curator, the Inniskillings Museum, the Castle, Enniskilling, Co. Fermanagh, BT74 7HL, Northern Ireland could not cast any light on the issue.
[10] ODGW & SDGW
[11] Medal Roll
[12] Evenwood Parish Magazine September 1918
[13] Evenwood Parish Magazine December 1919
[14] CWGC
EVENWOOD RAMSHAW & DISTRICT HISTORY SOCIETY 