Profile

BOWIE, Robert Ross
(Service number 7/920)

Major R R Bowie
Waimataitai School War Memorial, pictured in 2007
Chalmers Church memorial plaque, photographed in 2010
Timaru Boys High School Memorial Library plaque (1914-1918), pictured in 2007
Aliases
First Rank Major Last Rank Major

Birth

Date NZBMD 13 April 1874; Army Records 12 April 1875 Place of Birth Timaru, New Zealand

Enlistment Information

Date 14 December 1914 Age 40
Address at Enlistment 83 Wai-iti Rd, Timaru
Occupation Merchant
Previous Military Experience 8th (South Canterbury) Mounted Rifles. Territorials.
Marital Status Married
Next of Kin Mrs Elizabeth Bowie(Wife) Waika [Wai-iti?] Road, Timaru.
Religion Presbyterian
Medical Information 5 foot 9 inches. 154 lb weight. Fair complexion, Grey eyes. Brown hair. Good eyesight and hearing.Medical examination gave a good health report

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation 4th Reinforcements
Unit, Squadron, or Ship Canterbury Mounted Rifles
Date 17 April 1915
Transport Willochra or Knight Templar or Waitomo
Embarked From Wellington, New Zealand Destination Suez, Egypt
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns Eygptian 1915
Service Medals 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal & Victory Medal.
Military Awards

Award Circumstances and Date

No information

Prisoner of War Information

Date of Capture
Where Captured and by Whom
Actions Prior to Capture
PoW Serial Number
PoW Camps
Days Interned
Liberation Date

Discharge

Date Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

17/6/1915 - Admitted to hospital with dysentry. Became dangerously ill.

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date 10 July 1915 Age 42
Place of Death No.1 Hospital, Heliopolis, Cairo, Egypt
Cause Died of dysentery
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Cairo War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt
Memorial Reference B. 323
New Zealand Memorials On Memorial wall, Timaru; Timaru Boys High School War Memorial (Library); Waimataitai School War Memorial; South Canterbury Savage Club Roll of Honour

Biographical Notes

Son of Robert and Julia Ann Bowie (nee Johnson). Robert's siblings were Annie, Edith Withers, John Hunter, Euphemia, Julia Murray, and William Alexander.

Robert married Elizabeth Thompson in Oamaru on 12 April 1900. Their children, all born in Timaru were Patricia Mary (b.1900), Andrew Robert Michael 'Mick' (b.1901), Doris May (b.1905), Wanaka Elizabeth 'Wannie' (b.1907), Peggy (b.1909), and Jean (b.1913).

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database (September 2013); Archives New Zealand Military Personnel file (November 2014); SCRoll web submission by L Bowie, 26 April 2020; SCRoll web submission by D Zam, 29 December 2020

External Links

Related Documents

Researched and Written by

Janette Clarke, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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