BOWKETT, Humphrey James
(Service number 40767)
| First Rank | Private | Last Rank |
|---|
Birth
| Date | Unknown | Place of Birth |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 1 November 1916 | Age | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | |||
| Occupation | Tailor | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | |||
| Next of Kin | T. Bowkett (father), Woodland Street, Timaru, New Zealand | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Expeditionary Force | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 22nd Reinforcements, Canterbury Infantry Regiment, Company | ||
| Date | 16 February 1917 | ||
| Transport | Navua | ||
| Embarked From | Wellington, New Zealand | Destination | |
| Other Units Served With | 1st Battalion, Canterbury Infantry Regiment | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | |||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | |||
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 |
Death
| Date | 27 June 1957 | Age | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | |||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Geraldine Cemetery | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
Humphrey James (Jim) Bowkett was born 5 Nov. 1892 in Geraldine. He was the son of Thomas BOWKETT & Sarah CLEAVER, who arrived in NZ on the steam ship 'Columbus' in 1874, having married a few months earlier in Coventry. Thomas was born 1848, at Helston, Cornwall. He was a coach builder in Timaru until 1885 when he & his wife & family moved to Geraldine. At a later date Thomas moved back to Timaru where he set himself up in partnership in a finance company which was known as Starr-Bowkett.
During WW1 Thomas's son Jim served in the NZ Army. He spent 5 months in France & Belgium. He endured the horrors of the trenches at Passchendaele where in October 1917, he was wounded & gassed. He was then discharged & spent a few months in hospital, first at Abbeville, France, then at Bathurst in England.
He returned to NZ in early 1918 and in 1921 married Euphemia Davidson McPherson , (Phemie) at St. Paul's, Highfield, in Timaru. They later moved to Geraldine where Jim set himself up in his own tailoring business. They had three children [James b.1921, Joan b.1925, and Georgina b.1929 - see attached notes by G M Barnes for more] & Jim continued in tailoring for all of his working life. He was a foundation member of the Grande View Golf Club which was close to his home in Gresham Road. He died in June 1957.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotpah Database (17 June 2015)
External Links
Related Documents
- Private Humphrey Bowkett - biography notes supplied by M McPherson (pdf, 211.8 KB updated 25-Aug-2017)
- Private Humphrey Bowkett - biography notes by G B Barnes (pdf, 184.5 KB updated 25-Aug-2017)
Researched and Written by
Tony Rippin (South Canterbury Museum)
Currently Assigned to
Not assigned.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.