Edward Rowan: case for naming a grave - The Long, Long Trail (original) (raw)

On 19 July 2019, I submitted a case to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for the recognition of the grave of Edward Rowan. I followed their submission process to the letter, received a case number – and not a single word since. As it is now coming up to five years since I made the case, I thought I would share it with you.

Outline of the case

I submit that the unknown British soldier buried in Plot 13, row A, grave 3 at AIF Burial Ground, Grass Lane, Flers, Somme, France is Private 24963 Edward Rowan of the 6th (Service) Battalion of the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry.

Rowan was officially presumed dead on 16 September 1916. He was one of at least 106 officers and men of the battalion who lost their lives on 15-16 September, of whom 80 remained unidentified and are listed at the Thiepval Memorial.

Rowan was named as “missing in action” and his death later officially assumed

His entry in the financial effects register (National Army Museum) confirms that his death was assumed to have taken place on or since 16 September 1916

Rowan’s body was never identified and he is commemorated at the Thiepval Memorial. This is his entry in the memorial’s register.

Part of my analysis of the burial or commemoration place of the 106 officers and men of the battalion who died on 15 or 16 September 1916 (CWGC data). Note Pte J Nattrass, at the top of the list.

Of those who do have identified graves, 19 lie in three locations which suggest that they were found and reburied during post-war battlefield clearance in three locations: AIF Burial Ground (1 man), Delville Wood Cemetery (10) and Guards Cemetery, Lesboeufs (8).

The battalion participated in an offensive action on these two days, in which it made a north easterly advance from the eastern edge of Delville Wood. The locations of the remains of the 19 men, as recorded on the various reburial reports, show that they were all found within the area of these operations.

Evidence

The man whom I submit is Rowan was located within a few yards of his battalion comrade Private 34621 J. Nattrass, who was identified from a boot stamping: in this case, his number from the Durham Light Infantry, from which he transferred to the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry shortly before his death.

The attached CWGC Reburial Report shows that the man buried in Plot 13, row A, grave 3 was not identified but a piece of boot, stamped with the number 24963, was found. It is not clear why this artefact did not lead to identification at the time.

The reburial report for AIF (Grass Lance) Cemetery which includes Nattrass.

Close-up: Nattrass was identified from his number, stamped on his boot. It was 4885, which had been his number when serving with the Durham Light Infantry before he was transferred to KOYLI. Two lines above him is a man with a boot stamped 24963. Yet this did not lead to an identification at the time: I say it is Edward Rowan. A boot stamp also helped identify a man of the Grenadier Guards, but he also had a ring bearing his initials.

Analysis reveals that no other soldier with a number 24963, or a longer number that begins or ends with that sequence, or who had previously served as such before being renumbered, died remotely near the location T.2.b.01.89.

I isolated every man with a number that included 24963 who was still missing …

… and found that only one man – Edward Rowan – died in the area where the body and boot were found.

Attached to my submission were Rowan’s entry in a casualty list compiled by the battalion’s adjutant on 22 September 1916 (extracted from the battalion war diary and reporting him as missing); the War Office casualty list that announced him as missing in action, published in newspapers on the 15 November 1916 (shown above); the roll of the British War and Victory Medals; the financial effects register; and the register of the Thiepval Memorial. These documents together prove his rank, regiment, number, battalion, status and accepted date of death.

His service record cannot be located and is assumed destroyed. No record of enquiry could be found in the records maintained by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Identification of Rowan’s personal background

The regimental number 24963 traces to issue at enlistment on 10 July 1915.

The Financial Effects Register gave the name of Rowan’s widow as Elizabeth and added that there were children. Also attached is a transcript from the secondary source “Soldiers Died in the Great War”, which adds that he was born in Leeds and enlisted in Selby but otherwise agree with the basic details. {Dependents’ pension records, which have been made public since my submission, offer further confirmation].

A service record (National Archives collection WO364) matching to these details shows that Rowan had a brief period of service with the same regiment in the period 2 December 1914 to 29 March 1915, at which point he was discharged due to defective vision. He was aged 27 at enlistment. His address is given as 54 Raikes Lane, Birstall, Leeds; his wife and two children are named and the dates of birth of the latter are stated. Genealogical research finds no further trace of the man described in this record after 29 March 1915 and I submit that the possibility of existence of two men with the same name, same wife’s name, existence of children and same home location can be dismissed. It appears therefore that the man who served briefly in 1914-15 soon re-enlisted and then served as Private 24963.

Summary

I believe that the grave identified is that of Edward Rowan because he was demonstrably the only man with the number 24963 stamped on his boot to have died within the area of his battalion’s operations at the time of death. A battalion comrade killed in the same action, both killed and buried near Rowan, was identified from his boot stamp, and it was not even of his regiment at time of death.

King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry

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