Family Life

Tom was born on the 12th September 1889, to John and Hannah Rowson (née Wicks), in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.  John was from Laceby, Lincolnshire and Hannah from Staines in Middlesex. Tom was the youngest child. Although his mother Hannah had given birth to seven children, only four had survived.

In 1891 the family was living at 110 Bradpole Road in Bridport. John (35) gave his profession as author, journalist, editor and reporter. If John was a published author by this date no evidence of it has been found, however there was a book, published in 1898, entitled Guide to Bridport, West Bay and Neighbourhood’, which is still available to buy, secondhand, on the internet!  As well as John and Hannah (35) there were four of their children living with them, Edith Annie (13), Walter (11), Ethel Mary (4), and Tom (1). There had been three other children born to John and Hannah: William Hollingworth (born and died 1881), Elizabeth Olive (born 1882 died 1883), and Olive Amphyllis (born and died 1886). The children had been born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. In 1899 we get a glimpse of Tom at school. In the Bridport News of 22nd December there was a report of National School’s Entertainment which states that:

By 1901 the family had moved to 159 South Street, Bridport. Hannah was working as a schoolmistress, her profession before she had started a family, and Tom was the only child still living at home. Tom’s middle name of Hollingworth was in tribute to his paternal grandmother.  The two older children’s whereabouts are something of a mystery in 1901, but Edith resurfaces in 1905 when she married Norman Ridley, a farmer. There is a possibility that Walter joined the navy, as he turns up described as a sailor in 1904, on a ship bound for New York.  Ethel was living in Nottingham, a pupil at the Midland Institution for the Blind. By 1911 she is living with her sister and brother-in-law in Yatton, Somerset. John and Hannah were still living in Bridport, but had moved to 78, West Bay Road.

After completing his education at the National School, Bridport, Tom stayed at the school as a pupil teacher, and then as an assistant teacher. While he was a pupil teacher, as well as tuition from the headteacher, Tom also attended a pupil teacher centre. He took courses there including one in Elementary Science as well as receiving physical training. Tom took the Preliminary Examination for the Certificate in Spring 1908, gaining distinctions in English Language, English Literature and History. He also achieved a distinction in the Archbishops’ Examination for Admission.

Photograph taken from John Rowson’s book flikr.com

In 1911 Tom was living at 79, Sudbourne Road, Brixton Hill, London, a large house with 11 rooms. The head of the household was Kate Darby (40), a Boarding House Proprietor.  She had a visitor, probably her sister and a servant, Jessie Spinks (21) living in the house. As well as Tom, now a schoolmaster, the paying boarders included two bank clerks, Eugen Alfred Kirch (30) from Stuttgart, and Juan Ricardo Miguel Meduex from Valencia and two students studying at King’s College.

War in Europe

We have not yet discovered when Tom enlisted but he began his war service in the Artists’ Rifles.  His London County Council Record of Service stated that he was in France for three months. The London Gazette of the 14th June 1916 reports that

Private Tom Hollingworth Rowson from the Artists’ Rifles officers Training Corps to be 2nd Lieutenant. Dated 9th January 1916

Shortly before Tom’s promotion was gazetted, on the 3rd June 1916, he married Dorothy Clara Wheeler who lived at 11 Knight’s Hill, West Norwood. The following month he was sent to France.

By the time of his death he was in the 1/19th (County of London) battalion (St. Pancras), possibly transferred on promotion but no documentary evidence has been found to support that.  The 1/19th were within the 47th (2nd London) Division. The Second London Division was a formation of the Territorial Force, but although named the 2nd they were a front line unit and only titled 2nd because there were two London Divisions. His medal card record gives his entry into a theatre of war as 16/6/16. He was to be in France for the beginning of the Battle of the Somme. The 47th Division was involved in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette in which they captured High Wood. It was in this engagement that Tom Rowson died.

According to the London War memorial website:

19th London sustained nearly 300 casualties that day, including Tom Hollingworth Rowson.

Tom is buried at the London Cemetery in Longueval, France , and is commemorated at County Hall in London and at St. Pancras Parish Church. The original London Cemetery at High Wood was begun when 47 men of the 47th Division were buried in a shell hole on 18th and 21st September 1916. Other burials were added later, mainly of officers and men who died on 15th September 1916.

Tom’s probate record shows that he left £140 3s to his widow Dorothy.

Researcher and Author: Dee Sayers

London Cemetery and Extension, Longueval photograph by Peter Lidgitt and Pat Naylor