People on board

BOWEN, James Robert

James Robert Bowen was born in London in 1875 to Henry Bowen and Amelia Cooper. James was the second of their four children and, like his father, was a Wood Cutter, sometimes given as Wood Chopper. The youngest son, Charles, also gave his occupation as Wood Cutter in the 1901 census, while the only girl in the family, Amelia, gave her occupation as ‘Wood Tier’. The eldest, Harry, was an Ostler. The family lived at various addresses in Islington.

James married Clara Cooper in 1904 and they were living in Henry Place in Islington in 1911. They had seven children, the youngest two born in January and November 1914. In 1918 they were living in George’s Road, Islington.

James enlisted at Mill Hill in the Yorkshire Hussars Yeomanry and in October 1918 was in the 2/1st Brigade which had moved to Ireland in May 1918. They were based at Bandon and Buttevant in Co Cork. Presumably returning home on leave he travelled on RMS Leinster on the 10th of October with eleven others from the Regiment. Nine of the twelve lost their lives in the sinking, including James Bowen.

 His body was recovered and he was buried in Deansgrange Military Cemetery in Dublin. His name is recorded in the Islington Book of Remembrance.