25/08/2026
A series of letters sent by Lance Corporal Albert Bowerman to his sister, Beatrice, during the First World War, offering a small glimpse into a soldier’s life on the Western Front.
Born in Summertown, Oxfordshire, in 1895, Albert was working as a butcher’s errand boy by the age of 17.
During the First World War, Albert enlisted in the 4th Battalion, Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and was later promoted to Lance Corporal.
Sadly, Albert would not return home.
On 4th November 1917, Albert was killed in action in the Avion–Méricourt sector.
The battalion war diary records that men of the 4th Ox & Bucks had been conducting patrols into No Man’s Land on the night of 3/4 November, attempting to gather information on the enemy’s positions and machine-gun emplacements. There were several clashes with the enemy in No Man’s Land.
Later that afternoon, the battalion’s frontline trench came under shell fire, with two casualties recorded. One killed and one wounded.
A Chaplain’s letter to Albert’s father, however, records that Albert was killed by a bullet. Without further evidence, it is difficult to establish exactly how Albert met his end.
Albert Bowerman is buried in Thelus Military Cemetery, France.
Lest we forget.
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