George Charles Cowles

A Private with the 12th Battalion, George died on 6th of May 1917 at the age of 35. 

George was born at Oulton on 2 June 1881, a son of Charles and Alice Cowles. He was baptised at Saint Margaret’s Church, Lowestoft, on 26 June 1881. By 1891 George’s father had died and his mother had married John Alexander and the family lived at 76 Queen’s Road. 

In 1901 George was living at Mollets Farm, Farnham, Suffolk, and worked as a mineral water carter. In 1904 he married Agnes Mary Messenger: this was registered in the Plomsgate district. In 1911 they lived at Albion Street, Saxmundham, and George was a carter for a mineral water manufacturer.  

George enlisted in the Army at Saxmundham. He joined the Suffolk Regiment, service number 32002, and was posted to the 12th Battalion in France. 

At 11 p.m. on 5 May 1917 men of the 12th Battalion, in conjunction with 119 Brigade, carried out a trench raid on the German lines in the vicinity of La Vacquerie. The men advanced under the cover of an artillery barrage. D Company was held up by heavy machine-gun wire and the fact that wire had not been cut, so they bombed the German trenches over the wire. A Company gained the objective only to find that they were dummy trenches. A party from A Company were able to advance further and captured several prisoners.   

Eighteen men, including George, were killed in the raid.