Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

From Australian Remembrance Army

𝗪𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗺 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘀 𝗕𝗼𝘄𝗱𝗹𝗲𝗿
𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗡𝗼: 𝟭𝟬𝟵
Rank: Lance-Corporal Bugler
Unit: 1st Queensland Mounted Infantry
𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗡𝗼: 𝟴𝟲𝟴
Rank: Private
Unit: 1st Battalion, Australian Commonwealth Horse
𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗡𝗼: 𝟭𝟲𝟲
Rank: Private
Unit: 26th Infantry Battalion
William Thomas Bowdler is a WW1 veteran who is currently lying in an unmarked grave at Lutwyche Cemetery. We have applied for funding for a plaque to place on his grave so his service to our country is not forgotten.
Lest We Forget

The following has been compiled from information shared by Helen and Daniel, both descendants of William.

William Thomas Bowdler was born on 18th November 1878 in Toowoomba, Queensland to parents Rebecca Mary Livingstone and Martin Bowdler and was the fourth born of eight children (four sons, four daughters).

William, like some of his uncles, his cousins and certainly his brothers were very loyal to their English heritage. He served initially as a member of the Queensland Volunteer Force as part of the Toowoomba contingent. They participated in many of their shooting competitions and came to Brisbane at Victoria Barracks for the various District Competitions. The original Bowdler brothers and their sons were quite musical and were very involved in municipal bands. William in fact was a bugler in the Boer War and World War 1.

𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗡𝗼: 𝟭𝟬𝟵 - 𝗕𝗼𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗮𝗿
Served for one year with the 1st Queensland Mounted Infantry before being Invalided from Bloemfontein, South Africa to Queensland, Australia, arriving in Brisbane on 1st September 1900 and was discharged on 8th September. 

𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗡𝗼: 𝟴𝟲𝟴 - 𝗕𝗼𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗮𝗿
Left by rail from Brisbane on 26th January 1902 and embarked on transport “Custodian” from Sydney, New South Wales on 18th February. Served for six months with the 1st Battalion, Australian Commonwealth Horse before embarking from Durban, South Africa on 11th July 1902 vis transport “Drayton Grange”, disembarking in Brisbane on 13th August 1902. 

𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗡𝗼: 𝟭𝟲𝟲 - 𝗪𝗪𝟭
On the 8th May 1915, at 35 years of age and a widowed father of two children (William “Billy” aged 11 years Joyce aged 8 years), he enlisted in Toowoomba for the First World War and was shipped off to Gallipoli. After a couple of months, William was initially diagnosed with diarrhoea which became Enteritis. William then spent the next four months in hospital in Malta. Upon his recovery, he was transferred to Port Said in Egypt. After about nine months, he was moved onto Etaples in France via England. From there he fought in Belgium before ending up in August 1918 in an Australian Hospital in France, due to an undiagnosed fever. By October of the same year, he was transferred to a hospital in England and by December was shipped home to be discharged as medically unfit due to chronic rheumatism.

William passed away in Brisbane, Queensland on 15th November 1955, aged 77 years and was buried at Lutwyche Cemetery.

See the attached newspaper article is written about his son, Billy who “was a keen military enthusiast, and has a full uniform, and a hat with emu feather. He blows a bugle well, and says he wants to join his father”.