John Ernest Pushman BOWRING

BOWRING, John Ernest Pushman

Service Number: 548
Enlisted: 14 March 1916, Claremont, Tasmania
Last Rank: Sergeant
Last Unit: 40th Infantry Battalion
Born: Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia, 11 July 1876
Home Town: Latrobe, Latrobe, Tasmania
Schooling: The Geelong College, Victoria, Australia
Occupation: Not yet discovered
Died: Killed in Action, Belgium, 7 June 1917, aged 40 years
Cemetery: No known grave - "Known Unto God"
Memorials: Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Geelong College Anglo-South African War Memorial, Geelong College WW1 Roll of Honour, Latrobe War Memorial, Menin Gate Memorial (Commonwealth Memorial to the Missing of the Ypres Salient)
Show Relationships

World War 1 Service

14 Mar 1916: Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 548, Claremont, Tasmania
1 Jul 1916: Involvement Sergeant, 548, 40th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '18' embarkation_place: Hobart embarkation_ship: HMAT Berrima embarkation_ship_number: A35 public_note: ''
1 Jul 1916: Embarked Sergeant, 548, 40th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Berrima, Hobart
7 Jun 1917: Involvement AIF WW1, Sergeant, 548, 40th Infantry Battalion, Battle of Messines

Help us honour John Ernest Pushman Bowring's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by Daryl Jones

BOWRING, John Ernest Pushman (1876-1917)

J E P Bowring (GC War Service)
John Ernest Pushman Bowring was born in Hawthorn on 11 July 1876, the eldest son of John Charles Bowring and Hannah Mary ‘Minnie’ nee Millard, and attended the College in 1888 and 1889. He was enrolled by John Bowring Esq of Geelong.

The Geelong College Annual Reports list him as receiving the following academic awards:
1888, 1st, Scripture, 2nd Class.
1888, 1st, Geography, 2nd Class.
1889, 1st, Scripture, 3rd Class.
1889, 1st, English, 3rd Class.
1889, 1st, Geography, 3rd Class.

He served with the New South Wales Mounted Rifles in the Anglo-South African War, and was awarded the Queen’s Medal with four Bars. On his return from South Africa he married Margaret Marcella Murray at West Wyalong NSW in 1903. He was a draper in Latrobe, Tasmania, at the time of his enlistment (No 548) in the AIF during World War I on 13 March 1916.

He embarked from Hobart on HMAT A35 Berrima on 1 July, 1916 with 40 Battalion for France. He was promoted to Sergeant, but was killed in action on 7 June 1917 at Messines, in what proved to be a black day for the Fighting Fortieth, as they lost thirty-nine men, principally Tasmanians.
The Weekly Courier of 5 July, 1917 reported his death: ‘The Rev N C Higgs, of Latrobe, had the very painful duty of conveying the sad news to Mrs Bowring, Latrobe, that her husband, Sergeant John Ernest P Bowring, had been killed in action in France on June 7. For a number of years he had been manager of the drapery department of W L Wells and Sons Ltd, Latrobe. He was a man that was highly respected, and was a great favourite with all who knew him’

John Bowring has no known grave, his name is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial.

Source : The Geelong College - http://gnet.geelongcollege.vic.edu.au:8080/wiki/BOWRING-John-Ernest-Pushman-1876-1917.ashx?HL=bowring

Read more...