Pte Richard BOSWELL Welsh Regt died 03/01/16

[christine liava'a]

Remembering Today:

Pte Richard BOSWELL, 36328 2 Bn, Welsh Regt, who died aged 40 on 03.01.16. Loos Memorial, France

Name: BOSWELL, RICHARD

Initials: R

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Private

Regiment: Welsh Regiment

Unit Text: 2nd Bn.

Age: 40

Date of Death: 03/01/1916

Service No: 36328

Additional information: Husband of Charlotte Boswell, of 7, Lilleshall St., Newport, Mon.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: Panel 77 and 78

Cemetery: LOOS MEMORIAL

The Loos Memorial forms the side and back of Dud Corner Cemetery, and commemorates over 20,000 officers and men who have no known grave, who fell in the area from the River Lys to the old southern boundary of the First Army, east and west of Grenay. Loos-en-Gohelle is a village 5 kilometres north-west of Lens, and Dud Corner Cemetery is located about 1 kilometre west of the village, to the north-east of the N43 the main Lens to Bethune road.

Historical Information: Dud Corner Cemetery stands almost on the site of a German strong point, the Lens Road Redoubt, captured by the 15th (Scottish) Division on the first day of the battle. The name "Dud Corner" is believed to be due to the large number of unexploded enemy shells found in the neighbourhood after the Armistice. On either side of the cemetery is a wall 15 feet high, to which are fixed tablets on which are carved the names of those commemorated. At the back are four small circular courts, open to the sky, in which the lines of tablets are continued, and between these courts are three semicircular walls or apses, two of which carry tablets, while on the centre apse is erected the Cross of Sacrifice.

No. of Identified Casualties: 20596

[christine liava'a]

Loos Memorial

[Guest Pete Wood]

I know the area very well - as I spent my early youth here.

It's a tough, gritty town - Newport; now in the county of Gwent, but in WW1 it was Monmouthshire (and therefore English, not Welsh).

Lilleshall Street is made up of small, dark, terraced houses. The end of the street is by the River and has industrial units and aggregate companies - so the air is full of dirt and dust, now and then. In the early 1970s it was still lived in by the type of woman who would scrub the step outside the front door......

The area is known as Maindee. The Lilleshall aggregate was loaded on to the ships, as Newport was, at the turn of the 20th century, a busy port. I am guessing that Ali or Christine will turn up evidence that Richard Boswell was connected to the docks in one way or another.

It makes me shudder, just to think of the place. I've seen period photos of this street, in Newport's Library, and it was even more depressing then, than it is today.

[Myrtle]

SDGW has Richard Boswell as formerly with 3rd South Wales Borderers. He was born in Wolverhampton and probably is the same as the man who lived in Woverhampton in 1901. At that time he was listed as occ. Underhand Furnace Man. It is very likely that he would have done similar work in Newport with all the steel industry in that area.

Myrtle

[christine liava'a]

A man named Roger Boswell has transcribed all the Boswell Births and deaths from 1900 till the 1960s

Unfortunately the births won't include our Richard Boswell

but he should be in the Deaths

only he isn't!

'BOSWELL' DEATHS FROM ST.CATHERINE'S INDEX

boswell

Transcribed & kindly contributed by Roger Boswell.

(includes)

1915 Jun Thomas Boswell 78 Wolverhampton

1915 Sep George T Boswell 0 Dudley

1915 Dec Alice Boswell 1 Stourbridge

1916 Mar Benjamin R Boswell 53 West Bromwich

1916 Jun Enos Boswell 62 Warwick

1916 Jun Frederick G Boswell 1 Wolverhampton

1916 Jun Mary Boswell 33 Wolverhampton

1916 Jun Sarah A Boswell 82 Aston

1916 Sep Elsie M Boswell 4 Wolverhampton

1916 Sep Minnie Boswell 42 Aston

1916 Sep Thomas Boswell 0 Wolverhampton

1916 Dec Alice M Boswell 64 Bromsgrove

1916 Dec Thomas Boswell 65 West Bromwich

1917 Mar Ernest Boswell 2 Birmingham

1917 Mar Mary Boswell 54 Aston

1917 Mar Richard Boswell 35 West Bromwich

1917 Jun Frederick Boswell 7 Birmingham

Did Roger Boswell not cover the entire country?

Was Richard Boswell not registered as a death?

On another thread, soldiers who died in Britain were said to be included in the death registrations. What about the ones overseas, like Richard?

[Guest Pete Wood]

Christine,

All the births and deaths you have shown have occurred in the area known as the West Midlands. I think that the person who transcribed this, is concentrating only on this area.

Richard Boswell, as you have pointed out, was born too early to appear on the list, and was 'residing' in Monmouthshire (not W. Mids) when he died.

Myrtle, you are correct that Newport had many steelworks. The 'local' steel plant that I am aware of, in Maindee, was called Whiteheads (closed in the 1980s).

[Guest Pete Wood]

If we use the number crunching system, we can see that there are 3Bn SWB soldiers with the same (or higher) number who had died (of natural causes) in August 1915. In other words, our man joined up before August 1915. 3 South Wales Borderers was formed in August 1914, with the HQ in Brecon (mid Wales), and remained in the UK throughout the war.

There is a man in Boswell’s new unit, 2 Welsh, with a higher number (39318 Pte William George OWEN) who was KiA on 18.7.15. So Richard Boswell must have transferred from 3 SWB to 2 Welsh before this date.

Two other men from 2 Welsh (in 3 Brigade, 1 Division), were also KiA on the 3.1.16 at Loos:

Pte George Larcombe (listed as being with A Coy) aged 45

Pte William Stanwender aged 21

There seems to be a steady trickle of deaths from the end of the December 1915, to the middle of January 1916 (suggesting that 2 Welsh Regt were in the front line).

What should we read into the facts that nearly all the men who were killed in action during this period have no known grave - and those that do appear to have been found (or buried/reburied) after the war ended – see Pte William Charles CLARKE KiA 31.12.15 as an example……

Was this down to shelling, or was their temporary battlefield cemetery lost/destroyed in the coming months….??

[Gary Samson]

On another thread, soldiers who died in Britain were said to be included in the death registrations. What about the ones overseas, like Richard?

There is a separate run of indexes at the FRC for Army deaths overseas, which includes Army Other Ranks' War Deaths 1914-1921. It may well be that the transcriber concentrated exclusively on the main indexes that just cover civil registration for England and Wales.

Gary

[Paul Reed]

How curious - I recently researched this soldier for one of his relatives who contacted me via my website. Some snippets from what I sent him:

Private Richard Boswell was probably a reservist, with pre-war service in the regular army. In 1914 he joined the 3rd Battalion South Wales Borderers, and was posted to joined the 1st Welsh in France in May 1915. He transferred to the 2nd Welsh, and was killed with them near Loos on 3rd January 1916.

A copy of the Medal Index Card is enclosed. This confirms his military details, and shows he was entitled to the 1914/15 Star, British War and Victory Medals. An extract from the Medal Roll is also enclosed which shows he served with 1st Welsh, then 2nd Welsh.

I will alert the person concerned that this thread is here - any reason why he was chosen?