Story
Parkstone police constable Reuben Bowring joined up, served in France and was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry. Born in Weymouth, Reuben's address on attesting on 10 December 1915 was 'Police Station, Salterns Road, Parkstone.' Reuben, who was tall for the times standing at 5ft 10ins, had a 37.5ins chest and had perfect vision in both eyes. His physical condition was A1 and he was a single man. He was mobilised on 18 May 1916 and made a Lance Corporal in the Mounted Military Police. Soon after Corporal Bowring, whose regimental number was P/1037, sailed from Southampton to Rouen to serve with the British Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders. He may have been admitted to hospital while in in France. He was awarded the Military Medal, recorded in the London Gazette of around 17 June 1919. The medal, introduced in 1916, was for non-commissioned officers and men in the Field for acts of bravery. (More than 115,000 were awarded during the conflict.) Details of his gallantry are currently unknown. Reuben William Bowring was born in Weymouth in 1894. He was the son of Upwey-born William George Bowring who had married around 1893. William's bride was, probably, Martha Matilda Randall, who was 20 years old at the time. Martha, tragically, died in Weymouth in 1895 and, three years later, in January 1898, William married Mary Ann Holt, the daughter of a blacksmith who came from Misterton, Somerset where the wedding ceremony took place. Three years on again and the family was living at Adelaide Court, Weymouth where seven-year-old Reuben had a 10-month-old half-brother, Robert George Bowring. Their father was still working as a labourer. Move on a decade and the Bowring family were at 30 Crescent Street in Weymouth. William and Mary now had four children, now counting Reuben who was marked on the census form as 'Stepson'. As well as half-brother Robert George – who would later serve in the war on HMS Careo – there were two younger boys, Ernest Phillips (nine) and Reggie James (seven). Reuben now also had a four-year-old half-sister, Violet Annie. Father William was now working as a bricklayer and Reuben, now 17, was a cab driver. The family had two people lodging with them. When the war ended, Reuben, and half-brother Robert, had both registered as electors, giving their address as their Crescent Street in Weymouth. In the last quarter of 1921, however, Reuben got married. His bride was Sarah Ann Smith and the ceremony took place in the Swindon registration area in Wiltshire. Like Reuben, Sarah, born in Wanbrough, Wiltshire, also had a step-parent. In 1911, the census recorded her as a step-daughter living with Robert Harding, a 'cow-man on a farm', and his wife, Mary Jane Harding. By 1939, Reuben was back working as a police constable, now stationed at Shaftesbury. He and Sarah, a housewife, lived at the police station in Back Street. They later moved to Gillingham in Dorset where their home was a 2 Shaftesbury View, New Road when Reuben passed away at Salisbury Infirmary on 20 September 1958 at the age of 64. Probate was granted to his widow, Sarah and he left effects to the value of just over £867. Sarah would die in 1978 at the age of 85, in Oxfordshire. (Three children whose surname was Bowring and whose mother's maiden name was Smith were born in Weymouth in the 1920s. Patricia B. Bowring was born in 1922, Lionel Bowring in the following year and Ronald Bowring in 1925. Were they Reuben and Sarah's children or, possibly, other relations?) * Please contact us if you wish to suggest an amendment or addition.
Subdivision
- Military Mounted Police