A fellow Facebook local history forum member informed me about Thomas Bowes. Thomas is buried in the Montecchio Precalcino Communal Cemetery in Vicenza Province, North-East Italy. He passed away on December 1, 1918, at twenty-one. His obituary in the Falkirk Herald on December 21 cites pneumonia as the cause of death. Given his age and the date of his death, I believe it is likely that the pneumonia was secondary to influenza. Thomas is buried in Italy but is commemorated in the new war memorial in Camelon and a memorial plaque at Camelon Parish Church.
Thomas was born on October 26 1897, in Chapelhall, Holytown, North Lanarkshire, to John, a coal miner, and Mary (nee Cullen). He was their fourth child and third son. During the 1901 Census, the Bowes family lived in Shotts. When his younger brother, Allan, was born in June 1904, the family had moved from Lanarkshire to Falkirk. In 1911, a thirteen-year-old Thomas lived with his family at 97 Orchard Street, Camelon. By this time, his household comprised ten people. Thomas was still at school while his older siblings (including his sister Kate) were employed at the nearby iron foundry. His father, John, remained a coal miner. Upon leaving school, Thomas followed in his older siblings’ footsteps by joining the workforce at Summerford Iron Works.
In 1916, Thomas enlisted in the military, eventually serving in the 7th Batallion of the Machine Gun Corps. In March 1917, he was sent to the Western Front, where he served until sustaining an injury in October. By January 1918, he had recovered and was dispatched to Italy, where he remained on active service until his death.
Thomas was a bachelor and had no known children. At the time of his death, his brothers William and George were still in active service. Sadly, George passed away on December 28, 1920, at the same age as his late brother.
John passed away in Falkirk on October 18, 1932, at sixty-eight. A year later, Mary also passed away.
Sources: Ancestry, British Newspaper Archive, CWGC, Imperial War Museums – War Memorial Register, ScotlandsPeople
Broken Columns 