The Bousfield Family Tragedy

They settled in New Ferry, where John found work as a general labourer. Two sons followed, Robert in 1891, and Anthony the following year. A short time after that the family moved on again, this time to Marsh Cottage in Ellesmere Port. John had, no doubt, found labouring work in the developing dock. The new Manchester Ship Canal had been constructed and trade was on the increase. Their fourth son, Percival, was born in 1896, but the first tragedy was to hit the family, as by 1901 we find that John had become a widower.

When the war came, three sons, Robert, Anthony and Percival joined up. (It is not yet known what happened to the oldest son John). All three were placed together in the 11th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment, where many other local men had also been despatched.

Percival was killed at the Battle of the Somme on 5th July 1916, during an attack on the village of Ovillers near the Albert-Bapume Road. He was buried at Puchevillers British Cemetery. He was eighteen. News of his death must have hit John Bousfield hard. He was without his wife, his sons were away at war, and the carnage of the Somme had taken away his youngest son.

The 1901 census record of the Bousfield family

The 11th Battalion continued in the campaign on the Somme throughout the summer of 1916 and into the autumn. On 14th October the Cheshire's were involved in the capture of the Schwaben Redoubt near Thiepval. This was a major advance, but many more lives were to be lost in the battle to hold onto it. The morning of the 16th was frosty, but bright and sunny. Looking at black and white photographs of trenches and intense bombardment over the Somme, it is difficult to imagine sunny days and green fields flanking the battlefields. The Cheshires were again defending the area around the Schwaben Redoubt and were enduring heavy shelling. Precisely what happened to Anthony Bousfield is not known, but he did not return that day. He was never found. Anthony is recorded on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing. He was twenty-four.

By the following year the 11th Battalion had been moved out and were fighting in the 3rd Battle of Ypres, or 'Passchendaele' as it is more commonly known. The battle had been underway from July of 1917 and the weather had been the worst for 40 years. Combined with the fact that this low lying area had had its drainage systems completely shattered by the bombardment, meant that many soldiers of both sides fought and died in a man-made swamp. Some slipped into the mud and drowned.

Near Passchendaele today is Tyne Cot, the biggest British military cemetery in the world, with 11,956 burials. The panels in the back wall hold the names of 34,888 missing. Robert Bousfield is one of those men. He died on 9th September 1917 aged 27, and like his brother Anthony he was never found. He is recorded on the Memorial Panel with many other men of the Cheshires.

There are other families in Ellesmere Port who lost 2 of their sons or brothers. But the tragedy that befell John Bousfield was most cruel. Already a widower who had come here for a new life, he lost three sons to the war. Consider the fact that a major film was made about a mother who lost three sons during World War II and the story to save her fourth (Saving Private Ryan), may bring this story into perspective. Research continues to discover what happened to John's oldest son. Not recorded on the memorial, did he fight and survive the war? Was John Bousfield saved?

Can you help in our research? Do you know anything about the Bousfields? Are the present Bousfields in Ellesmere Port their descendants? What happened to John (senior and junior)? Where was Marsh Cottage?

Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France

(above top and above) Cheshire Regiment Panel on the Theipval Memorial featuring Anthony Bousfield

On 1 July 1916, supported by a French attack to the south, thirteen divisions of Commonwealth forces launched an offensive on a line from north of Gommecourt to Maricourt. Despite a preliminary bombardment lasting seven days, the German defences were barely touched and the attack met unexpectedly fierce resistance. Losses were catastrophic and with only minimal advances on the southern flank, the initial attack was a failure. In the following weeks, huge resources of manpower and equipment were deployed in an attempt to exploit the modest successes of the first day. However, the German Army resisted tenaciously and repeated attacks and counter attacks meant a major battle for every village, copse and farmhouse gained. At the end of September, Thiepval was finally captured. The village had been an original objective of 1 July. Attacks north and east continued throughout October and into November in increasingly difficult weather conditions. The Battle of the Somme finally ended on 18 November with the onset of winter. In the spring of 1917, the German forces fell back to their newly prepared defences, the Hindenburg Line, and there were no further significant engagements in the Somme sector until the Germans mounted their major offensive in March 1918. The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916. The memorial also serves as an Anglo-French Battle Memorial in recognition of the joint nature of the 1916 offensive and a small cemetery containing equal numbers of Commonwealth and French graves lies at the foot of the memorial. The memorial, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, was built between 1928 and 1932 and unveiled by the Prince of Wales, in the presence of the President of France, on 31 July 1932. The dead of other Commonwealth countries who died on the Somme and have no known graves are commemorated on national memorials elsewhere.

From Albert our tour roughly followed the dotted trench line

Casualty Details

Name:	BOUSFIELD, ANTHONY
Initials:	A
Nationality:	United Kingdom
Rank:	Private
Regiment/Service:	Cheshire Regiment
Unit Text:	11th Bn.
Date of Death:	16/10/1916
Service No:	24393
Casualty Type:	Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference:	Pier and Face 3 C and 4 A.
Memorial:	THIEPVAL MEMORIAL

Certificate

In Memory of Private ANTHONY BOUSFIELD 24393, 11th Bn., Cheshire Regiment who died on 16 October 1916 Remembered with honour THIEPVAL MEMORIAL Commemorated in perpetuity by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Most of the Cheshires are recorded on the panels behind the memorial party

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