The 1901 census record of the Bousfield family

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.

A British trench near the Albert-Bapaume road at Ovillers-La Boisselle, July 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. The men are from A Company, 11th Battalion, The Cheshire Regiment (the Bousfields's Battalion). Photograph by Lt. J. W. Brooke. Imperial War Museum catalogue number Q 3990. Later this was tinted and turned into a postcard:

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?