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?

Private Robert Blacklin Bousfield

Holly succeeds in her quest to find Robert Bousfield, which had begun in a classroom a few weeks earlier

The Memorial to the missing where many of the Cheshires are recorded

Casualty Details

Name:	BOUSFIELD, ROBERT BLACKLIN
Initials:	R B
Nationality:	United Kingdom
Rank:	Private
Regiment/Service:	Cheshire Regiment
Unit Text:	11th Bn.
Age:	27
Date of Death:	09/09/1917
Service No:	24386
Additional information:	Son of John Bousfield, of Eamont Bridge, Penrith.
Casualty Type:	Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference:	Panel 61 to 63.
Memorial:	TYNE COT MEMORIAL

Certificate

In Memory of Private ROBERT BLACKLIN BOUSFIELD 24386, 11th Bn., Cheshire Regiment who died age 27 on 09 September 1917 Son of John Bousfield, of Eamont Bridge, Penrith. Remembered with honour TYNE COT MEMORIAL Commemorated in perpetuity by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, Near Ypres, West Vlaanderen, Belgium

The name is said to have been given by men of the Northumbrian Fusiliers who fought here in 1917, who saw a similarity between a nearby ruined barn and cottages in Tyneside. A cluster of five German pillboxes stood here - just below the crest of the Passchendaele ridge. Immediately in front of the pillboxes was a low lying area that contained some of the worst and deepest mud in the Saiient. The position fell to Australian troops on 4th October 1917. As the fighting moved towards Passchendaele village, the pillboxes were used as advanced dressing stations, and it was around these that the original battlefield cemetery of 300 burials grew. Tyne Cot lies less than 1 kilometre from Passchendaele and it took the Allies another month to cover the distance. The site grew steadily in the 1920's as small battlefield cemeteries were closed down and the burials moved here, and as bodies were recovered from the battlefields as they were cleared. This latter point explains the unusually high proportion of unidentified burials.

Today Tyne Cot is 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. The two forward (fighting) pillboxes can be seen to the left and right of the entrance. The central (command) box was incorporated into the Cross of Sacrifice, at the suggestion of King George V who visited the site in 1992. The two rear (rest) boxes form the foundations of classical pavilions on either side of the rear wall. The original burials are the less regularly arranged rows above the Cross of Sacrifice. The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

 

Tyne Cot is located north of Zonnebeke (No.1)

Tyne Cot Memorial Wall to the Missing
Cheshire Regiment Panel

---

Return to Soldier's Visited Page

---

www.roydenhistory.co.uk

Visit the Royden History Index Page listing web sites designed and maintained by Mike Royden
No pages may be reproduced without permission
copyright Mike Royden
All rights reserved