Eustace Bowhay is another example of a soldier who never actually lived in the town but is still on the memorial. Eustace was the son of Albert and Edith (formerly Wood) Bowhay, who were from a prestigious Cornish family of the time. Albert’s profession in the 1891 census is recorded as “registered medical practitioner”,  although in actual fact he was a surgeon. The family hailed from the Calstock area of Cornwall, sometimes listed as Gunnislake, which is within a stone’s throw. Eustace was born in 1890, two years after his elder brother, Reginald Claude, in 1888. The 1891 census shows that the household is made up with two servants.

 

By 1901, although the family are still resident at Calstock, the two brothers are being educated away from home in Tunbridge Wells, Kent and attended the Skinner’s School in the town.  The lads’ boarding was at 133 St Johns Road, Tonbridge, which they shared with nine other boarders and three schoolmasters. De Ruvingy’s Roll of Honour (1914 – 1918) provides us with some helpful information on Eustace’s life from here onward.  It begins by noting that whilst at the school, Eustace held the rank of Corporal in the Cadet Corps. Eustace would continue his studies into his twenties. At the age of 20 we find him boarding at Woburn Place in London, although further details of his studies are unknown, although bearing in mind his later work, it is likely he studied law.

 

Eustace was admitted in July 1912 [1] and would return to the Westcountry to practise as a solicitor based in Great Torrington. There are a number of references from newspaper records of the time of his appearances in court. An example of the relatively low level cases he dealt with would be acting as the prosecution against Mr Alfred Heale in February 1914. Mr Heale faced a charge of threatening behaviour via a letter sent to local gamekeeper, Mr Wivell. The case ended with a sobbing Mr Heale owning up to sending the letter and being spared a month’s hard labour by his employer standing him the required security [2].

 

Whilst living in the town, he also held the positions of Clerk to the Borough Justices and Steward of the Town of Alms Land. However, it would be his military positions that would help us understand his rise through the ranks. Having joined the 5th Territorial Battalion (Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry) as a 2nd Lieutenant, Eustace was later promoted to Lieutenant attached to the 6th Territorial Battalion (Devonshire Regiment) on 27th December 1913.

 

As was common at the time, Eustace was mobilised in August 1914 with the 6th Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. He was enlisted at the rank of Lieutenant but shortly after promoted to Captain in October of the same year. The unit were immediately stationed to India with the further intention of operating in the Mesopotamian theatre, which they left Lahore for on 28th December 1915. Getting to the front line was a task in itself. In particular was the need for a 300 mile march from Basra to their rallying point. If the distance wasn’t enough, there was also the added struggle of poor terrain, such as swamps and desert, sickness amongst the ranks and attacks from disgruntled local Arab tribes.

 

Early March would present the 6th Devons with the difficult task of relieving the besieged Kut. At this time they were attached to the 36th Indian Brigade along with the 26th, 62nd and 82nd Punjabis. Their goal on the 8th March was, after a night march to establish their morning rallying point, to move forward on a six mile trench line; their specific target being the Dujaila Redoubt. Early signs, albeit not necessarily known to the troops on the ground at the time, were promising. The Turks lines in front of them were relatively weak in numbers so they held a potentially overwhelming force as well as the element of surprise. However, the insistence of those in command to proceed with an artillery bombardment acted as a warning to the Turks who mobilised reserve forces to bolster the lines at the critical point. The advantage of surprise had been lost.

 

From the start at 7.30am the Devons made reasonable progress and covered an advance of some 3 and half miles, till their progress was scuppered by neighbouring unit’s slower movement; this was at around 1.30 pm. At which point, the battalion were ordered to change their objective, hook to their right and support the main thrust. This manoeuvre was hampered by Turkish troops embedded between the Devons and the units they were aiming to link up with, which threatened each other being peppered by their own crossfire. Although finally linking up with the 28th Brigade, the position soon became untenable and with the objective still not secured they eventually retired on the 9th March. During the night, the troops used the time to evacuate their wounded and bury their dead.

 

It was during the assault on the Dujaila Redoubt that Captain Bowhay was killed. In his obituary, it was estimated that he was shot at around 2 pm whilst “bravely leading his men over grounds without a vestige of cover, and swept by rifle and machine gun fire”. It continues “when he was hit he told his men to go on and wished them good luck.” The Captain was buried in the dark hours, some 250 yards from the enemy lines.

 

Although Eustace has no grave, he is commemorated on the Basra Memorial in Iraq. As well as the Torrington war memorial, he is also remembered on the Calstock war memorial. His family lives on and can be traced to Canada.