Thomas Russell Bowman was born in 1893 in Wainara, Canterbury, New Zealand, the second of the three children of Thomas Bowman (1864-1895) and Annie Bowman née Carson (c.1870-1952). His two siblings were: Maria Esther Bowman (1892-1911) and James Andrew Bowman (1895-1972).
He enlisted as a Trooper in the Imperial Camel Corps, service number 16375, and was attached to the 16th Company in the New Zealand Contingent's 3rd Battalion when he was killed in action, aged 24 years, on 30 March 1918. His body was buried in Plot C, Grave 56, in the Damascus Commonwealth War Cemetery, Damascus, Syria. His headstone shows him serving in the 4th Battalion, New Zealand Contingent, Imperial Camel Corps.
He is shown as 'TPR. BOWMAN T.R. 3RD. BATTN. NEW ZEALAND CONTINGENT' on the Imperial Camel Corps war memorial in Victoria Embankment Gardens, London, WC2. He is also commemorated on the war memorial in the Presbyterian Section in the Lawrence Cemetery, Gabriel Street, Lawrence 9593, New Zealand, on the Auckland Museum's Online Cenotaph website, on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, on the Imperial War Museum's Lives of the First World War website and on the A Street Near You website.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
