George Bowdery was one of twin boys born in Thame in February 1891 to Benjamin and Mary Bowdery. Upon the death of his mother in 1892, his father remarried and George was brought up in East Street and then Park Street with his four siblings and five step siblings.
By 1911, he had left the family home and was living in Harrow, Middlesex where he was employed as a fishmonger.
In June 1915, George enlisted into the Royal Fusiliers, initially with the 6th Battalion, which was a reserve and training battalion. He was then posted to the front with the 32nd (East Ham) Battalion, which entrained for France in May 1916.
On the 19th September 1917, George, by then a Lance Corporal, 26 years of age, was killed when the battalion was preparing to attack “Tower Hamlets Spur” the following day, part of the Battle of the Menin Road Bridge which in itself was part of the Third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele).
George has no known grave, and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Ypres. He is remembered in Thame on the war memorial, and also on All Saints church memorial board.
The Thame Remembers Cross was delivered to Tyne Cot Memorial, Ypres, Belgium on 30th October 2015 by Richard Bowdrey (nephew)