EAST LONDON CEMETERY – Mike's Cousins

Bartholomew George Stephenson Bowlt was a Dover-born fireman who served with the Mercantile Marine Reserve aboard H.M.S. Stephen Furness during the First World War. He died from accidental injuries on 3 September 1915, aged twenty-seven, and was buried in East London Cemetery, Plaistow, rather than in a cemetery overseas. [1][2]

Bartholomew Bowlt’s war service was carried out at sea, where supply ships and their crews helped sustain the Royal Navy’s ability to fight.

Early Life and Family

Bartholomew George Stephenson Bowlt was born in Dover, Kent, on 8 July 1888. His birth was registered in the third quarter of that year, and he was baptised on 11 August 1888 at St Andrew’s Church, Buckland, Dover. The family report names his parents as Frederick William Bowlt and Olive Louisa Aldridge. [1][2]

In the 1901 census Bartholomew was living at 5 York Place, Dover, in his family household. The record appears to preserve his name imperfectly, as “Bart Koloman Bowlt”, but the age, address and family context support the identification made in the report. By 1911 he was a twenty-two-year-old single man living in Dover and recorded as a cousin in the household of the head. [1]

In 1915 his address was given as 12 Victoria Street, Dover, the address later used in the memorial register and Commonwealth War Graves Commission record. No spouse or children are recorded in the supplied material. His death therefore left his parents and wider family as the principal mourners named in the official commemoration. [1][2]

Joining the Mercantile Marine Reserve

Bartholomew entered military service in 1915 and served as a fireman with service number 28056. In maritime terminology, a fireman was a member of the engine-room crew responsible for feeding and managing the ship’s boilers, tending coal or fuel, and helping maintain the steam machinery. It was physically demanding work carried out in hot, noisy and hazardous conditions below deck. [1]

His service was with the Mercantile Marine Reserve, a wartime organisation that connected experienced merchant seamen with Admiralty requirements. The Royal Museums Greenwich explains that the reserve and related agreements supplied officers and seamen for government-service vessels, while allowing them to retain aspects of their civilian maritime status and pay arrangements. Men such as Bartholomew brought essential practical knowledge of engines, navigation, deck work and shipboard routine to vessels taken into naval service. [3]

The Mercantile Marine Reserve formed part of a wider wartime maritime system. Britain depended on merchant and auxiliary vessels to move food, fuel, raw materials, equipment and personnel. The Merchant Navy’s contribution was therefore not confined to commercial shipping: its ships and crews helped keep Britain supplied and allowed the Royal Navy and the British Expeditionary Force to continue operating. [4][5]

H.M.S. Stephen Furness

Bartholomew’s sub-unit was H.M.S. Stephen Furness, a vessel of approximately 1,712 tons. Built as a commercial steamer, she was taken into Admiralty service after the outbreak of war. The family report describes her role in 1915 as a squadron supply ship based in Scotland, while later naval histories record that she had first served as a depot ship and was then used to support naval operations. [1][6]

As a supply ship, Stephen Furness belonged to the logistical infrastructure behind the fleet. Such vessels carried stores, fuel, provisions, equipment and other necessities to naval units and bases. They were not simply passive warehouses: their crews had to load, maintain and deliver supplies in difficult weather and under wartime security conditions. A ship’s effectiveness depended on the engineers, firemen, deckhands, officers and shore personnel who kept her operational.

The ship’s later career illustrates the changing demands placed on auxiliary vessels. In 1916 Stephen Furness was converted into an armed boarding steamer, carrying guns and a naval complement, and she was later employed on the route to Murmansk. These later developments occurred after Bartholomew’s death, but they show how a commercial vessel could be repeatedly adapted as Admiralty priorities changed. [7][8]

Although Bartholomew died before the ship’s later conversion, his service belonged to the same flexible naval system that transformed merchant vessels into essential wartime auxiliaries.

Unit Context at the Time of His Death

At the time of Bartholomew’s death in September 1915, Stephen Furness was being used in a support role rather than as a front-line fighting ship. Her work as a squadron supply ship placed her within the Royal Navy’s home-water logistical network, with Scotland serving as her reported base. The precise naval station and circumstances of the accident have not been identified in the supplied report. [1]

This distinction is important. The absence of an enemy attack does not mean that the work was safe. Engine rooms, boilers, bunkers, machinery, hatches, loading gear and confined shipboard spaces all presented serious hazards. A fireman’s duties involved heat, heavy equipment, moving machinery and long periods of physical labour. Accidental injuries could therefore occur during routine maintenance, coaling, loading, movement around the ship or other ordinary duties.

The official record classifies Bartholomew’s cause of death as accidental rather than killed in action. No evidence in the available material suggests that he died in a naval engagement or through enemy action. The most responsible conclusion is therefore that he died as a result of an accident connected with his service, while recognising that the surviving summary does not identify the exact event. [1][2]

Circumstances of Death

Bartholomew died on 3 September 1915. The death was registered in the West Ham registration district during the third quarter of 1915, and the record gives the cause as accidental injuries. The local memorial register records him as “Fireman, Bartholomew Bowlt”, serving aboard H.M.S. Stephen Furness in the Mercantile Marine Reserve, and gives his age as twenty-seven. [1]

His connection with West Ham and Plaistow is explained by his burial rather than by his family residence. East London Cemetery was used for local and service burials, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records Bartholomew on the cemetery’s Screen Wall, reference 28056. A screen-wall commemoration was appropriate for a casualty who did not require an overseas battlefield grave and whose service death was recorded in the United Kingdom. [2]

Burial and Commemoration

Bartholomew was buried or commemorated at East London Cemetery, Plaistow, in the London Borough of Newham. The CWGC entry records his rank as Fireman, his service number as 28056, and his association with H.M.S. Stephen Furness. The inscription identifies him as the son of William and Olive Bowlt of 12 Victoria Street, Dover, and notes that he was born at Dover. [1][2]

His post-war recognition included the 1914–15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal, together with the Memorial Death Plaque. These awards reflect the official recognition of his wartime service, while the plaque provided the family with a personal memorial object. His record is also indexed by Find a Grave under memorial number 143227854. [1][9]

Legacy

Bartholomew George Stephenson Bowlt’s story adds a maritime dimension to the military history of the Bowlt family and of Dover. He was not an infantryman serving in the trenches, but a trained engine-room worker whose labour sustained naval operations from a supply vessel based in Scotland. His service demonstrates the range of occupations drawn into wartime duty and the extent to which naval power depended upon civilian maritime skills. [1][3][4]

His death also illustrates the risks faced by service personnel away from famous battlefields. Bartholomew died from accidental injuries during a period when naval auxiliary vessels were being used, adapted and moved rapidly in response to the demands of war. The surviving records do not tell us precisely how the accident occurred, but they preserve his name, age, service number, vessel, family address and place of commemoration. [1][2]

For family historians, the small differences between records are themselves worth noting. The report gives his parents as Frederick William Bowlt and Olive Louisa Aldridge, while the memorial wording identifies his father as William Bowlt; the death record also appears under the variant spelling “Boult”. Such variations should not obscure the strong identification provided by his birthplace, parents, Dover address, service number and vessel. Taken together, these records restore Bartholomew from a name on a screen wall to a Dover-born man who worked at sea and served his country in a dangerous supporting role. [1][2]

Sources and Further Reading

Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Fireman Bartholomew Bowlt
Find a Grave: Bartholomew George Stephenson Bowlt
Royal Museums Greenwich: The Merchant Navy in the First World War
Imperial War Museums: Merchant Marine Day and the First World War
Commonwealth War Graves Commission: H.M.S. Stephen Furness
Hartlepool History Then & Now: Stephen Furness
The Merchant Navy’s Contribution during the First World War
Compiled family report: Individual Report for Bartholomew George Stephenson Bowlt, including civil-registration, census, baptism, military and memorial information.

Tag: EAST LONDON CEMETERY

Bartholomew Bowlt: Fireman of H.M.S. Stephen Furness in WWI