Bertie COWGILL

07 September 1917

EARBY – ‘MISSING, BELIEVED KILLED’

The gravest anxiety is felt as to the fate of Pte. Bert Cowgill, Northumberland Fusiliers, whose wife and child reside at 18, Skipton Road, Earby.

On Saturday Mrs. Cowgill received the following letter from an officer in France:– “Dear Mrs. Cowgill, – I am very sorry to have to tell you that your husband is missing and believed killed. I don’t know whether you have yet received an official notice from the War Office, but I have not been with the battalion for a fortnight, so I have not been able to write until now. I was not commanding the platoon when they were in action, so I cannot tell you exactly what happened, I am afraid. Your husband was always a good soldier who did his duty, and there can be no better death than that of a soldier. At the same time I know how you must feel his loss, and I offer you my sincerest sympathy. R. TRISTRAM, 2nd Lieutenant.”

Pte. Cowgill was 29 years of age, and the son of Mr. Brian Cowgill, Spring Terrace. Before joining the Army he was employed at Messrs. J.S. Watson & Sons’ Albion Mill. He enlisted in May 1916, and had been at the Front eleven months.

21 September 1917

EARBY MAN’S FATE

Mrs. Cowgill, 18, Skipton Road, Earby, has received the followings letter in regard to her husband, Pte. Bert Cowgill N.F., who was reported missing on the 16th August. The letter, which is dated the 7th September, is from Pte. J. C. Peckover, of Barnoldswick, who writes:– “Bert was one of my pals ever since we came out here. He was the section leader of No. 7 Section, 14 Platoon, ‘Z’ Company, when I was in it. I am writing this on behalf of the bombardiers of No. 7 Section. When we went into action we lost one of them going up to the line. He got a ‘cushy Blighty one’, and we were all right after that until we landed up for the attack on the banks of the Steerbeck [Steenbeck], which was one mass of shell holes and mud. It was 3-30 a.m. when we prepared to attack. Bert came up to me and said I was to take the extreme left flank of ‘Z’ Company, and after that I never saw him again. Just before we kicked off with the barrage Fritz spotted us, and he gave us something for a few minutes, and there was a bit of a mix-up between companies. I found myself with ‘W’ Company. My word, it was horrible. ‘Kill or be killed’ was the motto that day. After we came out of the line 48 hours later I made enquiries about Bert, as he was the only one of the section missing. I had it on the word of one of the stretcher-bearers that he had seen Bert in a shell hole. I am sorry to say dead, killed instantly by a shot in the head; but whether this is correct I cannot say for certain. The officer of his platoon came to me for his address or I should have written sooner. I will make fresh enquiries, as I expect to be home next week.”

Pte. Peckover was unable to add to the above information in a personal interview with Mrs. Cowgill last weekend.

16 August 1918

COWGILL – In loving memory of a dear son and brother, Bertie Cowgill, who was presumed killed on August 16th. 1917, aged 29 years.

He lives in the hearts he left behind,
A loving son and brother kind;
Our home seems quite another place
Without that dear familiar face.

From his loving Father and Sisters, 17 Stoops Hill, Earby.

COWGILL – In ever loving memory of my dear husband, Private B. Cowgill, who was presumed killed on August 16th, 1917, aged 29 years.

Oh, for a touch of a vanished hand
And the sound of a voice that is still.

West View, Skipton Road, Earby.