Private Frederick Jonathan Gowing
Frederick Jonathan Gowing was born on 22 February 1898 at Needham, Norfolk, the fifth of at least twelve children of horse trainer Charles Gowing and his wife Martha Ann (née Sparrow). By the time of the 1911 Census he was living at nearby London Road, Harleston, with his parents and eight of his ten surviving siblings, and working as a barber's apprentice.
Gowing enlisted in the North Irish Horse between 29 January and 12 April 1917 (No.2405 – later Corps of Hussars No.71805). He trained at the regiment's Antrim reserve camp before embarking for France that year or in early 1918, where he was posted to one of the squadrons of the 1st North Irish Horse Regiment.
The War Office Daily Casualty List of 11 September 1918 reported that he had been wounded, though the date and circumstances are not known at present.
Records show that Gowing later served with the 18th (Queen Mary's Own) Hussars and the 3rd (King's Own) Hussars, probably with the latter regiment in the Army of Occupation in Germany in 1919.
On 18 November 1919 he was demobilised and transferred to Class Z, Army Reserve.
After the war Gowing returned to Harleston, later working as a fish merchant. On 17 October 1927 he married Maude Ellen Chamdler in the Redenhall with Harleston Parish Church. The 1939 Register shows him living with his wife and children at Town Farm Lane, Halesworth, Suffolk, and working as a farm manager. He died in Suffolk in 1980.