Regiment: Royal Fusiliers
Service No: G/76198
Date & place of birth: October 1879, Easebourne
Date & place of death: 23 August 1918 (aged 38), France
Family background
Private Arthur Bowdidge was the son of Henry (a bricklayer) and Elizabeth Bowdidge. Elizabeth had twelve children though three had died by 1911 and she had died in 1904. Arthur was the youngest of the five brothers and three sisters. He grew up at in Easebourne and by 1911 he was an assistant grocer living in Lombard Street, Petworth, probably above the shop.
Military service
Private Arthur Bowdidge enlisted in Horsham joining the 4th Royal Sussex before moving to the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment).
Death and commemoration
Private Arthur Bowdidge was killed in action on 23 August 1918 aged 38 and is buried in the Boyelles Communal Cemetery Extension, France. On the Roll of Honour, it states he is the son of Mr. W. Bowdidge, of Grove Cottages, Singleton, Chichester but this is probably his brother Walter as he was living at that address in 1911.