Edgar George Bowditch was born in the spring of 1887, in the Dorset village of Melbury Osmond. One of seven children, his parents were William and Sarah Bowditch. William was an agricultural labourer turned gamekeeper, and Edgar helped his father out when he left school.

William passed away in 1911, and Edgar fell off the radar until March 1914, when he married local mason’s daughter Rosetta Morris. The couple settled down in her home village of West Coker, Somerset.

When war was declared, Edgar stepped up to serve his King and Country, and enlisted in the Machine Gun Corps as a Private. He was assigned to the 37th Battalion, and certainly saw action overseas. He “came through without a scratch and in good health until demobilised in France.” [Western Chronicle: Friday 21st February 1919]

Private Bowditch was unwell when he arrived back in West Coker on 4th February 1919. While his condition is unclear, it worsened, and he passed away at home ten days later. He was 32 years of age.

Edgar George Bowditch was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Martin’s Church in his adopted home of West Coker.

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Rosetta married again in 1921, to a John Axe. The couple remained in the same part of Somerset, John dying in 1947. Rosetta lived on, passing away in Yeovil in 1963, at the age of 77 years old.

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