Fred Vowden was born in 1889 in Wadebridge, Cornwall. One of eleven children, his parents were Thomas and Emma. Thomas was a farm labourer, and this is work that Fred also followed when he finished his schooling.

The family moved to where the work was: the 1911 census found them living in Lansallos, a village near Polperro on the county’s south coast. Fred married Doris Curtis in Liskeard in March 1915: there is little information about her, but the couple set up home back in Wadebridge, and went on to have a daughter, Dorothy, the following spring.

War had reared its ugly head over Europe by this point. Fred enlisted in December 1915, joining the Royal Engineers. He was not to be formally mobilised until July 1918, and took up work as a supernumerary platelayer for the London and South Western Railway Company. When he officially took up his role with the army, his employment stood him in good stead: he was assigned to the Railway Construction Troops Depot in Surrey.

Sapper Vowden’s service records show that he was 5ft 6ins (1.75m) tall and weighed 135lbs (61.2kg). He was of good physical development, with a fresh complexion, brown hair and brown eyes.

Fred was based near Farnham as the war drew to a close and winter neared. On 9th November 1918, he fell ill and was admitted to the Frensham Hill Military Hospital with a severe frontal headache. Over the next few days broncho-pneumonia was identified and his condition worsened. By 13th November his temperature was up to 105F, and his breathing was shallow. That evening Sapper Vowden fell unconscious and passed away. He was 28 years of age.

Fred Vowden’s body was taken back to Cornwall for burial. He was laid to rest in Egloshayle Cemetery, on the outskirts of the town in which he had been born and raised.

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