DOWLER, Charles Joseph

Charles Dowler was the son of Job and Flora Dowler and was born in Brierley Hill in 1894. His father was a brickyard labourer in 1901 and Charles Dowler was later living at 88 Brettell Lane, Wordsley. He volunteered for the Leicestershire Regiment and went to the 1st Battalion in the 6th Division. They were involved in the Battle of the Aisne in September 1914 and at Armentières early in 1915. Charles Dowler joined them some time in 1915 when they moved to the Ypres Salient near Hooge. This was a quiet sector by the Autumn but always dangerous in respect of shelling. Private Charles Dowler was wounded by a shell splinter and died of wounds on the 16th March 1916. He was 21 years of age and is buried in White House Cemetery, St. Jean-les-Ypres (I C 12) and commemorated on the Wordsley Memorial.