Owen Goswell. Died 30 April 1918
Owen was born in 1898 in Faringdon Berkshire, son of Mary Hannah and Owen Goswell. Owen seems to have been an only child and by 1901 his father had died and his mother was the Matron of the workhouse in Farringdon
A small article in a local paper of the time reports that: “Owen Goswell, his mother was Mary Hannah Goswell, whose husband was also Owen, late master of the Farringdon Workhouse and who died on 3rd September 1900 age 42 ” In 1911, Owen was living or staying with his uncle Henry Goswell, a tailor in Wokingham, at 24 Barkham Road.
War saw Owen join the London Regiment, the 15th Battalion, Prince of Wales Civil Service
Click on image to increase size
Rifles though we do not know when or where he enlisted or indeed why he joined that particular regiment. We do know that at the time of his death on 30th April 1918 he was a second lieutenant and was attached to the 2/16th Battalion of the London Regiment; the Queen’s Westminster Rifles. They were serving in Jerusalem at that time and his name is commemorated on the memorial there.
A short article in the Reading Chronicle of 18th May 1918 tells of the death of Owen: “Second Lieutenant O. O. Goswell of the Queen’s Westmister Rifles was killed in Palestine aged 20. The only son of the late Owen Goswell and Mrs Goswell. Mrs Goswell is the Matron of Farringdon Union, the deceased was well known in Wokingham and was a scholar at the Council school where he won a scholarship completing his education at Rasleigh College afterwards entering the civil service. For many years he resided with his uncle H Goswell of Barkham Road and made many friends.”