Henry George Rowles was born in 1884 at No. 64 Sherborne Street, Gloucester the son of George and Elizabeth Rowles (née Hunt), a ‘Baker’.
He was baptised on 11th January 1885 at St. Mark’s Church, Kingsholm, Gloucestershire.
He married Fanny May Webb in 1910 at Gloucester Registry Office. They had no children.
Fanny May died in 1947 at Gloucester C., age 59.
In the 1911 census he is age 26 and he gives his occupation as ‘Wagon Repairer’.
He is married to Fanny and is living at 3 Lewis Buildings, Derby Road, Gloucester.
The Labour Corps was raised in 1915 and disbanded in 1921, today their roles are undertaken
by the Royal Logistics Corps. The Corps grew to some 389,000 men (10% of the total size of the Army) by the Armistice. Of this total, around 175,000 were working in the United Kingdom and the rest in the theatres of war. The Corps was manned by officers and men who had been medically rated below the ‘A1’ condition needed for the front line service. Many were returned wounded. Labour Corps units were often deployed for work within the range of the enemy guns, sometimes for lengthy periods.
In April 1917, a number of Infantry Battalions were transferred to the Corps. The Labour Corps absorbed the 28th Army Service Corps Labour Companies between February and June 1917. Labour Corps Area Employment Companies were formed in 1917 for Salvage work, absorbing the Divisional Salvage Companies.
On 10th July 1919 he was transferred from the 273 Employment Company, Labour Corps to the Signal Company H.Q.
In the ‘1939 Register’ his wife Fanny May and his sister Elsie Rowles are living at
5 Lewis Buildings, Mill Street, Gloucester.. Henry George is absent.
He died in 1954 at Gloucester C., age 69.
