3rd Battalion, South Wales Borderers
Frank Lewis Howell was a former regular soldier, whose return to active service in the Great War was cut short by illness. In such records as survive for him he appears to omit his middle name.
He was born in Chipping Campden in 1887, the son of Eli Lewis (1862-1912) and his wife Emily Tabitha (née Bennett). She was born in 1864 but lived only 37 years, dying in early 1901. The couple had two sons, Frank and Lewis (born 1894).
At the time of the 1891 Census the family lived at Lower High Street, Chipping Campden and Eli worked as a farm labourer. By 1901, his wife having died, Eli lived with his two sons in Chipping Campden but was now employed at a plate layer with the Great Western Railway. Eli re-married in 1903 but there were no children from that marriage.
Frank enlisted in the Army in late 1906, joining the South Wales Borderers (SWB). His Army number 9432, indicates that he joined towards the end of that year. Unfortunately, no records of his service with the SWB appear to have survived. It is likely that he signed on to serve seven years ‘with the Colours’ (i.e. on active service), followed by five in the Reserve. The 1911 Census shows him to be located with the 1st Battalion, SWB at Chatham Barracks, Kent and was at that time unmarried.
If he did indeed serve seven years with the colours, he would have entered the Reserve in late 1913 and would have been immediately recalled to the SWB, when war was declared in August 1914. The SWB volume of Soldiers Died in the Great War records his enlistment at Brecon. The Depot for the SWB was located there and would be where he was told to report. He was posted to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion and no doubt, given his previous and recent military service, was immediately promoted to Lance Corporal and involved in the training of new recruits. After forming at Brecon the battalion was sent to Pembroke Dock, where it stayed until November 1914.
Nothing else is know of his military service. However, it is reasonable to speculate that not long into his to resumed military service he was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis. He may well have returned to Gloucestershire and been sent to a sanatorium, as the Register of Soldiers’ Effects held at the National Army Museum, records that he died on 9 February 1915, (age 27) of pulmonary tuberculosis, at Stroud. His entry in this register bears a note to the effect that as he had served less than six months on home service he was not entitled to any gratuity. Some monies were due to him and it is noted that the recipient was to be his widow ‘Annie’ but it has not proved possible to identify when and where this marriage took place.
Lance Corporal Frank Lewis Howell was buried in the churchyard of St James’ Chipping Campden, where a standard CWGC headstone now marks his grave.
GRA
11 September 2020