“I learnt about the Battle of the Somme when I was studying the First World War at school,” says James Buckman, a civil servant from Stamford, Lincolnshire.
“One day, while we were eating breakfast, my late grandfather James Herbert Rowsell shared that he had been named after an uncle who was a captain in the British Army. His name was Herbert, and he had been killed during the Battle of the Somme.
“At university, I developed historical research skills and decided to apply these. Uncle Herbert was born in Beccles, Suffolk, on 20 March 1888. He was the sixth child of Rev Canon John Rowsell and his wife Alice.”
Herbert’s sporting prowess emerged when he attended Fauconberge School in Beccles, where he was captain of the football team. “An article published in the Evening Star in 1909 revealed that Herbert had played left back for Beccles Caxton Football Club in Suffolk, and belonged to Lowestoft Town Cricket Club as well.
“He also excelled at tennis and won two ‘firsts’ at the Bungay Tennis Tournament. The article explained that for all of his sporting achievements, Herbert preferred dancing to any other form of recreation.”
The article was written while Herbert was studying at Jesus College at the University of Cambridge. The college has created a Roll of Honour on its website, with a page dedicated to each former student who fell during the First World War.
“Herbert’s web page revealed that he represented Jesus College at tennis, hockey and football. He also participated in the high jump and 120-yard hurdle race, which he won in just over 20 seconds in 1909.”
Herbert graduated with a degree in theology in 1910. He became a teacher at Exeter School, Devon, before joining the Archbishop’s Mission to Western Canada as a layman between 1912 and 1914.
“During a family get-together in 2021, I explained that I knew little of Herbert’s time after Cambridge. Fortunately, Great Aunt Elizabeth told me that she had some letters that Herbert sent to her father John Rowsell, who was his elder brother and my great grandfather. We arranged for me to visit. There were four letters from his time in Canada, and two from the Western Front. As soon as I saw them, I was eager to start reading.”
Herbert had served as a missionary in Alberta, where he helped to establish the Christian Church in the new settlements of Green Court and Westlock. “I’ve been told by a relative that Herbert is memorialised in a church in Alberta.
“Herbert seemed unsure of what to do upon his return to Britain in 1914, but world events made the decision for him. He enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers University and Public Schools Brigade in 1914 as a private, and became a captain in the 14th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, a year later.”
The letters reveal personal insight into Herbert’s life on the Western Front. “He speaks of his battalion in a positive light, and reassures John that he ‘never felt in better spirits’. He also asks him to keep an eye on his wife Helen. No one in the family alive today even knew that he had married.
“On 3 September 1916, Herbert was killed in action at Beaumont-Hamel on the Somme. He was aged only 28.
“It’s amazing how much he achieved in his tragically short life. Since learning of his story, Herbert is at the centre of my thoughts during the two-minute silence on Remembrance Day.”
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