Private Joseph Cowen

Service Number: 18800

1st Bn. East Lancashire Regiment

Killed in Action 1st July 1916, aged 23

Son of Mr. & Mrs. Cowen, 8 Heap Street, Burnley

From the Burnley Express dated 12/08/1916: Well-known Catholic Member of St John’s F.C. Killed

Mr. and Mrs. Cowen, of 8, Heap Street, Burnley, have now received official intimation that their son, Private Joseph Cowen (18800), of the 1st East Lancashire Regt., who was reported missing from July 1st last, is now presumed to be killed in action on that date. Twenty three years of age, he was formerly a weaver at Messrs. Thornton and Tattersall’s shed, Burnley Lane. He enlisted on January 20th, 1915, and had been out at the front for over twelve months. A single man, Private Cowen was a well-known member of St. John’s R. C. Church, Ivy Street, and a member of the school football team. His sister’s husband, Pte. J. W. Nelson, is in the 3rd Battalion of the same Regiment.

Commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, France: Pier & Face 6 C

(Photo courtesy of M & J Hoggatt)