Lieutenant Colonel F.C. Bowen
23rd (Westmount Rifles) Battalion

This officer as a result of damp and exposure in the trenches developed Lumbago. Continued at duty but had to go sick on 6 Nov. 1916. He has still a deal of pain, is sleepless, debilitated and has lost weight.

(Proceedings of Medical Board, 30 Nov 1916)

Frederick Chamberlain Bowen was born in Sherbrooke, Quebec on 8 July 1876. He had been commanding officer of the 53rd Sherbrooke Rifles and served as second-in-command with Frank Fisher’s 23rd Battalion. After Fisher joined the 14th Royal Montreal Regiment on the front, Bowen assumed command of the 23rd, which became a reinforcement unit in England.

Although only recently recovered from a bout of bronchitis and ptomaine poisoning, in August 1916, Bowen was permitted to revert to the rank of major and join the 14th Battalion in the trenches. He served for five months on the front before persistent ill health, lumbago and nervousness forced his return to England. He remained with the 1st Quebec Regimental Depot until he returned to Canada sick from influenza.

He died on 22 October 1923.