23rd Battalion

Lt. Col. Bowen

/ Matthew K Barrett / Leave a comment

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

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.

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The Gassed

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Lieutenant Colonel C. F. Bick
37th (Northern Ontario) BattalionBick

His heart is intermitting. He is very nervous. There is a fine tremor over the entire body. Insomnia. He is easily startled by the slightest noise. He wakes up several times during the night.

(Proceedings of Medical Board, Exhibition Camp, 12 Apr 1917)

Born on 1 December 1866 in Berkeley, England, Charles Frederick Bick was a building contractor with thirty-four years’ experience in the Canadian militia. He immigrated to Canada at the age of four. Bick served for four years with the 10th Royal Grenadiers in Toronto before moving to Cannington in 1885. He joined the 34th Ontario Regiment as a private and rose through the ranks to become commanding officer in 1913.

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