Norman Bowell
{{short description|English cricketer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2016}}
{{Infobox cricketer
| name = Norman Bowell
| image =
| country = England
| fullname = Norman Henry Bowell
| nickname =
| birth_date = 2 February 1904
| birth_place = Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1943|3|5|1904|2|2|df=yes}}
| death_place = Balalae Island, British Solomon Islands
| heightft =
| heightinch =
| batting = Right-handed
| bowling = Right-arm slow
| family = Alex Bowell (father)
| club1 = Hampshire
| year1 = 1924
| club2 = Northamptonshire
| year2 = 1925
| club3 = Oxfordshire
| year3 = {{nowrap|1927–1931}}
| columns = 1
| column1 = First-class
| matches1 = 3
| runs1 = 56
| bat avg1 = 18.66
| 100s/50s1 = –/–
| top score1 = 48
| deliveries1 = 84
| wickets1 = 0
| bowl avg1 = –
| fivefor1 = –
| tenfor1 = –
| best bowling1 = –
| catches/stumpings1 = –/–
| date = 11 January
| year = 2010
| source = http://www.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/9173.html Cricinfo
}}
Norman Henry Bowell (2 February 1904 – 5 March 1943) was an English first-class cricketer and British Army soldier.
Cricket and WWII service
The son of the cricketer Alex Bowell, he was born in February 1904 at Oxford.{{cite book |last1=McCrery |first1=Nigel |title=The Coming Storm: Test and First-Class Cricketers Killed in World War Two|date=2011|publisher=Pen and Sword|volume=2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RYQwDwAAQBAJ|isbn=978-1526706980|language=en}} Having been on the Hampshire staff from the beginning of the 1920s,{{cite web|url=https://www.ageasbowl.com/cricket/news/fathers-and-sons/|title=Hampshire Cricket's Fathers & Sons|first=Dave|last=Allen|publisher=www.ageasbowl.com|accessdate=28 January 2023}} he made his debut in first-class cricket for Hampshire against Northamptonshire at Northampton in 1924,{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6496/First-Class_Matches.html|title=First-Class Matches played by Norman Bowell|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=28 January 2023|url-access=subscription}} but was not required to bat or bowl in a match which was curtailed by poor weather.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/11/11149.html|title=Northamptonshire v Hampshire, County Championship 1924|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=28 January 2023|url-access=subscription}} Bowell travelled with the Hampshire team onto their next fixture which followed immediately after at Trent Bridge against Nottinghamshire, making scores of 2 and 6, in addition to bowling ten wicket-less overs.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/11/11162.html|title=Nottinghamshire v Hampshire, County Championship 1924|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=28 January 2023|url-access=subscription}} The following season, he made a single first-class appearance for Northamptonshire against Dublin University, scoring 48 runs in the Northamptonshire first innings, before being dismissed by Gustavus Kelly.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/11/11615.html|title=Northamptonshire v Dublin University, 1925|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=28 January 2023|url-access=subscription}} Bowell made no further appearances in first-class cricket, but did play minor counties cricket for Oxfordshire from 1927 to 1931, making three appearances in the Minor Counties Championship, all against Monmouthshire.{{cite web|url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/6/6496/Minor_Counties_Championship_Matches.html|title=Minor Counties Championship Matches played by Norman Bowell|publisher=CricketArchive|accessdate=28 January 2023|url-access=subscription}}
Bowell served during the Second World War, enlisting as a gunner in the Royal Artillery, where he served in the Straits Settlements with the 35th Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment. He was present during the Fall of Singapore in February 1942 and was captured by the Japanese.{{cite web|url=https://www.oxfordshire.cricket/news/oxfordshire-ww2-cricketers-30065/|title=Oxfordshire WW2 Cricketers|publisher=www.oxfordshire.cricket|accessdate=28 January 2023}} He was imprisoned at Changi Prison, before being shipped at the end of 1942 to Balalae Island, in the Japanese-occupied British Solomon Islands with 517 other prisoners of war, in order to construct an airfield for the Japanese. There the prisoners were poorly treated, being subjected to beatings and thrashings on a daily basis, coupled with dysentery, malaria and beriberi afflicting prisoners. As the allies closed in during the Solomon Islands campaign, prisoners who had survived were rounded up and executed by being shot, bayoneted, or decapitated. Bowell succumbed to his ill-treatment in March 1943, though exactly the manner in which he died is unknown; none of the 517 prisoners who were transferred from Singapore alongside Bowell survived their captivity. He is commemorated on the war memorial at the Kranji War Cemetery.{{cite web|url=https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2099336/norman-henry-bowell/|title=Gunner Norman Henry Bowell|publisher=www.cwgc.org|accessdate=28 January 2023}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{cricinfo|id=9173}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowell, Norman}}
Category:Military personnel from Oxfordshire
Category:Cricketers from Oxford
Category:Northamptonshire cricketers
Category:Oxfordshire cricketers
Category:Royal Artillery soldiers
Category:British Army personnel killed in World War II
Category:British World War II prisoners of war
Category:British people who died in Japanese internment camps