Memorial details

Memorial type
Addition to gravestone
District
Peterborough
Town
Woodston
County
Cambridgeshire
Country
England
Commemoration
Second World War (1939-1945)
Lost
Not lost
WM Reference
67240

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Current location

Past the mausoleum
about a quarter of the way down
on the right-hand side of the central path.
Woodston Cemetery
New Road
Woodston
Peterborough
Cambridgeshire
PE2 9HB
England

OS Grid Ref: TL 18485 97293
Denomination: Undefined

View location on Google Maps
Description
Kerbstone inscription, in lead-lettering, on the grave of his father, James Robert Sowman.
Inscription
West kerbstone: IN LOVING MEMORY OF North kerbstone: MY DARLING HUSBAND DOUGLAS JOHN SOWMAN, KILLED IN ACTION 16TH JULY 1944, AGED 24 YEARS East kerbstone: BURIED IN YUGOSLAVIA
Inscription legible?
yes
Names on memorial
Sowman, Douglas John
See details
Commemorations
  • Second World War (1939-1945)
    Total names on memorial: 1
    Served and returned: 0
    Died: 1
    Exact count: yes
    Information shown: Name, date of death, age, place of burial.
    Order of information: Undefined
Components
  • Kerb stone
    Measurements: depth 2430, height 190, width 960
    Materials: Stone
Listing information
Condition
Trust fund/Scholarship
No
Purpose: Unknown or N/A
Sponsorship
Private
Reference
  • The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records that Private Douglas John Sowman of the Suffolk Regiment, regimental number 5833127, died on 16/7/1944, and that he is buried in Collective grave 10.B.2-9 at Belgrade War Cemetery. (Originally in Suffolk Regiment, Douglas later became a member of Force 133 of the Special Operations Executive. His SOE personnel file is held by The National Archives: file reference HS 9/1396. The file is not due to be opened to the public until 1/1/2031). The Peterborough Standard dated 28/7/1944 reported Douglas' death, stating he had been batman to Major Randolph Churchill for 18 months. Personal messages of sympathy to Douglas' widow from Winston, Clementine and Randolph Churchill were quoted in the newspaper report. (Douglas had been travelling with Randolph Churchill when their aircraft crashed; Randolph survived but Douglas Sowman was killed).

This record comprises all information held by IWM’s War Memorials Register for this memorial. Where we hold a names list for the memorial, this information will be displayed on the memorial record. Please check back as we are adding more names to the database.

This information is made available under a Creative Commons BY-NC licence.

This means you may reuse it for non-commercial purposes only and must attribute it to us using the following statement:

© WMR-67240

For queries, please contact [email protected].