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| WE Bowman climbing Napes Needle in the 1930s |
(September 30th 1911 to January 1st 1985)
WE Bowman wrote the following brief autobiography in 1983. It was read out at his funeral.
| I appeared at Scarborough in 1911. In 14 the Kaiser shelled the place. In 18 my father and some others fettled the Kaiser. In 21 we moved to Middlesbrough. Educated at the High School, I was put to engineering. From 27 I suffered in a drawing office and got hooked on mountaineering - in books and the Lake District, writing - especially humorous, and Einstein's Relativity. In 34 I moved to London to write but lapsed into engineering. In 39 I moved to Swansea. In 40 Hitler bombed the place. In 41 I joined the RAF. In 45 we fettled Hitler. From 47-50 I served with International Voluntary Service in Germany and London and decided to fettle Einstein. From 50 engineering leap-frogged with writing. In 58 I married and we moved to Guildford. In 71 I retired from engineering. |
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| WE Bowman climbing Napes Needle in the 1930s |
Addition by his wife, Eva Bowman in 1999:
He was the eldest of three boys. His mother died when Bill was 15 and his father (from the effects of mustard gas) two years later. The three boys were separated - Bill went to live with an aunt in Middlesbrough, one brother to Canada and the youngest to yet another family.
In 1971 his health deteriorated & I feared he would have a 'commuter's coronary'. We therefore did a role swap; Bill was based at home & I went out to paid work. We brought up a step-daughter, a daughter and a son.
If you'd like to find out more about WE Bowman, email me (his son):
