Arthur Cowap was born in 1883 and baptised on the 19th August at Daresbury Church. He was the youngest of six children of James and Mary Cowap. James, aged 49, was a shopkeeper/provisions dealer in what is now “Stokesay”, and the other children were Mary Anne (born around 1874), Ellen (born around 1876), James born around 1877), John Thomas (born around 1879) and Catherine (born around 1881).
All the family members had been born in Preston Brook. By 1901, nearly everyone was working in the family business: James was still running the shop, Mary Ann was the baker and shop assistant, Ellen was a dressmaker, James was also a baker and John Thomas was a shop assistant. The two youngest children did not work for their father, Catherine was a school teacher and Arthur, aged 17, was a clerk for the county council. Only three of the children were still living at “Stokesay” in 1911. Ellen was by now a sub-postmistress, Catherine was a school mistress and Arthur had become a chartered accountant for the council. All three were still single.
Arthur was in the Royal Garrison Artillery as a bombardier (Regimental number 77130). The Royal Garrison Artillery were originally based in forts around the British coast, but was later armed with heavy, large calibre guns and howitzers that were positioned some way behind the front line and had immense destructive power. Arthur’s unit was either the 32nd Company based at Culver in the Isle of Wight or the 32nd Siege Battery which went to France on the 1st October 1915. The 1918 Electoral Roll shows that Arthur was still on military service and he was transferred to the Reserve on the 22nd December 1919. He was awarded the Victory Medal and the British War Medal. It is possible that Arthur married on the 10th November 1936 to a Miss Bazley (Runcorn Vol 8A Page 487). Arthur died at The Nursing Home in Warrington on the 6th June 1948 when he was almost 65 years old.
20/07/2015