Boy Telegraphist on H.M.S. Shark, forces number J/81802. He died, aged 17, when his ship was torpedoed at the start of the Battle of Jutland. His number on the handwritten entry on the Blackheath War Memorial is the same as that of A. E. Cownden. They died in separate World Wars, so we wonder whether numbers were recycled, or if this just a transcription error.
In July 2022 we were contacted by Eileen Bostle who drew our attention to the RAF Commands website that showed the correct details for A. E. Cownden whose service number was 841926 . We asked our colleague Andrew Behan to further research all the Cownden names and he confirms that the service number shown for Arthur James Cownden is also incorrect. It was not J/81802, but was J/31802. His studies show that Arthur James Cownden was born on 6 January 1899 in Brentford, Middlesex. He was the eldest of the five children of Frederick Charles Cownden (1869-1933) and Louisa Cownden née Cole (1872-1951). Our Picture Source gives much details of his life.
On 12 February 1899 he was baptised at St Paul's Church, Brentford, where the baptismal register shows the family living at 145 Ealing Road, Brentford and his father's occupation was recorded as a brewer. In the 1901 census he is shown as living at 'Glenthorne', Darwin Road, Ealing, with his parents and his sister, Annie Winifred Cownden (b.1901). His father was described as brewer's tun man.
When his father completed the 1911 census return he was shown as living in a three roomed flat at 13 Weston Road, Acton Green, Chiswick, with his parents and his four siblings: Annie Winifred Cownden, Frederick Albert Cownden (1902-1941), Doris Edith Cownden (1905-1976) and Amy Florence Cownden (1907-2006). His father was still a brewer's tun man.
On 9 June 1914, giving his occupation as a butcher's errand boy, he enlisted in the Royal Navy as a Boy Class 2, service number J/31802 and initially served on HMS Powerful that was used as a Boys Training Ship in Devonport dockyard before transferring to HMS Impregnable on 11 October 1914 where on 23 January 1915 he was regraded to that of a Boy Telegraphist. He went on to serve on five other ships: HMS Vernon from 15 February 1915, HMS Dido from 19 March 1915, HMS Laetes from 27 March 1915, HMS Argyll from 5 June 1915 and finally HMS Shark from 6 August 1915.
It was on HMS Shark that he was killed in action, aged 17 years, on 31 May 1916 in the Battle of Jutland. His body was initially buried in Askum Churchyard, Askum, Sweden. He was posthumously awarded the 1914 Star, the British War Medal 1914-1918 and the Victory Medal. On 9 October 1961 his body was exhumed and reburied on 27 October 1961 in Plot 1, Row B, Grave 4, in the Kviberg Cemetery, Kvibergs kyrkoväg 4, Göthenburg, Sweden.
He is also commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission's website, the London WW1Memorial website and on the Imperial War Museum's website.
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk
