War Memorial
Frank Bourner was born in Leigh in 1896, the sixth son of James and Charlotte Bourner. The family home was at Forge Square, and by the outbreak of the First World War the household had already seen its children grow and scatter into work and service.
The 1901 census finds the family at the Coachmans House, The Cottage, with James, a domestic gardener born in Tonbridge, aged 46, and Charlotte, who came from Wye in Kent, aged 48. Frank, then just four years old, appears alongside his brothers Ernest, Robert and James and his sister Mary. An earlier return from 1891, taken when the family lived at The Cottage next to Kennards Farm, recorded six sons and three daughters in the home.
Frank enlisted at Deptford and joined the Royal Field Artillery, serving as Gunner 59967 in A Battery, 28th Brigade. He died of wounds on 25 May 1917, aged only 21, and was buried at Barlin Communal Cemetery Extension.
The Bourner family's loss was heavy: Frank's brothers James and Charles were also killed, making three sons the war took from James and Charlotte. Frank is remembered on the Leigh War Memorial.