Soldier Clinton Dowdell hears of mother’s death while fighting on the Western Front

CLINTON Dowdell was fighting on the Western Front when he was told his mother was dead.

WWI Clinton George Dowdell

CLINTON Dowdell was fighting on the Western Front when he was told his mother was dead.

His mother Kathleen was on her way to post a letter to her son when she was thrown from her horse and killed in December, 1917.

It is unknown if her letter reached Dowdell, her only child, who was serving with the 5th Pioneer Battalion.

“She was killed right near the post office at McLaren Vale and it was only two days before his 24th birthday,” Dowdell’s great granddaughter Jo Hutchinson, of Myponga, says.

“The age he was to go to war and then to lose his mum while he was over there, he must have come back such a different man.”

After almost two years at the front, Dowdell was gassed in September, 1918, and was repatriated to England, where he met his bride-to-be, Lilian Hart.

The couple settled in Blewitt Springs, where Dowdell planted one of the area’s first commercial vineyards.

He played a big part in Blewitt Springs getting its primary school in 1935, and was also involved in establishing the Southern Districts War Memorial Hospital, now the McLaren Vale & Districts War Memorial Hospital.

Dowdell died aged 88 in 1981.

His son, Lester, still lives and runs the family property in Blewitt Springs.

This story is part of Messenger’s 100 Years, 100 Days, 100 Stories project, which will profile 100 South Australian World War I heroes as the nation builds up to the centenary of the Allied landing on Gallipoli on April 25, 1915.

If you have the details and war record of a family member who served during World War I, let us know.

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