Notes
The Roll of Honour records that "Robert Blowers" of Thistlemoor Road was killed in action at Loos on 26/9/1915, serving in the 6th Battalion Northamptonshire Regiment; however, all those details are inaccurate. The casualty to whom this entry alludes was in fact actually "Robert William Dowland" (a Werrington resident who died at Gallipoli on 10/11/1915, serving in the 1st/4th Battalion Northants Regiment, and who is listed separately on the Roll under the correct details). The Roll's inclusion of the rogue entry for "Robert Blowers" arose from his mother having remarried.
(Robert William Dowland was born in 1888 in Deptford, the son of James Gabriel Dowland and Annie Maria nee Webster; his father died in 1896. By 1901 Robert's mother was living with James Edward Blowers in Lambeth Walk, Lambeth; although Annie did not marry James Blowers until 1907, she and her children from her first marriage, including Robert, were recorded on the 1901 census under the surname "Blowers". By 1910 the family had moved to Peterborough; the Marriage registers of St Paul's Church record that Robert William Dowland of 22 Thistlemoor Road married Edith Denton on 12/11/1910. On the 1911 census, Robert's mother Annie Maria Blowers, was living at 22 Ashley Cottages, Thistlemoor Road in Peterborough; meanwhile, Robert Dowling was living with his wife Edith and their son at 108 GN Cottages, New England in Peterborough; they later moved to Werrington. Soldiers Died in the Great War records that Private Robert William Dowland, regimental number 3798, enlisted at Peterborough in the 1st/4th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment, and that he was killed in action at Gallipoli on 10/9/1915. CWGC records that he was buried in grave IV.D.10 at the 7th Field Ambulance Cemetery in Turkey. The Army Registers of Soldiers' Effects record that Robert Dowland's widow Edith was his legatee).
On 9/10/1915 the Peterborough Advertiser misleadingly reported that "Pte Robert Blowers" of Thistlemoor Road, Peterborough was killed "in the recent fighting", i.e. the death of Robert Dowland was reported under his mother's surname/address; the Peterborough Express had likewise reported his death under the surname Blowers. On 16/10/1915, the Peterborough Advertiser compounded the confusion by correctly reporting that Private R. W. Dowland of School Lane, Werrington had died in Gallipoli serving in the 1/4th Northamptonshire Regiment, leaving a widow and three children. The misleading reports in the local press re his surname resulted in Robert being recorded on the Roll of Honour twice: correctly as Robert William Dowland of Werrington, and inaccurately as Robert Blowers of Thistlemoor Road.