Genifer Cowling

Coachman to Quetta Genifer Cowling

William was an ordinary man, you won't find his name in any history of the time, and there is very little in official records about him, but he left his wife and four young children from his small cottage in Clatford, to travel to Quetta, with the Army Veterinary Corps, in what was then India but is now on the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. This story of an obscure soldier serving in a minor role at an outpost of the Empire during the Great War, has been the quest of William's granddaughter, Genifer, who grew up knowing he had served in India and heard of his work with and respect for camels. Her mind's eye for decades had a romantic picture of him riding through the desert as a Lawrence of Arabia figure. And what was her grandfather doing in India when there was such a need of soldiers on the Western Front? Finding some old photographs, one on a postcard from Quetta dated 23 July 1918 to his wife, Genifer decided to find out more of his story, from coachman in Edwardian England to war time service in India. William had already had an unusual life in the early years of the 20th century, which led to this service, and you may first be interested to hear of his exploits in Edwardian London as a very young man.