Selwyn Bushen

In memoriam

A LOVING SON A BROTHER SO KIND A BEAUTIFUL MEMORY LEFT BEHIND

Service No: 13435 Age: 22 Regiment/Service: Devonshire Regiment, 10th Bn. Son of Mr. J. and Mrs. E. Bushen, of 8, Glenmore Rd., Minehead, Somerset. ----------------- PRIVATE ​Selwyn Bushen (1896-1918). He was born in Minehead in 1896 and baptised on the 27th of November 1896. He was the son of John Bushen (1870–1935) and Elizabeth Bushen nee Crew (1868–1946), and he had two siblings: Beatrice Ella Bushen (1894–1984) Norman Bushen (1898–1960) His father was a Stonemason and the family home was at 38 Summerland Avenue, Minehead. In the 1911 census, at age 14, Selwyn was employed as a Tailors' Errand Boy, but when war came, he enlisted on the 22nd of September 1915 as Private 13435 in the 10th Battalion of The Devonshire Regiment. His Battalion were first deployed in France but in November 1915 were moved to Salonika in Greece to fight the Bulgarian Forces. Bulgaria sued for peace in September 1918 and following the signing of the Bulgarian armistice on the 29th of September, hostilities ceased. In December 1918 Selwyn was deployed as part of the British Mission to Sofia, in Bulgaria, dealing with the aftermath of the war. The circumstances of his death are unknown, but he died on the 10th of December 1918, aged 22 years. He was buried at the Sofia war cemetery, part of the Central Cemetery, Sofia, Stolichna Obshtina, Sofia-grad, Bulgaria (PLOT III.A.3.). The Personal Inscription on his gravestone in Bulgaria reads: 'A LOVING SON, A BROTHER SO KIND, A BEAUTIFUL MEMORY LEFT BEHIND'. ​In 1919 he was posthumously awarded the 1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. These were forwarded to his parents, whose address in 1919 was at 8 Glenmore Road, Minehead. NOTE: In addition to the Minehead War Memorial his name is also memorialised on his parents' grave at Minehead Cemetery. Contributor: John Smith (51177019) You can view the Cenotaph here: Cenotaph

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