Some 43 years earlier he had taken up the Tenancy of a house at 454 Holderness Road, Hull.
At the turn of the century when he took up residence the house will have been only about ten years old.
Although now very much fully built up the terraced block which included 454 was at that time the last before reaching the open countryside of Summergangs Farm, White House Farm and Mile House.
There was no development behind which was still fields and allotments on the very edge of town. The Holderness Road itself may have been but a dirt track with furrows produced by horse drawn carriages and the first motor vehicles of the age.
The whole scene will have been quite tranquil. You can imagine Walter as a family man enjoying a reasonably sized house and large garden as his home for some four and more decades.
It will have come as quite a rude shock when some time in the summer of 1943 the Luftwaffe dropped some high explosive ordnance which hit the road and caused enough damage to 454 Holderness Road that its continued occupation was affected.
Understandably in the depths of a war with labour and materials shortages Walter was justified in thinking that any prompt repair to make the house habitable was unlikely. As a senior citizen his priority was to seek alternative accommodation in the local area.
With this in mind he discussed with the Landlord, Mr Arro, an agreement to hand over the keys as the ultimate symbolic gesture that he was prepared to surrender his Rights as Tenant. This was on the condition that Walter could continue to access the garden until September 1943. Clearly he was a bit green fingered and this would give him time to harvest any produce he had grown in his own "Dig for Victory" effort.
He visited the house on a daily basis and through this came to hear that the City Architect of Hull Corporation had deemed the property as repairable but with no timescale given for works to be done.
At this news Walter changed his mind about giving up the tenancy.
However, the Landlord, faced with an unoccupied property changed the locks and bolted and barred any access to the back garden.
In what was regarded as an important Test Case for a Tenant of a bomb damaged property Walter hired a legal team and took his Landlord to the County Court on the grounds that he was still the tenant as well as damages for the actions and losses incurred for being excluded from the house.
It seems that the relationship between tenant and landlord did become fractious with on one occasion the Police attending to prevent Walter from taking his fruit and veg from the garden.
The Barrister for the Landlord argued that he was entitled to take possession in that the tenant had vacated and had agreed furthermore to give up the tenancy.
In very apt words for that historic time the Judge stated that the no criticism could be directed on Mr Bowes for his rationale reaction to his predicament as after all, it was something that "Hitler had done".
Walter's Barrister submitted that his tenancy was under the Rent Protection Acts which effectively waived any Common Rights of the Landlord to re-entry. He cited legal precedent for this in Court of Appeal Cases.
Judge Griffiths started to come around to the position of Walter and his prerogative as a Protected Tenant to change his mind and not be bound by any previous agreement or terms with the Landlord.
The Barrister for Mr Arro asked for further arguments to be heard.
I will let you know the judgement in the case in tomorrows blog post. Walter will certainly have been one of hundreds or even thousands of other Hull Tenants and Residents made homeless or otherwise directly affected in the Blitz years. Hopefully the judgement will have given some support to those bombed of their homes.
As for the house at 454 Holderness Road it continues to appear on maps until the late 1970's. It was demolished around that time to make way for what became a Kwik-Save Supermarket.
I would be interested to hear from any family or descendants of Walter Bowes to fill in the gaps in my research.
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