Varley Bousfield was born on 11th March 1921 in Gravesend, Kent. His father was Matthew Bousfield, a Trinity House Pilot, and his mother was Myra Jessie (née Varley), they married in Victoria, New South Wales, Australia in 1910. The first school that he attended was Bronte Villa School in Gravesend.
In 1929 Varley Bousfield joined The County School for Boys – now known as Gravesend Grammar School. The Head Master at that time was the Reverend Samuel Lister. The County School for Boys was located in Darnley Road, Gravesend close to the Railway Station (now the Victoria Centre for Education). In 1938 the School moved to brand new premises in Church Walk, Milton, Gravesend opposite to Milton Church.
The School’s Admission Register lists Varley’s home address as 30 Gatwick Road, Gravesend. Whilst at the School, Varley was in Hill House, he was a Prefect in 1938-39, played for the 2nd XV Rugby team and took an active part on the Committee for the production of the Miltonian, the School Magazine.
In 1939 Varley left the School and went to Sandhurst. He joined the Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Regiment as a 2nd Lieutenant, Service Number 112814, going over to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force.
Varley Bousfield was killed, at the age of 19, during the evacuation of Northern France as the Germans continued to push forward to the coast, on the 27th May 1940. He is buried at the Longuenesse (St. Omer) Souvenir Cemetery – Plot 8. Row C. Grave 60.

Varley Bousfield shares the Roll of Honour with 3 other students from his Form – Stewart Davis, David Sparrow and Peter Thomas.

There are links below to Newspaper Clippings and Photographs from the Gravesend Grammar School Archives.

Also links to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website and a few other websites that might be of interest:
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2279729/bousfield,-varley/
https://www.roll-of-honour.org.uk/Regiments/Bedfordshire_and_Hertfordshire_Regiment/html/b_database_63.htm
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34766/supplement/66/data.pdf