Investigation of Local War Memorials

As part of on-going research into a number of historical projects and also to coincide with nationwide commemorations of the centenary of the Great War, members of the Local Interest Group have so far collected about one hundred names of former servicemen from rolls of honour and other memorials to be found at various local churches and chapels, including Bryngwyn, Hermon, Newchurch, Aberedw, Crickadarn, Erwood, Llandeilo Graban and Gwenddwr.
Of the one hundred or so soldiers, sailors and airmen commemorated, ten are known to have been killed in the Great War or to have subsequently died of their injuries and another three in the Second World War. The memorial at Crickadarn lists five men, all of whom died, so we can only assume that many more men from that area enlisted and survived, but were not commemorated. Their five names are also duplicated at Erwood Market Hall, where a sixth individual, John Phillips, is also listed as having been killed in action in the First World War.
Almost all of the names listed on the Bryngwyn memorial are duplicated on the memorial at Hermon Chapel, with only two names (H. Lloyd and Howard Richards) exclusively appearing on the Hermon roll of honour. One soldier – Stewart Jones, who died in 1945 - is listed on the Bryngwyn, Hermon and Newchurch memorials and only one other man – Graham Lloyd, who was killed in 1944 - is listed exclusively on the Newchurch memorial. Stewart Jones is buried in Becklingen Cemetery in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is believed that he was actually taken prisoner in Italy and that he died while on an enforced march to a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany.
Of the twenty names listed at Bryngwyn and Hermon only one, thankfully, is recorded as having been killed during the Great War. This is Gunner David Watkins of the Royal Field Artillery, who lived at High Park. There is also a separate memorial in his name at Bryngwyn “erected by friends”. He is buried at Brandhoek Cemetery in Flanders, Belgium.
Of the seven names listed at Gwenddwr, one – James Smith – is recorded as having been killed in 1940 and is actually buried in Gwenddwr churchyard. This is an official war grave. However, we have not yet been able to fully identify all of the Gwenddwr names, so there may have been more fatalities.
Of the twenty-seven men commemorated at Llandeilo Graban, three were killed in the Great War – John Chetwynd, George Grubb and John Williams-Vaughan, of The Skreen. It is worth mentioning that three of John Chetwynd’s brothers also served on the front, but happily survived. Their father Edward was the schoolmaster at Llandeilo Graban and was temporarily transferred to Boughrood School when the headmaster there was called up. He had previously travelled and worked throughout Britain, his four sons being born in four different counties.
Thanks to one of our correspondents, Terry Drayton, we now know a bit more about George Grubb, who was born near Weobley, Herefordshire, on the 4th August 1894 to George and Harriet Grubb. He went to school at Bredwardine and eventually moved to Painscastle, where he was known to be a waggoner at the farm called Cwrt Y Cribin at Llandeilo Graban. He married Margaret Jones in Hay on the 23rd September 1916. Their daughter, Harriet Grace Grubb, was born at the farm on the 21st August 1916. Grubb is believed to have served with the 16th Battalion Cheshire Regiment, possibly also with the King's Shropshire Light Infantry and eventually with the 12th Entrenching Battalion in Northern France, the latter unit being formed from surplus men from four different county regiments. On the 24th March 1918 he was reported as Missing In Action, presumed dead. His daughter Harriet married a Godwin Williams in 1938 and eventually became a nurse, living at Halesowen in the West MIdlands. However, her death in 1984 is registered at Hay.
From patient research we know a little more about John Christopher Arthur Williams-Vaughan. Born in 1891 in Llandefalle into a well-placed local family he was educated at Eton and Oxford. He enlisted in the South Wales Borderers in 1914 as a Second Lieutenant and was subsequently transferred to the Machine Gun Corps. He was killed at the Battle of the Somme on the 15th July 1916.
His sister, known locally as Nessa (later Mrs Lionel Trafford) instigated the purchase of the German Field Gun, which was eventually placed on Twyn-y-garth overlooking Erwood village to commemorate the ending of the war, in memory of her elder brother and other local men killed in action. Her younger brother Francis also served, initially as a Midshipman in the Royal Navy, although by 1929 he was a Lieutenant Commander and he lived until 1977.
We still haven’t identified all of the individuals listed on the Llandeilo roll of honour, but in general we would like to try and find out more about all of the men who served and returned safely, especially as their descendants may now be living amongst us.
Of the twenty-nine names listed at Aberedw, we think that all returned safely, although we still have a lot of work to do in identifying them fully.
Some names remain impossible to trace and there may be several reasons for this – the Census is only held every ten years and it is possible that some enlisted men may have only just moved into the area after the Census of 1911, which is the last one that we can currently access. It is also possible that many more recruits may have been servants (farm workers or domestic staff employed on local farms) and that they originated elsewhere, so will have no local family members. Others may have emigrated and there are at least two names on our lists shown as fighting with the Canadian Armed Forces, Rhys Davies from Crickadarn and Evan Davies from Aberedw.
Some histories are tricky to work out. For example, there is the case of Captain Ralph Jennings Roberts, born in either 1880 or 1881 in St Columb, Cornwall, whose parents remained in Newquay. At the time of the 1911 Census Roberts was living at a boarding house in Tenby, where he was working as an articled solicitor’s clerk. When the Great War started he served initially with the Hussars then with the 179th Company of the Machine Gun Corps and was killed in Palestine/Israel, where he is buried at the Beersheba War Cemetery. So why is he commemorated at Crickadarn?
Perhaps one of the saddest stories of all is that of the two brothers John and Douglas White from Gwenddwr, both sons of the local police constable. Both were killed in France within just one month of each other in August and September 1918, shortly before the end of the war. The brothers are buried at different cemeteries in France.
There are still lots of gaps and question marks in our knowledge and some of the military units listed on the memorials are unrecognisable too, so your help in identifying many of these would be most welcome. We would especially like to know who the descendants of the listed men are, as they may have much more information to offer. Please let us know if you believe that your ancestors served in the Great War while they were living in this area. We also appear to be missing any details of enlisted men from the central Painscastle area, so if you can throw any light on why that should be so or if you can offer any more information about the following servicemen please get in touch with us by email:
GREAT WAR
David Watkins
Born 1885/1886
Killed in action 07.08.1917 in Flanders
Formerly of High Park
Meredith R. Bevan
Born 1885 in Crickadarn
Killed in action in September 1916 on the Somme
Formerly of Crickadarn
Rhys Owen Davies
Born 1887 in Crickadarn
Killed in action 31.08.1917 in France
Formerly of Trericket Mill, Crickadarn, then emigrated to Canada
Ralph Jennings Roberts
Born 1880/1881 in St. Columb, Cornwall
Killed in action in Palestine 31.10.1917
Unknown link with Crickadarn
John Henry White
Born 1889 in Crickhowell
Killed in action 21.08.1918 in France
Formerly of Gwenddwr
Douglas L. White
Born 1891/1892 in Brecknock
Killed in action 18.09.1918 in France
Formerly of Gwenddwr
John P. Phillips
Born 1896 in Llandefalle
Killed in action 08.09.1918 in Flanders
Formerly of Wernos Farm, Llandefalle
John Charles Chetwynd
Born 1891 in Llangedwn, Denbighshire
Killed in action 08.05.1915 in Flanders
Formerly of Llandeilo Graban
George Grubb
Born 1894 in Alton Cross, Herefordshire
Killed in action on 24.03.1918 on the Somme
Unknown link with Llandeilo Graban
John Christopher Arthur Williams-Vaughan
Born 1891 in Llandefalle
Killed in action 15.07.1916 on the Somme
Formerly of The Skreen, Erwood
SECOND WORLD WAR
James Jeffery Smith
No date/place of birth
Killed in action 17.11.1940
Buried at Gwenddwr
Husband of Hilda Jane Smith, Ponsticil
Graham Hugh Lloyd
Born 1920? In Cardiff
Killed in action 01.07.1944 in Normandy
Son of Hugh and Frances Edith Lloyd of Newchurch
Stewart Goodwin Owen Jones
Born 1924 in Kington
Died in captivity in Germany 26.03.1945
Son of William and Susanah Jones, Caerleon
This appeal was first published in the Rhosgoch Gossip dated May/June 2015 and is reproduced here with the kind permission of the editor.
Of the one hundred or so soldiers, sailors and airmen commemorated, ten are known to have been killed in the Great War or to have subsequently died of their injuries and another three in the Second World War. The memorial at Crickadarn lists five men, all of whom died, so we can only assume that many more men from that area enlisted and survived, but were not commemorated. Their five names are also duplicated at Erwood Market Hall, where a sixth individual, John Phillips, is also listed as having been killed in action in the First World War.
Almost all of the names listed on the Bryngwyn memorial are duplicated on the memorial at Hermon Chapel, with only two names (H. Lloyd and Howard Richards) exclusively appearing on the Hermon roll of honour. One soldier – Stewart Jones, who died in 1945 - is listed on the Bryngwyn, Hermon and Newchurch memorials and only one other man – Graham Lloyd, who was killed in 1944 - is listed exclusively on the Newchurch memorial. Stewart Jones is buried in Becklingen Cemetery in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is believed that he was actually taken prisoner in Italy and that he died while on an enforced march to a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany.
Of the twenty names listed at Bryngwyn and Hermon only one, thankfully, is recorded as having been killed during the Great War. This is Gunner David Watkins of the Royal Field Artillery, who lived at High Park. There is also a separate memorial in his name at Bryngwyn “erected by friends”. He is buried at Brandhoek Cemetery in Flanders, Belgium.
Of the seven names listed at Gwenddwr, one – James Smith – is recorded as having been killed in 1940 and is actually buried in Gwenddwr churchyard. This is an official war grave. However, we have not yet been able to fully identify all of the Gwenddwr names, so there may have been more fatalities.
Of the twenty-seven men commemorated at Llandeilo Graban, three were killed in the Great War – John Chetwynd, George Grubb and John Williams-Vaughan, of The Skreen. It is worth mentioning that three of John Chetwynd’s brothers also served on the front, but happily survived. Their father Edward was the schoolmaster at Llandeilo Graban and was temporarily transferred to Boughrood School when the headmaster there was called up. He had previously travelled and worked throughout Britain, his four sons being born in four different counties.
Thanks to one of our correspondents, Terry Drayton, we now know a bit more about George Grubb, who was born near Weobley, Herefordshire, on the 4th August 1894 to George and Harriet Grubb. He went to school at Bredwardine and eventually moved to Painscastle, where he was known to be a waggoner at the farm called Cwrt Y Cribin at Llandeilo Graban. He married Margaret Jones in Hay on the 23rd September 1916. Their daughter, Harriet Grace Grubb, was born at the farm on the 21st August 1916. Grubb is believed to have served with the 16th Battalion Cheshire Regiment, possibly also with the King's Shropshire Light Infantry and eventually with the 12th Entrenching Battalion in Northern France, the latter unit being formed from surplus men from four different county regiments. On the 24th March 1918 he was reported as Missing In Action, presumed dead. His daughter Harriet married a Godwin Williams in 1938 and eventually became a nurse, living at Halesowen in the West MIdlands. However, her death in 1984 is registered at Hay.
From patient research we know a little more about John Christopher Arthur Williams-Vaughan. Born in 1891 in Llandefalle into a well-placed local family he was educated at Eton and Oxford. He enlisted in the South Wales Borderers in 1914 as a Second Lieutenant and was subsequently transferred to the Machine Gun Corps. He was killed at the Battle of the Somme on the 15th July 1916.
His sister, known locally as Nessa (later Mrs Lionel Trafford) instigated the purchase of the German Field Gun, which was eventually placed on Twyn-y-garth overlooking Erwood village to commemorate the ending of the war, in memory of her elder brother and other local men killed in action. Her younger brother Francis also served, initially as a Midshipman in the Royal Navy, although by 1929 he was a Lieutenant Commander and he lived until 1977.
We still haven’t identified all of the individuals listed on the Llandeilo roll of honour, but in general we would like to try and find out more about all of the men who served and returned safely, especially as their descendants may now be living amongst us.
Of the twenty-nine names listed at Aberedw, we think that all returned safely, although we still have a lot of work to do in identifying them fully.
Some names remain impossible to trace and there may be several reasons for this – the Census is only held every ten years and it is possible that some enlisted men may have only just moved into the area after the Census of 1911, which is the last one that we can currently access. It is also possible that many more recruits may have been servants (farm workers or domestic staff employed on local farms) and that they originated elsewhere, so will have no local family members. Others may have emigrated and there are at least two names on our lists shown as fighting with the Canadian Armed Forces, Rhys Davies from Crickadarn and Evan Davies from Aberedw.
Some histories are tricky to work out. For example, there is the case of Captain Ralph Jennings Roberts, born in either 1880 or 1881 in St Columb, Cornwall, whose parents remained in Newquay. At the time of the 1911 Census Roberts was living at a boarding house in Tenby, where he was working as an articled solicitor’s clerk. When the Great War started he served initially with the Hussars then with the 179th Company of the Machine Gun Corps and was killed in Palestine/Israel, where he is buried at the Beersheba War Cemetery. So why is he commemorated at Crickadarn?
Perhaps one of the saddest stories of all is that of the two brothers John and Douglas White from Gwenddwr, both sons of the local police constable. Both were killed in France within just one month of each other in August and September 1918, shortly before the end of the war. The brothers are buried at different cemeteries in France.
There are still lots of gaps and question marks in our knowledge and some of the military units listed on the memorials are unrecognisable too, so your help in identifying many of these would be most welcome. We would especially like to know who the descendants of the listed men are, as they may have much more information to offer. Please let us know if you believe that your ancestors served in the Great War while they were living in this area. We also appear to be missing any details of enlisted men from the central Painscastle area, so if you can throw any light on why that should be so or if you can offer any more information about the following servicemen please get in touch with us by email:
GREAT WAR
David Watkins
Born 1885/1886
Killed in action 07.08.1917 in Flanders
Formerly of High Park
Meredith R. Bevan
Born 1885 in Crickadarn
Killed in action in September 1916 on the Somme
Formerly of Crickadarn
Rhys Owen Davies
Born 1887 in Crickadarn
Killed in action 31.08.1917 in France
Formerly of Trericket Mill, Crickadarn, then emigrated to Canada
Ralph Jennings Roberts
Born 1880/1881 in St. Columb, Cornwall
Killed in action in Palestine 31.10.1917
Unknown link with Crickadarn
John Henry White
Born 1889 in Crickhowell
Killed in action 21.08.1918 in France
Formerly of Gwenddwr
Douglas L. White
Born 1891/1892 in Brecknock
Killed in action 18.09.1918 in France
Formerly of Gwenddwr
John P. Phillips
Born 1896 in Llandefalle
Killed in action 08.09.1918 in Flanders
Formerly of Wernos Farm, Llandefalle
John Charles Chetwynd
Born 1891 in Llangedwn, Denbighshire
Killed in action 08.05.1915 in Flanders
Formerly of Llandeilo Graban
George Grubb
Born 1894 in Alton Cross, Herefordshire
Killed in action on 24.03.1918 on the Somme
Unknown link with Llandeilo Graban
John Christopher Arthur Williams-Vaughan
Born 1891 in Llandefalle
Killed in action 15.07.1916 on the Somme
Formerly of The Skreen, Erwood
SECOND WORLD WAR
James Jeffery Smith
No date/place of birth
Killed in action 17.11.1940
Buried at Gwenddwr
Husband of Hilda Jane Smith, Ponsticil
Graham Hugh Lloyd
Born 1920? In Cardiff
Killed in action 01.07.1944 in Normandy
Son of Hugh and Frances Edith Lloyd of Newchurch
Stewart Goodwin Owen Jones
Born 1924 in Kington
Died in captivity in Germany 26.03.1945
Son of William and Susanah Jones, Caerleon
This appeal was first published in the Rhosgoch Gossip dated May/June 2015 and is reproduced here with the kind permission of the editor.