Tag Archives: Denbighshire

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, photography, story, war

Private Edwin Barber

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Private Edwin Barber

Edwin Reginald Barber was born on 26th November 1864 in Martock, Somerset. The oldest of three children, his parents were William and Julia Barber. William was a tailor by trade, but Edwin sought bigger and better things.

On 3rd March 1885, Edwin enlisted in the Border Regiment. Sadly, there are no further details of his military service, although a later report suggests that he spent seven years with the King’s Royal Rifle Corps.

By 1898, Edwin was back in civilian life. He married a woman called Gertrude and, according to the 1901 census, they were living in Wrexham, Denbighshire, where he was employed as a labourer.

Somerset beckoned Edwin home, and he and Gertrude took up residence as landlords of the Stapleton Cross Inn in Martock. They remained there for more than ten years, although the army wasn’t completely done with them as yet.

When war came to Europe, Edwin felt the need to step up and serve once more. Despite approaching his 50th birthday, he joined the Somerset Light Infantry on 15th November 1914, although he soon transferred to a less physical role in the National Defence Corps.

This seemed to have proven to strenuous for Private Barber’s body, however, and he was formally discharged from military service on 2nd October 1916. Edwin returned to Martock, and once again took up his landlord duties.

From here on, Edwin was dogged with poor health. He passed away at home on 18th May 1921, after a long illness. He was 56 years of age.

Edwin Reginald Barber was laid to rest in the graveyard of All Saints’ Church in Martock.

Bedfordshire, Commonwealth War Graves, Denbighshire, Great War, Hertfordshire, history, illness, photography, Private, Royal Army Service Corps, story, Wales, war

Private Philip Johnson

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Private Philip Johnson

Philip Johnson was born in the summer of 1891 in Wrexham, Denbighshire. One of eight children his parents were Samuel and Mary Johnson. Samuel was a wine merchant from Scotland, while Mary had been born in Cheshire. When Philip was born the family were living and running the town’s Lion House inn on the High Street.

Mary died in 1897 and, in 1909 Samuel moved his family on. He bought the Royal Hotel in Llangollen, which occupied a large plot on the riverside, and which included a large garden.

The Royal Hotel was a busy business: to look after the guests, there were eleven members of staff living in. This was to be a Johnson family business, however, with Philip’s older sibling Elizabeth managing the hotel with her father, his brother Samuel Jr assisting, his sister Ethel acting as bookkeeper and Philip himself managing the bar.

In the spring of 1914, Philip married Elizabeth Kelsall, whose family ran the Eivion Hotel, down the road from The Royal. The couple set up home in the town – possibly even still living at Samuel’s hotel – and had two children.

When war came to Europe, Philip stepped up to play his part. Sadly, full details of his military service are lost to time, although it is clear from other documents that he had enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps.

For The Royal Hotel, this was a challenging time. By December 1916, two of Samuel’s sons – including Philip – were away on service, as were nine of the hotel’s seventeen staff. Samuel applied for Samuel Jr’s exemption from war service on the basis that he was the hotel’s manager, but this was refused. A year later, he applied for another of the hotel’s servant’s, an Evan Edwards, exemption, but again this was refused.

Philip, meanwhile, was attached to the 728th Coy of the Motor Transport section of the Royal Army Service Corps. His troop served the RE Signal Service Training Centre, but it is unclear whether he saw any action overseas. By the end of the war, however, he was based in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.

With winter closing in, illness became rife in the cramped condition of army barracks. Private Johnson contracted pneumonia, and was admitted to the Bedford Military Hospital, not far from where he was based. Sadly, the lung condition was to get the better of him, and he succumbed to it, passing away on 7th November 1918, aged just 27 years old.

Philip Johnson’s body was brought back to Wales for burial. He was laid to rest in a family plot in the graveyard of St John’s Church in his adopted home town of Llangollen.

Commonwealth War Graves, Denbighshire, Great War, history, illness, photography, Private, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, story, Wales, war

Private William Hughes

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Private William Hughes

William Thomas Hughes was born on 4th August 1898 in Llangollen, Denbighshire. One of twins, he was also one of seven children to William and Margaret Hughes. William Sr was a bricklayer and the family lived on Fron Bache, a land to the south of the town, leading into the hills. The Hughes’ baptised their first five children on the same day – 5th October 1904 – in the parish church.

Little further information on young William’s life remains. When war broke out, he stepped up to play his part: details of when have been lost to time, but, according to later records, he had enlisted by December 1917.

Private Hughes joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and was assigned to one of their depots, possibly on the North Wales coast. Certainly this is where he was based by the spring of 1918 as, in May of that year, he was admitted to the Red Cross Hospital in Colwyn Bay, having contracted malaria.

Tragically, this condition was to get the better of him: Private Hughes passed away on 7th May 1918, at the tender age of just 20 years old.

William Thomas Hughes was brought back to Llangollen for burial He was laid to rest in the graveyard of the town’s St John’s Church.

Commonwealth War Graves, Denbighshire, Great War, history, photography, Private, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, story, unknown, Wales, war, Wiltshire

Private George Williams

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Private George Williams

George Williams was born in 1887 in Ruthin, Denbighshire. One of thirteen children – of whom sadly only seven survived – his parents were John and Martha Williams. John was a carpenter and joiner and, when the children had grown a little, he and Martha took on the Registered Tramp Lodging House in Church Street, Llangollen.

The 1911 census recorded George living with his parents and working as a carter. His younger brother John was employed as a labourer, while the rest of his siblings were at school. The boarding house was full as Martha’s brother was staying there, along with four lodgers.

George married Catherine Edwards on 27th May 1911. She was an engineer’s daughter, also from Llangollen, and the couple tied the knot in St Collen’s Church, which was on the same street as the Williams’ boarding house. The newlyweds moved to Ruabon, six miles (10km) to the east of Llangollen, and had a daughter, Martha, who was born in 1912.

When war was declared, George was quick to enlist. He joined the 8th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and was sent to Salisbury Plain for his training. While here, however, Private Williams passed away. The cause of his passing is not readily available, but it seems likely that he succumbed to illness, possibly brought on by the sudden influx of men from across the country suddenly billeted together in the confines of an army camp. He died on 7th December 1914, aged just 27 years of age.

George Williams’ body was brought back to Wales for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St John’s Church in Llangollen.

Tragically, just six days after George’s death, Catherine gave birth to their second child. George Jr would never know his father.

Commonwealth War Graves, Denbighshire, Great War, history, illness, Norfolk, photography, Private, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, story, Wales, war

Private James Jones

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Private James Jones

James Ward Jones was born on 17th August 1871 in the Denbighshire town of Llangollen. He was the oldest of eleven children to William and Anne Jones. William was a bricklayer’s labourer, and James followed suit when he finished school.

On 30th April 1898, James married fisherman’s daughter Mary Jones. The couple set up home in Llangollen and went on to have ten children.

When war came to Europe, James stepped up to play his part for King and Country. Sadly, little detail of his military service remains available. but it is clear that he enlisted in the Royal Welch Fusiliers and, as a Private, he was assigned to the 47th Provisional Battalion. The troop was based on home soil, and James found himself sent to Norfolk for his war work.

It is unlikely that Private Jones was in camp for long. On Christmas Day 1915 he collapsed having had a seizure, and passed away. He was 44 years of age.

James Ward Jones’ body was brought back to Wales for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St John’s Church in his home town of Llangollen.

Mary was left with ten children to bring up on her own. She married again, to a Jack Evans, in the autumn of 1916. The couple had two children of their own. Mary passed away in December 1935, aged just 58 years old.

Commonwealth War Graves, Denbighshire, Great War, history, illness, Lance Corporal, photography, Private, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, Scotland, story, Wales, war

Lance Corporal John Roberts

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Lance Corporal John Roberts

John Briscoe Roberts was born in 1882 in the Welsh village of Llanaelhaiarn. He was the oldest of ten children to the village’s sub-postmaster Samuel Roberts and his wife Elizabeth.

When he left school, John found employment with a local estate agent and, by the time of war was declared, he was working as a clerk for a timber mill in Llangollen, Denbighshire.

John was quick to enlist – he joined up on 15th August 1914 and, as a Private, was assigned to the Royal Welch Fusiliers. His service records show he was 5ft 7ins (1.70m) tall, and weighed 142lbs (64.4kg). They also note that he had black hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion.

Private Roberts’ initial service was carried out on home soil. He worked diligently and was rewarded for it, being promoted to Lance Corporal in December 1914. By the following June, his troop, the 8th Battalion, was sent overseas, first to Mudros in Greece, and then on to Gallipoli. In September 1915, Lance Corporal Roberts contracted dysentery and tuberculosis. He was medically evacuated back to Britain and admitted to the 1st Scottish General Hospital in Aberdeen to recover.

On 26th January 1917, John married Gladys Emily Edwards in Wrexham Parish Church. The couple settled down in Llangollen, where Gladys was from, and where John had been working before the war. His lung condition continued to dog him, however and, after another couple of months, he was deemed no longer fit for active service, and medically discharged from the army.

John took up his role in the timber yard again, remaining there for the next year or so. Tuberculosis was ultimately to get the better of him, however, and he passed away on 3rd July 1918, at the age of 36 years old.

John Briscoe Roberts was laid to rest in the graveyard of St John’s Church in Llangollen, Denbighshire.

Commonwealth War Graves, Denbighshire, Great War, history, illness, London, Monmouthshire, photography, Royal Army Service Corps, Saddler, story, Wales, war

Saddler Henry Evans

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Saddler Henry Evans

Henry Evans was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, in the summer of 1883. Little concrete information remains about his early life, but it is clear that he was boarding with a dock labourer and his family in the town by the time of the 1901 census.

Henry married Margaret Jane Garner in Pontypridd on 14th March 1909. Within a couple of years, the young couple had moved to Llangollen in Denbighshire, and had had two children, Horace and Emlyn. Henry was now working as a saddler.

War was coming to Europe and, in November 1915, Henry enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps. His previous trade saw him well, as he was assigned to the regiment’s 1st Company with the rank of Saddler. His service records show that he was 5ft 8.5ins (1.74m) tall, had no distinctive marks, and that his was Wesleyan in his beliefs.

After a few weeks on home soil, Saddler Evans was sent to the Western Front, arriving there just before Christmas 1915. For the next year, he worked in France, returning to Britain 366 days after he left for the continent. By this point, however, his health seems to have been suffering, and it was to prove to be the beginning of the end for him.

Saddler Evans was suffering from transverse myelitis, an inflammation of the spinal cord. Symptoms can be wide-ranging, but in Henry they were severe enough to be viewed as a permanent ailment. At the end of May 1917, while admitted to the Queen Alexandra Hospital on Millbank, London, he was recommended for immediate military discharge.

Unfortunately, as is often the way with bureaucracy, the discharge papers went missing. In July 1917, Henry was moved to the Croesnewydd Hospital in Wrexham, and is was here, a month later, that his documents caught up with him. Saddler Evans was finally discharged from military service on 4th August 1917.

Sadly, his army status was not to have any kind of effect on his health: at 9:30am on 17th August Henry passed away while still admitted to the Wrexham hospital. He was just 34 years of age.

Brought back to Llangollen for burial, Henry Evans was laid to rest in a plot in the town’s Fron Cemetery. He was to be reunited with his family in time: Horace died in 1940, Margaret in 1956 and Emlyn in 1963, and all were laid to rest in the same grave.

Commonwealth War Graves, Denbighshire, Great War, history, injury, photography, Private, Shropshire, story, Wales, war

Private Richard Morris

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Private Richard Morris

Richard Levi Morris was born in the village of Carno, mid-Wales, in the autumn of 1895. He was the oldest of five children to John and Hannah Morris. John was a tailor who, when Richard was still a babe in arms, moved the family north to the Denbighshire town of Llangollen.

When he left school, Richard found work as baker’s apprentice. He was employed by the Model Bakery on Church Street, Llangollen, a business that would go on to win, according to its subsequent advertising, a bronze medal for both its white and brown bread in both 1912 and 1913 [North Wales Journal: Friday 7th August 1914].

War was coming to Europe, and Richard stepped up to play his part. Full details of his service are sadly lost to time, but he had enlisted in the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry by the summer of 1918. Initially assigned to the 9th (Service) Battalion, Private Morris subsequently transferred to the 2nd/4th Battalion and was attached to one of the regiment’s depots.

What little documentation around Richard’s actual service confirms that he was sent to the Western Front. At some point towards the end of the conflict – possibly during the final advance in Picardy – he was wounded. Medically evacuated to Britain, he was admitted to a cottage hospital in Oswestry, Shropshire.

Sadly, it was here that Private Morris was to breath his last: he succumbed to his injuries on 18th January 1919, at the tender age of just 24 years old.

The body of Richard Levi Morris was brought back to Wales for burial. He was laid to rest in the quiet Fron Cemetery in Llangollen.

Canada, Canadian Forestry Corps, Commonwealth War Graves, Denbighshire, Great War, history, illness, Kent, photography, Private, story, Wales, war

Private Norman Roberts

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Private Norman Roberts

Norman David Roberts was born on 3rd November 1886 in the North Wales town of Llangollen. He was the youngest of three children to weaver John Roberts and his wife, Emma.

When he left school, Norman found work as a clerk on the railways and, by the time of the 1911 census, he had moved over the English border to Chester, and was boarding with an Emma Matheson.

The move to England may have spurred Norman on to other things. At some point after the census, he made the decision to seek a better life overseas. He emigrated to North America and settled in the town of Everett, to the north of Seattle. He continued his trade, however, and recorded himself as doing clerical work in transportation.

War was coming to Europe by this point and, in December 1917, Norman stood up to play his part. He made the crossing to Victoria, in the Canadian state of British Colombia, and enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Private Roberts’ service records show that he was 5ft 11ins (1.80m) tall, had blue eyes, brown hair and a fair complexion. He had no distinguishing marks, but was recorded as having 20/20 vision. His religion was also recorded as Baptist/Congregationalist.

Norman was assigned to the 53rd Company of the Canadian Forestry Corps, and arrived back in Britain on 26th January 1918. Based in Shorncliffe, Kent, he was involved in felling and trimming trees and wood for the war effort.

Private Roberts was given a couple of periods of leave – five days in July 1918, and nine days in December that year. The latter leave was granted so that he could marry Claudia Griffiths back home in Wales.

While the Armistice had been declared, by January, Norman was back in Kent helping the post-war effort. Things were to take a turn, however, as he caught a severe cold, and a nagging cough. Unable to shake it, he grew progressively weaker and, over the next six months, lost 20lbs (9kg) in weight.

Admitted to the camp hospital in June 1919, Private Roberts was diagnosed with bronchitis. He was moved to another hospital in Orpington, Kent, where his diagnosis was upgraded to tuberculosis. Invalided back to Canada that August, within a matter of weeks he was medically discharged from service. His discharge papers noted that was weighed just 122lbs (55.3kg) and has a long flat chest with prominent clavicles. Norman’s once fair complexion was now dark (a combination of his work outside and his health).

Now out of the army, Norman made the journey back to North Wales, and settled in Llangollen with Claudia. The couple went on to have a daughter in 1920, but Norman’s health was deteriorating. He passed away at home on 23rd February 1921, at the age of 34 years old.

Norman David Roberts was laid to rest in Fron Cemetery in his home town of Llangollen. His was a family plot, and he was reunited with Claudia when she passed away.

Commonwealth War Graves, Denbighshire, Great War, history, injury, Lance Corporal, Middlesex, photography, Private, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, story, war

Lance Corporal Thomas Roberts

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Lance Corporal Thomas Roberts

Thomas Roberts was born in Llangollen, Denbighshire, in 1895. One of seven children, his parents were William and Ellen Roberts. William was a butter merchant, and his wife helped in the business.

When Thomas left school, he found work as a greengrocer’s assistant, but when war was declared he saw an opportunity for glory. While full details of his military service are no longer available, it’s clear that he enlisted in the Royal Welch Fusiliers.

Private Roberts was assigned to the 13th (Service) Battalion (1st North Wales) and on 1st December 1915, found himself in France. For the next eighteen months, he was firmly ensconced on the Western Front, and rose to the rank of Lance Corporal for his service.

In April 1917, Thomas was injured in fighting and was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment to his bullet wounds. Admitted to the Edmonton Military Hospital in North London, his injuries were to prove too severe. Lance Corporal Roberts passed away on 22nd April 1917. He was just 21 years of age.

Brought back to Wales for burial, Thomas Roberts was laid to rest in the family plot in Llangollen’s Fron Cemetery.

Thomas was buried along with his brother David, who had passed away in 1912. They were joined by their father William, who died in 1919, and their sister Elizabeth, who passed away in 1945. The family were finally reunited with Ellen, when she died in 1947, at the age of 86.