Witness These Letters

G.D.Roberts, Witness These Letters (Gee & Son Ltd., Denbigh, 1983) 112pp
ISBN 0 7074 0101 1

This is a collection of letters and recollections relating to the Roberts family of Bangor, Gwynedd, during the First World War. Originally prepared by G.Dewi Roberts in 1932, it was enlarged by his daughter and first published in 1983.

The father of the family was the Rev. Peter Jones Roberts, Wesleyan minister of St.Paul's Church Bangor. Commissioned in the Army Chaplains Department aged 51, he went to France in 1915, and by 1916 was attached to a unit of the 38th Welsh Division (probably the 15th RWF, or the 113th Brigade) in time for the Battle of Mametz Wood. He was the "Padre Evans" mentioned with respect by Llewelyn Wyn Griffiths in his book Up To Mametz, for tirelessly tending to the casualties even though he had lost his own son (see below) a few days earlier. Only one letter is printed, the remainder of the account being recollections, but including a letter by Llew Griffiths verifying that he and "Padre Evans" were one and the same.

Later attached to Casualty Clearing Stations, he served during the March Retreat of 1918, and went on to the British Army of the Rhine, returning to the UK in 1920. The strain had taken its toll however, and in June 1921 he seems to have fainted while fishing on the Menai Straits and was drowned (he has a War Grave at Glanadda, Bangor).

His son Glyn C.Roberts was commissioned aged 19 in the 9th RWF, and wrote a series of letters from the Western Front following his arrival there in July 1915. These are slightly lighthearted, but do give an indication of conditions and casualties etc., including a good account of the Battle of Loos, Sept 1915. He was killed at La Boisselle on the Somme on 3 July 1916.

His brother P.Aubrey Roberts enlisted in the 16th RWF aged 21, being commissioned in the same unit in March 1915. His letters commence with the battalion's arrival in France in December 1915, but are more guarded than Glyn's as to operations etc. He was captured during an enemy trench raid in December 1916 , so the remainder of his letters are from the POW camp at Clausthal-am-Harz and show the influence of censorship. Here he made friends with (Colonel) Eric Skaife, historian of the RWF. Aubrey died in 1929 en route home after living in Chile.

The eldest brother Iorrie P.Roberts is recorded in a brief recollection only, having been commissioned into the 17th RWF and served two years in France before being badly wounded in September 1918, but survived the War.

The youngest brother (and author of much of this volume) G.Dewi Roberts had to wait until 1917 before securing a commission in the RWF, and after some time with the 3rd Battalion in Ireland was posted to the 9th RWF in France in July 1918. He earned the MC during an attack on 30 September 1918 (a letter by his CO describes how). His letters are chatty and avoid commenting on operations. His obituary from 1938 is included.

His daughter Elizabeth G.Roberts doesn't forget to include a recollection of her mother during the conflict . The book includes portrait photographs of all the men in uniform, and one of the family in pre-war days. For those of us who study the RWF and the effects of the war on families in North Wales, this little volume is most interesting. It is probably only available now as a second-hand item, but worth obtaining as an addition to the RWF WW1 bookshelf.