Private Henry Davies 1894 - 1918

[heleng]

I am searching for information on my mother-in-laws great uncles, the sons of John and Margaret Ellen Davies, all born in Meifod, Powys between 1884 and 1894. I have discovered that the youngest, Henry, joined the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and was killed in action on 23 July 1918. The CWGC record is http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/ca...62/DAVIES,%20H

The second oldest, David Thomas (Born 1886) also appears to have joined the regiment - I am not 100% sure if I have the right person here because it is a common name and there are no definite next of kin clues. He was hospitalised in August 1918 and demobbed in 1919.

the other brothers were John Owen (born 1884) William (born 1888), Ellis Edward (born 1889) and Charles (born 1891). A picture of the Meifod war memorial in the church indicates that Henry was the only casualty although they would all have been the right age to serve.

Unfortunately I have only just discovered this, days too late for an exhibition in Meifod which might have answered some more questions - I live fairly nearby. If anyone has the exhibition information, or can point me in the right direction to find out more I would be most grateful.

many thanks (on behalf of my mother-in-law)
Helen

[Baconwallah]

What I have:

203617 Pte Henry Davies

Son of John and Margaret E. Davies, of Meifod, Montgomeryshire. Formerly 4 Res Bn RWF, enlisted 01/1917, posted 24 RWF from IBD.
Killed, age 24, in enemy shelling of support lines 2:45-3:45 pm on 23/07/1918. Buried Le Grand Hasard Military Cemetery, Morbecque.

Hope this helps.

John

[heleng]

many thanks for your quick response and the extra information. Do you know how I could find out where he died please? I have not been able to work out where the 'action' was on that day.

I have also managed to get more from Findmypast (£1 for a month at the moment BTW). Fortunately his records survived the WWII fire and there are several sheets.

it seems that he initially enlisted at Wrexham on a form dated 12 December 1915.

there is also a form which gives a statement of all his living relatives, dated 7th Feb 1920. Not sure why the war office wanted this but it is very useful to me. His brother David Thomas is not listed, which implies that he had died before this date and that the details I mentioned in my first post for him refer to a namesake. There were two David Thomas Davies born in 1886 in Meifod.

I happen to be going to London next week and have requested an appointment at the Imperial War Museum to see if they can shed further light.

thank you again.
Helen

[Hywyn]

Helen

He attested in December 1915 and was place in Reserves. He was then called up in January 1917. After training he was posted to 24th Bn, at that time in Egypt/Palestine. The 24th Bn moved to France in May 1918 and he went with it.

You can download the 24th Bn War Diary for 3.30 and follow his war. You can also see the events of 23 7 1918 as outlined above by John.

http://discovery.nationalarchives.go...s?uri=C7353723

I suggest you first draw up a time line from his records of his movements in and out of the Bn e.g hospital etc.

[Hywyn]

See bottom of column 2 in this newspaper report

http://cymru1914.org/en/search?query...lascoed&filter[collection_title][]=Llangollen+advertiser%2C+Denbighshire%2C+Merionet hshire%2C+and+North+Wales+Journal+%281860-1893%29



The article states he had two brothers served/serving but doesn't name them.

The Canadian one is Charles

Click on the one with the number 701259 in this list.

http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discove...a%22charles%22

Combining your 'family lore' and the info from this article it is fair to say we should be now looking for David (Thomas) Davies, Machine Gun Corps, ex Welsh Horse?



edit: insert right link

[heleng]

this is fantastic! I hoped there might be a newspaper report or a letter but to be shown it so quickly...wonderful.

my mother-in-law (85 in 2 weeks) is the grand-daughter of the eldest of the brothers, John Owen Davies (1884-1959) who does not appear to have served; he married in 1906 and had one son, although he was within the age limits for conscription. However he may have been a miner which I think was exempt. No information has been passed down the family, my mother-in-law only really remembers John Owen and the three sisters who were the youngest of the family. She is very interested in what happened to her great-uncles and will be delighted by this.

so I now know that Charles went to Canada, some time after the 1911 census when he was working as a waggoner in Meifod.

I am fairly sure that David (Thomas) was alive at the time of the 1911 census; I haven't found him but the census return for his parents and the 3 sisters shows that 9 children had been born and none had died. His exact birth date was Mar 20 1886, from a list that my mother-in-law has found. The other serving brother could have been William or Ellis Edward?

meanwhile I will follow Gwilwil's suggestions. I have also requested charge of Henry Davies' find-a-grave entry so that this can be documented.

[Baconwallah]

If you want a photo of the grave, email Pierre Vandervelden pierre.vandervelden@skynet.be and he'll be happy to help.

John

[heleng]

thank you to everyone for your help with this. Here is the findagrave page for Henry Davies with all that I know so far.

http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi...063845&df=all&


best wishes
Helen

[ap1]

Welcome Helen.

Do you have a picture of Henry? The RWF Museum is currently attempting to obtain as many named pictures as possible of the RWF Great War Dead, in order to mount a media exhibition over the 4 years.

[heleng]

sadly not - although if one turns up I will let you know. My mother-in-law has a TARDIS-like house and she does unearth long-forgotten treasures sometimes!