WW1 Rolls of Honour in Troedyrhiw

Following the Great War many towns and villages erected Rolls of Honour in places of worship, workplaces etc. Troedyrhiw was no exception.

The Great War – Men from Troedyrhiw that Served

During WW1, as Troedyrhiw was a ‘coal community’, many of its men were engaged on vital war work extracting the fuel that was so essential for Royal Navy ships in addition to industrial and domestic uses. It is surprising, therefore, to find that so many men had volunteered for military service so early in the War as these newspaper extracts show.

Samuel Rees Phillips & the Great War

There is a plaque in St John’s Church, Troedyrhiw dedicated to the memory of Samuel Rees Phillips who died in Jerusalem during WW1. From the date (May 1917) and location I think that Samuel must have been wounded in the First or Second Battle of Gaza but I can’t be sure. As he enlisted in the Welsh Regiment early in the War (1914) I assume that he would have been involved in the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign (1915) and possibly the Battle of Romani (1916) before receiving ultimately fatal wounds in the Palestine Campaign. Please take a while during this WW1 Centenary period to think of Samuel and all of the other casualties of this dreadful conflict.

Sam Small & the Great War

 At a recent talk given to Troed-y-rhiw Local History Forum at Carmel Chapel in the village some of the events in the life of Samuel (known as ‘Sam’) Small were explained. This covered his pre-War life as a gas fitter living in Aberfan to his service in the Royal Navy, his ongoing correspondence with his future wife May Osment and, sadly, an early death in 1924 having survived the War.

Poppies on family headstones of world war casualties

During this WW1 Centenary period we have been motivated to mark, with poppies, headstones in Saron Graveyard, Troedyrhiw to indicate where families have inscribed the names of members who died in the two world wars. These are:-

JOHN WILLIAM DAVIES, b. 1894, Killed in Action, Belgium 10 Apr 1918.

GODFREY MARSDEN WILLIAMS, b. 1893, Died, Egypt 26 Apr 1918.

REES DAVIES, b. 1889, Died, France 07 Dec 1914.

DAVID GLYNDWYR DAVIES, b. 1919, Died on Active Service 10 Oct 1942.

Residents explore the history of the village

Those attending Troed-y-rhiw Local History Forum last week were treated to an excellent presentation by local historian Carl Llewellyn. He shared the results of his research into ‘Troedyrhiw Gleemen’ a successful singing group that were active, under various names, from the 1920’s up to WW2. The talk covered some of the personalities that were associated with the Gleemen; places where they had performed, including the Royal Yacht, and included historic film footage and sound recordings.

In addition to the talk a collection of interesting items brought in at previous meetings was on display. These included historic photographs of Troedyrhiw, the membership roll of Mount Zion Chapel 1886-1910, Mount Zion WW1 Roll of Honour.

A very enjoyable evening was had by all.

A Troedyrhiw Sailor

When Edward Curnow of 6 Upper Mount Pleasant, Troedyrhiw died in 1951 at the age of 82 he was buried in a family plot in Saron Graveyard.

Edward had been a considerable athlete in his younger days captaining the village rugby team and competing in some quite high standard foot races.

He joined the Royal Navy in 1898 and served for 22 years as an Engine Room Artificer rising to Chief Petty Officer rank before being pensioned to shore in 1920.

Throughout World War 1 Edward served on the light cruiser HMS ‘BRISTOL’ and saw action several times including at the Battle of the Falklands (6^th Dec 1914) and the Battle of the Straits of Otranto (14^th May 1917). Whilst on leave in 1916 he received a hero’s welcome at a ‘smoking concert’ held in his honour at the Fox & Hounds (now Simply Indian).

As far as we know there are no longer any Curnows living in Troedyrhiw but it is possible that some descendants of this family still live in the area. If so and they have information that they are willing to share with us we would be very pleased if contact was made by emailing friendsofsaron@gmail.com

Lest we forget

A recent newspaper article stated that the younger generation have little interest in or knowledge about World War 1. (the ‘Great War’). What do you think about this?

Over 6 million UK soldiers, including around 300,000 from Wales, served in WW1 and around 700,000 were killed, some 40,000 of whom were Welsh. This had a massive impact in most of our cities towns and villages and Troedyrhiw was no exception. On the War Memorial in Troedyrhiw Park are the names of 55 young men from our village who did not return when the war ended in 1918 (visit: http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Glamorgan/Troedyrhiw.html). If you have information about any of these we would be very pleased to receive it (email: friendsofsaron@gmail.com).

We have recently been able to copy the names from the ‘Roll of Honour’ that once hung in Mount Zion Chapel in Troedyrhiw. This lists the 48 members of the chapel (see below) that served in WW1. If you have information about any of these we would be very pleased to receive it (email: friendsofsaron@gmail.com).

Fred G. Ball

Willie Beavan

David D. Bevan

Ernest Bevan

Howard Bevan

George James Broad

Eddie Cross

Tom Cross

Edward Curnow

Michael Curnow

Daniel Davies

Fred Davies

Fred Davies

Giles Davies

Idris V. Davies

Jim Davies

Lewis Davies

Arthur Day

Willie England

H. Griffith Evans

James Evans

John Edward Evans

Johnnie Evans

Reggie Flower

Tom Lewis

John J. Hall

Lewis Hughes

Walter Hutchings

G. Jaynes

Evan L. Jones

Robert Jones

J. Knight

John Leat

Edward J. Meyrick

Bert Morrell

Willie Morrell

John Morris

Martin Morris

Milwyn Morris

W. R. Protheroe

Dan Pryce

David Pugh

David C. Rendall

Ino. J. Rendall

I. T. Rendall

Marsden Williams

Charles (‘Charlie’) L. Young