Roy,
I suspect that Lord Kitchener holds the key to this. After all joining a
'Royal' regiment attests to loyalty to the King.
Quite possibly, also, the Regiment was holding a recruitment drive in
Tonypandy at that time.
Of course, you join the Regiment. You have no say in the corps to are
placed. So it is equally possible that the Regiment was seeking to build up
that corps.
I am pleased that you have located his grave. You should endevour to visit
it one day. I can guarantee you will not be unmoved by the experience.
My great-uncle was in the 1st Battalion. He was actually a regular soldier
and was originally in India. Maybe, I do not know this to be true, he
thought that the army was a less dangerous occupation than working a Rhondda
coal-mine.
He met his end in late October 1914 in Belgium at a place called Zandvoorde.
He was not afforded the dignity of having a marked grave and his name
appears on the Menin Gate at Ypres. I have visited the cemetry at Zandvoorde
and there are many un-named graves for his battalion, most of whom perished
on the same morning. I like to think that one of those graves is his.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Roy Davies" <roydavies(a)gmail.com>
To: <GLAMORGAN(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Friday, April 30, 2010 6:12 PM
Subject: [GLA] World War I enlistment mystery
My great uncle William Thomas Griffiths was a sapper in the 254th
Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers and was killed in action on 13
September 1916. He had previously been in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. I
have found details of his grave in the Commonwealth War Graves
Commission website and his service record in Ancestry.co.uk. However
there are things in his service record that puzzle me.
He was born in Penydarren in Merthyr Tydfil but his address, when he
joined the army, was given as 29 Miskin Road, Trealaw (in the
Rhondda). That was not a surprise since he had relations in Trealaw.
His medical examination was on 12 March 1915 in Tonypandy which is
very close to Trealaw. However the service record also says he joined
the Royal Welsh Fusiliers two days later on 14 March 1915 in Llandudno
in North Wales and the next line says attested, 13th Battalion 15
March 1915.
What is the difference between joining a regiment and being
"attested", and, more importantly, since he was from South Wales and
lived in the Rhondda and was medically examined in the Rhondda, why
did he go to North Wales to join the regiment?
There is a web page on the Royal Welsh Fusiliers at the Long Trail
website which is a huge site devoted to the British Army in the First
World War. There are a few lines about the 13th Battalion.
http://www.1914-1918.net/rwf.htm
13th (Service) Battalion (1st North Wales)
Formed at Rhyl on 3 September 1914 by the Denbigh and Flint TF
Associations, but transferred to the Welsh National Executive
Committee on 10 October 1914. November 1914 : attached to 128th
Brigade, 43rd Division at Llandudno. 28 April 1915 : formation became
the 113th Brigade, 38th (Welsh) Division.
Moved to Winchester in August 1915 and landed in France in December 1915.
It confirms the connection between the 13th Battalion and Llandudno.
However most of the battalions listed there had connections with North
Wales. Given that the South is far more populous than the North why
didn't my relation join the Welsh Regiment or the South Wales
Borderers, both of which consisted of battalions that were associated
with South Wales?
Roy
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