later by his work-mate, Henry ‘Harry’ Hampton who died on 27 November at Cambrai in France. On 28 June 1918, Thomas Brown, the husband of Mary who also worked on the premises, died of his wounds near Calais, leaving four little children.

After the war had ended, the Proprietor and his Wife lost their son, Benjamin, when he suffered fatal nephritis at Rouen on 12 December 1918.

Elsewhere in the village, two Grocers lost their sons.

PIC-ADVERT DANIEL GROCER

PIC-WW1A-DANIEL Arthur Rees

One was Arthur Daniels, aged 25, who was killed in action on 17 October 1915 in France.

PIC-WW1A-FRIZZELL

The other, 18 year old Frank, the only son of Mr. and Mrs Frizzell, who ran a shop on the corner of Woodville Road and Queens Road, (now Mrs Mac’s) died off the coast of Palestine on 11 November 1917.

PIC-ADVERT BALDWIN GROCER

Another Grocer, Baldwin, (Cope’s DIY) lost an employee, Benjamin Payne, when he died of pneumonia on 20 July 1918.

PIC-WW1A-PAYNE

The Smith Family, who ran the Post Office at Southend, lost their son-in-law,

PIC-WW1A-STAMMERS W

Harold Stammers on 18 August 1916 on The Somme. Two years later on 2 June 1918, Butcher, John Morris and his wife, Lucy, of Gloucester Place, lost their son, William in the same area. Five weeks on, Printer, Mr. Tucker of Newton Road, lost his son, Arthur. He had been brought home with serious chest wounds, but subsequently died and was buried with honours at Oystermouth Cemetery.

If we mark the map with addresses of the fallen, we can see clusters. Outalong at Southend, many were hit hard, those few terraces and streets losing ten men. As well as Harold Stammers mentioned earlier, two families lost two sons—William and Elizabeth Jenkins of Clifton terrace lost Alfred and Ernest and Thomas and Ann Michael of Hill Street lost Arthur and Ernest, both on 9 April, but four years apart. George Bank lost two of its residents—

PIC-WW1A-GAMMON

Samuel Gammon and Llewelyn Griffiths. Nearby at Southend Villas, John Buxton’s family was in mourning. At Rock Hill Row, Sydney Claypitt’s wife Bessie and his parents, Daniel and Mary were bereft. Along the front at Dumphries Place, Raymond Statler left a wife, Jessie and four little children.

Woodville Road lost MORE four of its residents. As well as Frank Frizzell and Donald Foster (previously mentioned) there were Alfred Baglow, one of the oldest at 51 years of age and Joseph Hughes, who had been one of the first to enlist (on 4th August 1914). He also held the dubious distinction of being the first village man to be killed. His daughter was a teacher in the Council School. Another group is revealed at Norton, where eight young men never came home. There was Arthur Ace (who was born there but was now married and living in Manselton) who was the first village man to be killed on land and is also the first named on the Rood Screen Great War Memorial at All Saint’s Church. The battle outside ‘Wipers’, in which he was killed, is worthy of recognition as it delayed the German advance sufficiently to be credited with enabling the British Army to continue to retain its foothold on the continent.

PIC-WW1A-BLAIR J J

Also from Norton were John Blair of Prospect Terrace and George Hill from Mons Terrace. The name of this terrace came about because when Mr. Beer was directing its construction in Boarspit Lane, war broke out. By this time, only numbers one to seven had been built and out of those seven houses, five tenants underwent the baptism of fire at ‘Mons’. When the war ended and the terrace was completed, Mr. Beer called the terrace ‘Mons’, the name that will stand forever as the place of sacrifice of the ‘Old Contemptibles’.2 Others from the locality were Nicholas Hixson of Deu Draeth [sic] House, Herbert Sanders of Oak Cottage, Thomas Taylor of Coltshill House and two from Forgefield Terrace—Arthur Jones and Benjamin Payne.

PIC-WWW1A-TAYLOR T G

The Clergy were not exempt as the Rev. Latimer Davies, curate at All Saint’s Church lost his brother John Davies and The Rev. T. Davies, the pastor at Bethany lost his son Thomas known to his friends as TEG.

These were all real losses to real families, which must have taken a long time to accept. During our researches, the number grew from the original 98 recorded on the Rood Screen, to 112, who were for reasons unknown, not included on the memorial.

This account has not been able to include all of the Mumbles Men, but all are documented in other sections of ‘The Men Beyond the Names’.

1911 census

2 Mumbles Weekly News and Gower Gazette, 12 June 1931

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