October 2017 - Reflection 1


THIS MONTH, I AM GOING TO WRITE A FOLLOW UP ON TWO ARTICLES I HAVE WRITTEN IN THE PAST YEAR

In the first reflections, “Readers’ Wartime Recollections”, published in Bay April 2017, I had been contacted by Mr Chris Davies, CBE, DL, who had told me about his father, George Haydn Davies’ first wife Ida, who had been killed during the first bombing raid on Swansea during the second world war 1940. The Davies family had been living at 3 Broadway, Sketty, when Ida and her daughter had gone down to 28 Russell Street to visit her family. Ida 28, survived the bombing raid but died the following day, 2 September in Swansea Hospital. The rest of the family, father Reginald John Jones 55, mother Mary Kate Jones 56, sister Elaine Jones 26, brothers Kenneth Jones 16, Alan Hirwain Jones 12, and daughter Jean Margaret Davies 6 had all been killed in the bombing raid on 1 September 1940.



Whilst in communication with Chris, he asked me various questions as to where the family were buried and the location of the graves. The answers were obtained from the Cemeteries Department in the Civic Centre – they know me well in that office! He went to Oystermouth Cemetery and laid a wreath. To add to the mystery, he told me there was already a wreath in position, did I possibly know who could have laid it? I was foxed.



Over last few years, I have been researching the men and women from Swansea, who fought in both world wars. I also created two Facebook pages, Swansea War Dead – First World War and Second World War. Each day I would put up a post stating those men/women who were killed on that particular day. I received a message from Mr Bob Rees, asking a variety of questions in regarding to the incident on the 1 September 1940. We spoke on the phone and I had told him about Chris, and where he fitted in to the picture.

I arranged to meet the two men at the cemetery on 1st September this year.

Ida's Grave - Oystermouth Cemetery


Wreaths were laid and then before Mr Rees left he gave both of us a DVD; a recording that he had made of a conversation with an elderly gentleman, a Mr Grace. Mr Grace was an eyewitness to the bombing on that day in September 1940, A boy of 14 at the time, he stated that the bomb which was HE (High Explosive) had landed in the South Wales Bus Yard situated at the back of the house, causing the devastation. At the time there were no Anti-Aircraft guns located in Swansea, the nearest being located at Cardiff. Other places that were hit that night, 1 September 1940 were Bristol, Essex, London, and Shrewsbury. In Swansea, 17 civilians, including 3 Norwegian Merchant Seaman, staying at the Pembroke Hotel, St. Helens Road were killed.



What about the connection between the two men, Chris, and Bob?

Even though they are not blood related, Chris’s father is the husband of Ida. Bob’s grandmother, Ida Syme was the sister of Mary Jones, mother of Ida. Or to put it another way Bob’s grandmother was Chris’ fathers first wife’s aunt!

3 Broadway was renumbered later to 10 Townhill Road, a few doors up from here lived Ivor Watkins, who would be Swansea’s Last Tommy of the First World War.



Copyright – The Bay Magazine – October  2017

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reader Feedback

Image
Following April’s article Per Ardua ad Astra , two readers have been in touch. Mary Johnstone contacted me via email regarding her father, Hubert John Lewis who served with the RAF Hubert was born in 1923 and was 16 at the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939. He was employed as an Apprentice Metallurgical Chemist and was living with his parents, Philip and Beatrice Lewis at 24 Elwy Crescent, Swansea. (Left) Herbert John Lewis (Right) With his crew and ground crew with kind permission Mary Johnstone Joining the RAF in 1942, 19 year old Hubert undertook his training at RAF Juby, in the Isle of Man. He joined the No 5 Bombing and Gunnery School where training was undertaken on the Handley Page Hereford aircraft. On completion of training, Air Gunner Sergeant Lewis was a Pilot Officer for a period of 6 months, which followed automatic promotion to Flying Officer. Hubert served with the 102 Squadron, based at RAF Pocklington, Yorkshire, which...
Read more

Birth Certificates

Image
July 1st 2019, marked the 182th anniversary of the introduction of the National Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths in 1837. This first article will be covering  Birth Certificates , where I will be using examples of people from Swansea to give some colour and add some meat to the bones. So let’s go back to the year of 1837, and paint a picture of what was happening nationally.  Poor  King William IV  died of a heart attack on June 20th at Windsor, with the crown passing to his niece,  Victoria . The Prime Minister was  Lord Melbourne  of the Whig party. At home, Swansea’s population had risen from 6,000 in 1801 to 17,000 in 1851. Swansea can boast of the first newspaper,  The Cambrian , which was published in Wales, 1804. A good read! Before 1837 baptisms, marriages and burials were recorded in parish registers. At this time, there were only two churches within the Swansea area, St John-juxta-Swansea, Hafod – with registe...
Read more

Swansea and WWI

Image
2018 marks the centenary anniversary of the Armistice of the First World War, November 1918. Here Charles looks at the life of marine engineer William John Johnstone and the steamer S.S. Kingsley   The steamer S.S. Kingsley was constructed in 1881, by T. & W. Smith, of North Shields; it weighed in at 633 tons. By 1918, it was managed by Harries Bros. & Co, Swansea, of Cambrian Street. The S.S. Kingsley was attacked and damaged on the morning of the 2 January 1918, by U-95, 3 miles east of Rundelstone Buoy, Cornwall. A few days after the centenary anniversary of the confrontation, Mrs Lisa Johnstone-Davies contacted me, with a tale of her great-grandfather, William John Johnstone. I carried out some research using various sources, and can now paint a picture of what occurred on that fateful morning. During the 1911 Census, William John Johnstone, (age 27), who filled in the census and called himself William Alexander, is living at 22 Calland Street, L...
Read more