Peasants to Puddles
My Family History - By Nicky Rowberry

William Ewart Davies - Private 37702

This page is dedicated to the memory of William Ewart Davies who died on 25th April 1918.

William Ewart Davies died on 25th April 1918 in France. He was unfortunately one of the casualties amongst the millions of men who lost their lives in World War 1. It seemed sad for him to have died and all but these bare facts remembered, so I've tried to find out at least a little about his life before his untimely death aged just 19.

William Ewart Davies was born on 27th May 1898 at 39 Greenfield in Abercarn, in Caerphilly, Wales. He was the 7th of 9 known children of John Davies and his wife Mary Ann (or Annie) Wall. His father John worked in the mines as a colliery fireman. In 1901 the family were living at 52 Greenfield, Abercarn. 6 children were still at home; one of the older girls had already left home, perhaps gone into service and sadly one boy had died as an infant. The photo below shows the entire family with the 8 surviving children and was probably taken about 1908. Thanks to David on Ancestry for giving me permission to use the photo. Since John Emlyn and William Ewart were so close in age, we're not sure which is which, but they are likely the 2 boys sitting either side of their father.

By 1911 the family were living 34 North Road, Newbridge, Monmouthshire and William's father was described as a Colliery Examiner, which sounds a step up from fireman. William was still at school aged 12, with 4 older and 2 younger siblings still at home. The older boys were also employed in the coal mines.

War broke out in the summer of 1914, when William would have been 16 years old, in theory too young to enlist, but according to one of the newspaper reports below, he did just that, in September 1914. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission website confirms that he was a Private in the 12th Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment and that his service number was 37702. I can't reproduce his CWGC record, but to see his page please click here.

You can now look at the Medal Roll cards from the first world war online. These show a soldier's name, rank and what medals they were entitled to. Due to copyright issues, I don't think I can reproduce the image of the medal card, so instead I've transcribed it:

NameCorpsRankRegtl No.
DAVIES Glouc RPte37702
William E.   
Medal.RollPageRemarks
VICTORYL/101 B71291 
BRITISHditto  
14 STAR   
    
Theatre of War first served in  
Date of entry therein Date  

His medal card confirms he was in the Gloucestershire Regiment. It suggests he would have been entitled to 2 medals. The British Medal was awarded to servicemen who served in a theatre of war between 5th August 1914 and 11th November 1918. The Victory Medal (Allied Victory Medal) was awarded for service in any operational theatre over the same time frame. The Star was awarded to all those who served in any theatre of war against Germany between 5th August 1914 and 31st December 1915. William doesn't seem to have been awarded the Star, although one of the newspaper reports below says he enlisted in September 1914, when he would have been only 16. Perhaps because of his youth, he wasn't sent overseas in the first couple of years, so didn't qualify for the Star?

Although William's service records haven't survived, you can now look online at the War Diaries for a given Regiment. War Diaries were kept as a daily record of operations, intelligence reports and anything else that was going on for a given battalion. So I've downloaded the War Diary for the 12th Battalion of the Gloucestershire Regiment. The battalion started April 1918 in Italy, but were sent to France by train on the 3rd arriving at Petit Houvain Pas De Calais on the 6th. From there they marched to Ivergny then Pommera. From about the 13th they suffered heavy enemy shelling. I've transcribed the relevant day (25th April) of William's death below.

12th Battalion
Gloucestershire Regiment

WAR DIARY

FOR

April - 1918

WAR DIARY
or
INTELLIGENCE SUMMARY
PlaceDateHourSummary of Events and Information
K20b96 to
K19d90		25 

Usual enemy shelling during the day. 12th Gloucesters were detailed to capture under cover of a creeping barrage - Le Vert BOIS Houses & Bldings & Orchards. (now known as Gloucester Farm).
Task was allotted to A Coy under Capt G.S.PETHERAM MC with D Coy in support
C Coy with D Coy in support were to keep in close touch with Bn, on our left (1/Bedfords 15th Bde) and when latter had captured their objective (bldgs K.21a3.9) and report had been received that our A Coy had taken their objective at K 26 6 30 85. C Coy were to move forward and occupy line from left of our A Coy and join up with 1/Bedfords on our left flank, which was to be about K. 21 a 0.1 on railway line.
All men were ready by nightfall and at 9pm supporting Coys B & D moved up into position immediately behind attacking Coys A & C
At zero hour 9.30pm barrage opened
At 9.33 Left attacking party of A Coy (no 1 platoon under Sgt Lewis) with no 7 platoon of B Coy under 2/Lt G.M. ROGERS in close support, advancing under barrage to all their objectives (group of bldgs Gloucester Farm from K 20 c 9.1 to K 26b 30 85) without serious opposition and by 10pm were consolidating on final position line through K 26b 30 85.
The right attacking party of A Coy - no 8 platoon of A Coy under 2/Lt E.G. WILLS with no 2 platoon under LT N ARMITAGE in support, were to attack LE VERTBOIS from north over a bridge at K 26 A 65 85 and from west over a temporary bridge which was to have been placed at K 26 a 3 5 but as this bridge did not arrive in time to be of use another route up road K26a 2 5 to K26a 5.6 had to be used.
At 9.33pm party moved forward but met with considerable resistance. While working up road 2/Lt WILLS was wounded., LT ARMITAGE was killed and numerous casualties were caused by M.G. fire at short range before M Gun was disposed of by party which had entered le VERTBOIS from the North (over bridge at K 26a 65 85) having met with less resistance. Both parties then joined up and reinforced by a platoon of B Coy, under Sgt GOSNEY which had been ordered up, advanced to final objective where they joined up with left attacking party of A Coy at K 20 b 30 85 about 10.20pm
Remainder of B Coy under Lt A LAIRD were then sent up to reinforce front line, which was still thinly held and to assist in consolidation. One platoon of 1/DCLI was sent forward in support along Road - "Gloucester Farm" - le VERTBOIS. Party which had advanced through le VERTBOIS had not mopped up as every man had been needed to overcome enemy resistance and during consolidation of new line Lt R LAIRD obtained information from a wounded prisoner that a number of the enemy still remained in the cellars at le VERTBOIS. He proceeded with COM SMITH and I O.R to le VERTBOIS and found about 30 Germans in a cellar. These surrendered withour resistance.
By daylight on 26th position was well consolidated. 1/E Surreys on our right joined up about K 26 a 8 0 about 12 midnight.
C Coy on our left, advancing as arranged met with only slight resistance and captured only 3 prisoners. Objectives were reached except on left flank where line is 30 yards behind objective laid down owing to failure of Bn on our left to reach their final line.
One platoon of D Coy moved off behind C Coy and dug in about 100 yards behind them where they consolidated.
Remainder of D Coy was used for carrying ammunition to front line.
1/DCLI moved up into our old front line in support.
Captured 3 M. Guns, 35 unwounded prisoners, 4 wounded prisoners. Heavy casualties are known to have been inflicted on the enemy.
Casualties - Lt N ARMITAGE killed, 2/Lt E.G.WILLS wounded. 2/Lt G.M.ROGERS wounded (since died of wounds), Lt Col H.A.COLT Gassed. 2/Lt T.J.BENJAMIN Wounded at duty. 21 O.R Killed. 30 O.R Wounded.

Sadly although the war diary names officers who were killed or wounded, it doesn't do so for the other ranks. So William was presumably one of the 21 Other Ranks listed as killed that day. The events described above were part of the German Spring Offensive or Battle of Lys in April 1918.

William's death was reported in the local newspapers. Since his death came just a month before his brother John Emlyn's, the two were often reported together. The image below is taken from the Western Mail on 14th June 1918. Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. Image reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

The image below is taken from the South Wales Gazette on 21st June 1918. Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. Image reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk)

I don't know the exact newspaper this final newspaper clipping comes from. I found it on Shaun McGuire's excellent Monmouthshire Warriors page for Newbridge, but it doesn't say which paper it came from. You can see more Monmouthshire Warriors for Newbridge by clicking here. This clipping also includes the death of a 3rd brother Joseph Ernest Davies who died just before the war started.

William is commemorated at the Ploegsteert Memorial in Belgium. This memorial remembers more than 11,000 service men of WW1 for whom there is no known grave. One of the newspaper cuttings above says that his body was found and was buried in a cornfield behind their front line, with a cross put over his grave. But it seems that this must have become lost as he has no known grave. Although the records suggest he died in France, the Ploegsteert Memorial is in Belgium but very close to the border. He is also commemorated on the Celynen Colliers Roll of Honour which you can see here and the Tabernacle Church Roll of Service which you can see here. He is also listed on Newbridge's War Memorial.

The final piece of documentation I could find for William was the Army Register of Soldiers' Effects. This document showed that at the time of his death he had just £18.9s.4d, plus the war gratuity of £15, which his father John received. Not much to show for the ultimate sacrifice.

So far I don't have a photograph of William. There is one held by the Tabernacle church in Newbridge and I'm hoping to get permission to include it here. It would be lovely to be able to add one to complete his story. If anyone has a photo of William Ewart Davies, please do get in touch. E-mail: n.rowberry@btinternet.com

In researching William's life, several sites have been invaluable, so I've included links to some of them here.

Newbridge War Memorial Website


Monmouthshire Warriors


The Commonwealth War Graves Commission:

The National Archives at Kew:

The British Newspaper Archive:


If any of the above is of further interest, please feel free to contact me at: n.rowberry@btinternet.com

Nicky Rowberry 2025

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Peasants to Puddles - My Family History. By Nicky Rowberry