The idea for this page was that it should contain images and stories of the men of the 3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment.
A big thank you to all of you who have contacted me and given me permission to publish your pictures and print your stories.
2217 Pte Edwin William Wiltshire
Picture courtesy Mr Geoff Wiltshire
Died 6th May 1915 - age 31 - born in St. Georges, Bristol, Gloucestershire; enlisted at Abergavenny; resident of Kingswood, Bristol, Gloucestershire; son of Mr & Mrs. Edwin J. Wiltshire of 34 Queen Street, Two Mile Hill, Bristol, Gloucestershire - commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium - memorial reference:- Panel 50 also commemorated on the Nantyglo and Blaina Central Memorial, Surgery Road, Blaina, the War Memorial to the dead in Fishponds and also commemorated in the publication ‘With Rifle and Pick’
Proudly remembered by Geoff Wiltshire
1299 Corporal George Stanner Price Hanny
Picture & text courtesy Mr DL Adams from his book Frome's Fallen Heroes The Great War
322 Sgt William Nash
Sergeant William Nash was born at Berkley, Frome, and was the youngest son of Albert Nash of Berkley, Frome, and husband of Mary Nash of 11 Broad Street, Barry, Glamorgan. He moved to Barry, South Wales from Ebbw Vale where he was an active member of the church, and belonged to the Ebbw Vale Company of the 3rd Monmouthshire Territorials. William volunteered for active service when war broke out and was killed (shot while attending to a wounded comrade) in action on the 6th of May 1915 at the taking of Hill 60, near ypres, Belgium. William left a widow and four children and has no known grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate, Ypres, Belgium. Panel 50. His name appears on the Berkley War Memorial, Frome.
Picture & text courtesy Mr DL Adams from his book Frome's Fallen Heroes The Great War
Lt Gavin Dalzell McLean ~ R.A.M.C. Medical Officer attached 3rd Mons
Picture courtesy of Mr Don McLean
Lt Gavin Dalzell McLean joined the 3rd Mons sometime during 1914 and went to Flanders with them in Feb 1915. He received a gunshot wound in the thigh during the bitter fighting at Frezenberg in May 1915 whilst tending wounded men and he was shipped back to the UK to recuperate. In October 1915 he found himself arriving at Gallipoli with 89th Field Ambulance R.A.M.C.
After the war he was to become Senior House Surgeon at Doncaster and Sunderland Royal Infirmaries before taking up a very rural medical practice in Perthshire at Kinloch Rannoch in 1928 where he remained until his death in 1960.
If anyone has any further information on Lt McLean I would me most pleased to hear from you. Please contact me at ........administrator@3battmons.co.uk
L/Cpl Thomas Roberts + 2 Unknown Monmouthshire Men
2088 Pte AG Sales 3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment
On Feb 12th 1915 Alfred paraded in front of the King before departing Cambridge the next morning bound for Southampton. There he boarded the SS Cheyabassa on the night of the 14th arriving in France on 15 Feb 1915.
A letter was written to Alfred's wife on 2nd May 1915, 6 days before the 3rd Battalion suffered heavy casualties at the Battle of Frezenberg. Alfred states in his letter
"I wanted to come and see what it was like but my god I now wish it was all over as it is a thing no one can describe"
We can only wonder at what he thought after 8th May 1915. Alfred was wounded sometime during the 2nd Ypres and he spent some time away from the battalion recuperating.
On 29 Dec 1915 Alfred was on parade at Elverdinghe Chateau prior to the battalion moving away from the front when a salvo of 17" shells fell in in between B and C Companies killing 39 men. One of these was Alfred.
(Above picture courtesy of Mr Colin Miller)
2503 Pte W Morgan 3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment
Pte Walter Morgan originally from Bromyard Herefordshire, enlisted in Abergavenny in 1914 where he joined B Coy of the 3rd Mons.
Walter was sent to Pembroke Dock and then off to East Anglia with the 53rd Welsh Division to help in the digging of trenches for the coastal defence network.
He sailed for Flanders on the 14th Feb 1915 arriving at Le Havre on the morning of the 15th Feb. Walter saw action with the Battalion at 2nd Ypres and would have been involved in the Battle of Frezenberg where B Coy were decimated after their heroic action during the battle.
During Dec 1915 the Monmouth's were involved in Pioneer work with the 49th (West Yorkshire) Division. On 29th Dec Walter was on parade with his battalion when a salvo of 17" shells fired from the Houthoulst Forest landed inbetween B & C Coys killing 39 men. Walter was one of those who perished.
Picture below is taken in a backyard. Walter Morgan is Middle row extreme left. The lady in the white top is his wife. Note the Imperial Service Badge some of the soldiers are wearing above their right breast pocket. Indicating they have volunteered for service overseas
(Pictures courtesy of Mrs Dawn Cooper)
2413 Pte Charles Henry Bishop 3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment
Son of William and Annie Elizabeth Bishop, of 12, Golf Common, Great Malvern, Worcs. Charles Bishop was born Ledbury in 1889, the son of William and Annie Bishop. The 1901 Census shows the Bishop family living at Ledbury Road, Eastnor and the William Bishop as a non-domestic coachman. Charles had two brothers, William and Albert and two sisters Emily and Annie. At the outbreak of war Charles Bishop enlisted in the Monmouthshire Regiment at Abergavenny. The following appeared in the Malvern News the following year:
"Pte C H Bishop, 3/Monmouths has been killed in action. He was the son of Mr and Mrs W Bishop of 15 Westminster Road, Malvern Wells. He enlisted in August 1914, having been previously employed for four years in the pits of Tredegar. Bishop was wounded some time ago, but he returned to the trenches were he met his death by a shell. A letter from Capt Gattie of the 3rd Monmouths wrote:
Dear Mr and Mrs Bishop
I regret that I have not had the opportunity of writing to you sooner to express my deep sympathy with you in the loss of your son. He had proved himself a keen, hard-working and capable soldier; and I had more than once occasion to congratulate him particularly on his work.
I was quite close when the shell burst which fatally wounded him and as he became unconscious almost at once, he did not, I am sure, suffer much pain. He has been laid to rest in a very beautiful pinewood, close to the spot where he fell.
"Bishop's parents have also received condolence messages from the Newport Chamber of Commerce and the President and Members of the Monmouthshire Territorial Association."
Unfortunately, with the passing of time Charles Bishop's grave was either lost or destroyed and his name is numbered amongst those of the Ypres Salient who have no known grave on the Menin Gate.
Lt John P Worton 3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment
22 year old brother of Mrs A.C. Fowler of Pontypool. Lt Worton was Killed in Action in May 1915. He was the only son of Mr Harry Worton and grandson of Mr John Worton J.P. late general manager of the Blaenavon Company (Limited). In October 1914 he joined the second line battalion of the 3rd Monmouthshire Regiment as a 2nd Lieut and in December of the same year was promoted to Lieutenant. He joined the Battalion in February 1915 and proceeded to the front on the 20th March. He was slightly wounded and spent some time recuperating before rejoining the battalion on 3rd May. Prior to joining the forces he held the position of of manager of the Victoria Blast Furnaces of the Ebbw Vale Company. He was residing in Holland Street in Ebbw Vale.
He was killed during the bitter fighting at Frezenberg during the 2nd Ypres.
1593 Private Marcus Rancombe 3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment
Only son of William J. and Elizabeth Rancombe (daughter of Amos Buckle, of Waddesdon, Bucks), of 15, Cwm Cottages, Abertillery, Mon. Born at Abertillery on the 14th April 1895 and educated in the town. Joined the 3rd Monmouths on the 25th June 1913 and prior to the outbreak of war was engaged at the Six Bells Colliery. He volunteered for foreign service and went to France on the 15th Feb 1915. He was badly wounded in action near Messines Ridge on the 16th March 1915 and died at Bailleul on Easter Monday, 5th April 1915. He was unmarried. His Company officer wrote
"that he was one of his most reliable and trusted men, a thoroughly good shot, signaller and despatch rider, one who could ill be spared".
Commemorated on the Abertillery Central Memorial, Somerset Street, Abertillery also on the St. Michael’s Church Memorial, Church Street, Abertillery and in the publication ‘With Rifle and Pick’. Death reported in Monmouthshire Free Press dated 30th April 1915
2451 Pte H Denford ~ 2110 L/Cpl J Denford ~ 2109 Pte T Denford
(Third from Right)
Three brothers who all joined the regiment. Originally from Redcliffe in Bristol they all enlisted in Abergavenny.
2109 Pte T Denford was Killed in Action during the 2nd Ypres. 2110 L/Cpl J Denford died on 29th Dec 1915 at Elverdinghe when a shell fell in the middle of a parade as the regiment was about to leave the front.
2451 Pte H Denford survived the war.
Captain Harold Augustus Hodges 3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment
He was the fifth son of Mr and Mrs William Abraham Hodges of the Hill, East Bridgeford, Notts. All his brothers served with the Expeditionary Force in France. He was born on the 22nd January 1886 at the Priory Mansfield Woodhouse, and went in January 1899 to Sedbergh, where he was in the XI for five years and Captain for the last three; in the XV for fours years and Captain for the last two. Leaving Sedbergh at Christmas 1904 he entered Trinity College, Oxford in January 1905 obtained his Blue as a forward in his first year and playing for Oxford also in 1906-8 was Captain of the university XV in his last year and was one of the few who have taken part in four university matches. An elder brother had gained his blue at Cambridge and in 1905 the brothers were on opposite sides at Queen’s club. He was a dashing and brilliant forward and in 1906 obtained his international cap playing for England against Wales and Ireland. After going down from Oxford he played for the Nottingham Club and being also a fine cricketer played for the Notts County XI in several matches during the summer holidays of 1912 and 1913.
After leaving Oxford at the end of the October term 1908 he spent some months in Paris at the Sorbonne and afterwards joined the staff of Tonbridge School in Sep 1909 where he was Senior House Tutor of School House.
When war broke out he at once volunteered and after three weeks training with the O.T.C. received a commission date 28th Aug 1914 in the 3rd Batt Monmouthshire Regiment and served with that battalion in France from Feb 1915. He was severely wounded in the body by shell fire at Ypres on the 4th May 1915 but returned to the front in July, though all the pieces of shell had not been extracted. His promotion to Lieutenant in the Monmouth’s was dated 2nd Aug 1915 but he had been gazetted Temporary Captain from 5th May and his promotion to Captain was dated 6th Dec 1916 with precedence 1st June. His battalion had suffered so severely that in July 1916 it was disbanded and he became attached to the 11th Batt South Lancashire Regiment. He had seen much strenuous fighting in many parts of the line from the Yser canal to St Quentin and many stories are told of his courage and consideration for others. On one occasion in front of the Thiepval in July 1916 on his way back with a working party in the early dawn he found a wounded man of another Regiment lying out in No Mans Land and rather than allow him to lie there all day took him on his back and carried him for more than a mile over shell holes and trenches to the dressing station. He was mentioned in Sir Douglas Haigh’s Despatch of April 9th 1917 for services in 1916 and again in that of November 7th 1917 for services between February 26th and September 20th 1917.
On the night of March 24th 1918 he had been sent out with his company to establish touch with a battalion who had reported their position as running up to a small factory building called the Sucrerie on the outskirts of Ham and on the Ham – Eppevile road. It was a dark and misty night and moreover a time of great difficulty and inevitable confusion and what precisely occurred will never be known. It appears that he left his company in a railway cutting went on to the Sucrerie accompanied only by one of his subalterns and then himself went on ahead of his companion to enter the building, expecting to find British troops in possession; then he suddenly realised that they were not British used his revolver upon them till he was himself shot down, whilst his companion was also badly wounded, but succeeded in making his escape in the darkness and regaining the cutting before he lost consciousness. Capt Hodges was reported as “missing” believed killed and it was not until Sep that information from Germany established the fact of his death.
The 1907 Oxford University XV
Standing (L-R): Henry Edmunds Latham, Lawrence Cave Bencowe, Arthur Howard, Stephanus Nicholas Cronje, Hugh Martin, Francis Nathaniel Tarr. Sitting: Noel Willoughby Milton, Henry Holland ('Jumbo') Vassall, Harold Augustus Hodges, Worthington Wynn Hoskin (Captain), Randolph Stonehewer Wix, David B.Davies, Geoffrey Dorling ('Khaki') Roberts. On Ground: George Cunningham, Rupert Henry Williamson.
Captain Hodges obituary from The Times newspaper
George Price Morgan 3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment
DOB: 19/ 06/ 1892 Occupation: Schoolmaster
17 Glanhowy Street, Scwrfa, Tredegar
Joined up: August 1914 Private 2415 3rd Monmouthshire Territorials
(possibly at Sirhowy)
Discharged: March 26 1919 Lieutenant Unit 3 KOYLI
No. 1 Dispersal Unit Prees Heath ( medical category C1 )
No. 17 Officer Cadet Battn., Kinmel Park Camp, Rhyl, N Wales
Mentioned in Dispatches re Hill 60
Appt. to Second Lieutenant 26 April 1917
As Lieutenant G P Morgan 3rd/KOYLI he attended the School of Education, Oxford Feb – March 1919, a 4 week course for the Army, on Principles of Teaching (ref: Officer Cadet Battn, above)
Wounded: Sept 1st 1917
Sept 18th
May 21st
Hospitals: Netley ? Nr Brighton UK
14 General Hospital Mimerieux
8 Red Cross Hospital Boulogne
Medals: Star 1914-15 Pte GP Morgan 2415 MonmouthR
Victory 2nd Lieutenant G P Morgan
Campaign 2nd Lieutenant G P Morgan
Cap Badge: Bugle and White Rose of KOYLI
Pin: MN
Lapel badge: see photograph
(Mrs) H E Nield nee Morgan
(Picture and information courtesy of (Mrs) H E Nield nee Morgan)
Captain NEVILLE GRAHAM NEWCOME HART LEWIS
3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment
This fine portrait picture of Captain Lewis was sent to me by Gil Jones of Aberystwyth which was given via the curator of Ceredigion Museum in Aberystwyth. My thanks to both of you.
Neville joined the 3rd Battalion Monmouthshire Regiment in 1914 originally as 2160 Pte Lewis. Prior to the outbreak of war Neville was working in a bank in Abergavenny. After enlistment and prior to the Battalion proceeding overseas Neville was selected for Officer training. It is known that he was a member of Shrewsbury OTC.
When the Battalion was disbanded in 1916 Neville was transferred as a Lieutenant to the 8th Royal Sussex Regiment ~ 18th Division. The Cambrian News reported that he was killed instantly by a shell on 17th September 1917. He was the son of Dr. David T. and Lucy M. Lewis. He is buried at Duhallow A.D.S. Cemetery.