Gwenllian (Gwendoline) Williams

Place of birth: Kidwelly

Service: Munitions worker

Death: 1919-01-08, Explosion/Ffrwydrad

Notes: aged 21. Evidence showed that the explosion occurred when Gwenllian Williams was drilling out a screw from a shell. Eleanor Thomas was carrying in a shell at the time of the explosion.'

Sources: http://newspapers.library.wales/search?query=gwenllian&page=14; The Carmarthen Journal and South Wales Weekly Advertiser

Reference: WaW0065

Newspaper report

Newspaper report of the death of Gwenllian (Gwendoline) Williams

Ellen Myfanwy Williams

Place of birth: Cardigan

Service: Nurse, 1914 - 1915

Death: 1915-01-19, West Bromwich Hospital, Cause not known

Memorial: Cenotaph, Cardigan, Cardiganshire

Notes: aged 26. Buried Cardigan cemetery.

Sources: http://www.wwwmp.co.uk/ceredigion-war-memorials/

Reference: WaW0066

Nurse Williams

Name of Ellen Williams on St Mary's Church memorial, Cardigan

Margaret Williams

Place of birth: Holyhead

Service: Stewardess, 1914 - d

Death: 1916-11-03, SS Connemara, Drowning / Boddi

Memorial: War memorial, Holyhead, Anglesey

Notes: aged 32. SS Connemara sank in a collision with the coal carrier Retriever. MW is said to have been on her last shift before her marriage. Her body was never recovered.

Sources: https://sites.google.com/site/holyheadwarmemorial19141918/home/ss-connemara/margaret-williams-stewardess

Reference: WaW0067

Margaret Williams

Margaret Williams, a stewardess on S S Connemara, drowned in a collision at sea.

Mary Anne Eliza Young

Place of birth: Cardiff

Service: Nurse, VAD

Death: 1919-02-13, 57th General Hospital, Cause not known

Memorial: City Hall Memorial; War Grave Mazargues War Cemetery, Marseilles, Cardiff, Glamorgan

Notes: aged 35, a former teacher at Lansdowne Rd County School, Cardiff/Caerdydd. Buried at Mazargues War Cemetery, Marseilles.

Reference: WaW0068

Roll of Honour, Cardiff City Hall

Name of Mary Ann Eliza Young, VAD. on the Roll of Honour, City Hall, Cardiff.

Mary Ann Eliza Young

Mary Ann’s photograph was collected by the Women’s Subcommittee of the Imperial War museum as part of its collection of women who died during the War.

Letter from JR Young

Letter from JR Young, Mary’s father. Part of 'Deaths: Nurses Deaths to 1920' (museum's administrative records) 1919-04-08

Elizabeth Beatrice Cope

Place of birth: Lancashire, c.1871

Service: Mother

Notes: Beatrice Cope lived with her husband George in Trelleck, Monmouthshire. Here she is photographed with her younger son George, known as Eric. He was a temporary second lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion (1st Tyneside Scottish) of the Northumberland Fusiliers. The photograph was probably taken just before Eric was sent to France in January 1916. Eric was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916. He was just 18 years old. Elizabeth Beatrice Cope lived with her husband George in Trelleck, Monmouthshire. They had previously lived in Denbighshire. Here she is photographed with her younger son George, known as Eric. He was a temporary second lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion (1st Tyneside Scottish) of the Northumberland Fusiliers. The photograph was probably taken just before Eric was sent to France in January 1916. Eric was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916. He was just 18 years old. Elizabeth Beatrice Cope lived with her husband George in Trelleck, Monmouthshire. They had previously lived in Denbighshire. Here she is photographed with her younger son George, known as Eric. He was a temporary second lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion (1st Tyneside Scottish) of the Northumberland Fusiliers. The photograph was probably taken just before Eric was sent to France in January 1916. Eric was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916. He was just 18 years old.

Reference: WaW0069

Beatrice Cope with her son Eric

Beatrice Cope with her son Eric, possibly early 1916

Elizabeth Hopkins

Service: Wife and Mother

Notes: Elizabeth Hopkins, nee Thomas (1882-1959) and David Hopkins (1877-1949) - married 8th October 1905. Photograph taken around 16th November 1914 when David enlisted in the South Wales Borderers. David and Elizabeth already had four children, the eldest only 8 years old, the youngest 21 months. Although David is proud to have volunteered Elizabeth looks distinctly worried about the future - with good reason for David was seriously wounded at Gallipoli from which he never fully recovered.

Reference: WaW0070

Elizabeth and David Hopkins.

A proud David and apprehensive Elizabeth Hopkins, November 1914.

Clemima Coopey

Service: Munitions Worker, 1916 - 1918

Death: 1918-02-26, Blaenavon Workmans Hospital, Industrial Accident / Damwain Ddiwydiannol

Notes: Clemima Coopey became entangled in the machinery of the motor-house at the Blaenavon.Co.Ltd. She was rushing to catch the 9.30 pm train, and had illegally left her shoes there. Her husband was a soldier fighting in Salonika, and she had three young children.

Reference: WaW0071

Newspaper account of inquest (1)

Report of inquest into the death of Clemima Coopey (1)

Newspaper account of inquest (2)

Report of inquest into the death of Clemima Coopey (2)

Annie M Evans

Service: Worker, QMAAC

Reference: WaW0073

Edith Haines (Spridgeon)

Service: Bus Conductress

Notes: Edith Haines was one of the first women bus conductresses in Swansea

Reference: WaW0074

Edith Haines

Edith Haines in bus conductress's uniform

Edith Haines (right), with Maggie (unknown, left), and Nellie Spridgeon centre

Edith Haines (née Spridgeon, right), with Maggie (unknown, left), and Nellie Spridgeon centre

Arvona (Fona) Powell Jones

Place of birth: Gorseinon July 10th, 1913

Service: Small child

Notes: Fona confirmed her address and date of birth: July 10th, 1913. She recalled a story about her mother during the First World War asking her, because her father had received call-up papers, ‘You don’t want your father to go to war do you? She replied’ ‘Oh! Yes!’, because she had seen her uncle, who was at sea, in a uniform with a whistle around his neck. She thought therefore that her father would have a uniform and a whistle too. So she was delighted at the prospect of her father dressed in a uniform and whistle. But she remembers her mother’s face falling. ‘Oh! She was terribly disappointed that I had said that I wanted my father to go to war.’ But her father worked in the steelworks and since steel was required during the war he worked there for the duration of the war. Her parent’s names were Mary Ann Powell and Richard Jones; her father came from Cydweli and her mother was local to Gorseinon area. Her father had worked in the steelworks in Cydweli too. She also talks of her uncle, Brynmor, who was in the navy and who hated the war. At the end of the war he gave his navy clothes to her mother and told her to do what she wanted with them. She made Fona a dress from the bell-bottoms – they were of serge and added flowers etc onto it. She wore it all the time – to chapel and all. This was when she was about 5-6 years old. She remembers wearing it and swinging of a tree branch in it. Her mother’s brother (Tom in 1915 according to the family’s family tree)) died of typhoid in Crystal Palace during the war and she has a photograph of a wedding during the war with the men dressed in black in memory of him. Another of her mother’s brothers (Baden) was called up but when he arrived at the mess plates were being thrown all over the place. The Armistice – peace agreement had just been signed. And that’s all he saw of the war. Fona also recalled how, for the duration of the war, her mother removed a model of an eagle which was on top of the family’s grandfather clock and stored it away in a drawer, because it was a reminder and symbol of Germany. After the war it was restored to its place on top of the clock! ‘Memory is a strange thing isn’t it.

Sources: fona_jones_gorseinon.wave_sound

Reference: WaW0075

Fona Jones bottom left (blurred) at family wedding.

A family wedding showing a blurred Fona Jones, bottom left. The women were all dressed in mourning for Fona's uncle Tom, who had died in 1915.

Mary Anne Jones née Powell c.1905

Fona Jones's mother Mary Anne Jones née Powell as a young woman.