Muriel Richards

Service: Police constable, formerly nurse, Ministry of Munitions Women’s Police Service

Notes: Muriel Richards, together with Violet Williams [qv], was part of a ‘sting’ operation on 28th December 1918 to expose two bogus fortune tellers in Tanerdy, Abergwili. The first woman, Eleanor Rees, told Muriel that she would marry a ‘fair young man’, and that there would be opposition from her family. She paid 6d for the session. The second woman, whom the two police constables visited later the same morning was Mary Evans. She told Muriel that she would very soon meet ‘a very dark man’; they would marry and have eight children. Mrs Evans charged 1/-. The two fortune tellers were each found guilty and fined 5/-.

Reference: WaW0445

Newspaper report

Part of the court report of the trial of two fortune tellers; Muriel Richards was one of two police witnesses. Carmarthen Journal 10th January 1919.

Mary Thompson Ritchings

Place of birth: Swansea

Service: Doctor, Commandant, VAD

Notes: Born in 1879, Dr Mary Ritchings was Commandant of the Swansea Volunteer Aid Detachment by 1912. In 1915 she became medical director of the YMCA Red Cross Hospital, one of the largest in Wales with 360 beds. She worked here until the end of the war, but also continued to hold weekly sessions at the Mother and Baby Welcome, a pioneering baby clinic which was commended by Queen Mary, among others. She was awarded the MBE in June 1918.

Reference: WaW0250

Newspaper photograph

Photograph of Dr Ritchings with a soldier patient.

Newspaper photograph

Inspection of Swansea VAD, with Mary Ritchings Commandant. Cambrian Daily Leader 31st October 1913.

Red Cross record card

Record card for Dr Mary Ritchings.

Newspaper report

Report of Mary Ritchings's work at the Mothers and Babies Welcome.

Annie Roach

Place of birth: Swansea

Service: Nurse, 1914 - December 1915

Death: December / Rhagfyr 1, Great Yarmouth, Enteric fever / Ffliw enterig

Notes: Annie, who was 21 when she died, contracted enteric fever from a sailor patient in the isolation hospital in Great Yarmouth. Her body was brought back to Swansea, and she was buried in Dan y Graig cemetery, Swansea.

Reference: WaW0354

Newspaper article and photograph

Report of the death of Annie Roach, Herlad of Wales 8th January 1916.

Annie Roberts

Place of birth: Holyhead

Service: Member, WRAF, 14/05/1918 - d.

Death: 1918-12-12, Pneumonia / Niwmonia

Memorial: War memorial, Holyhead, Anglesey

Notes: aged 20. Served in Chester area. Buried Holyhead (Maeshyfred) cemetery

Reference: WaW0053

Holyhead War Memorial

Name of Annie Roberts, WRAF, on Holyhead War Memorial

Charlotte Emma (Lottie) Roberts

Place of birth: Abergwyngregyn near Bangor, 1883

Service: Nurse, VAD, 1914 - 1919

Notes: Charlotte (Lottie) Roberts joined the VAD in August 1914. After a period nursing in Lincoln she was posted to Calais in June 1916. She was so proud of her uniform that she chose wear it for her wedding in London 1919 or 20. She was awarded the Royal Red Cross.

Reference: WaW0099

Lottie Roberts VAD

Lottie Roberts in VAD uniform

Lottie Roberts VAD

Lottie Roberts in outdoor VAD uniform

Lottie Roberts wedding

Lottie's Wedding to F W Baker 1919/20

Royal Red Cross medal

photograph of Lottie's Royal Red Cross medal

Elizabeth Roberts

Place of birth: Denbighshire ?

Service: washerwoman, 1918 - 1919

Notes: Despite not being a member of the Red Cross, Elizabeth Roberts worked one day for free, as well as 3 or 4 paid, doing the washing for the auxiliary 36 bed Red Cross hospital in Chirk. ‘The work was very heavy’.

Reference: WaW0349

Red Cross record card

Red Cross record for Elizabeth Roberts, washerwoman.

Red Cross record card (reverse)

Red Cross record for Elizabeth Roberts, washerwoman. (reverse)

Elizabeth Roberts

Place of birth: Denbighshire ?

Service: Washerwoman

Notes: A Red Cross card records that Elizabeth worked for 11 months as a washerwoman at Brynkinalt Auxiliary Hospital, Chirk for 4 to 5 days a week, one of them unpaid. Her husband was a collier away on active service. The Commandant remarked ‘The work was very heavy, and she was most ungrudging in giving extra time, and did the work admirably’. She was not a member of the British Red Cross.

Reference: WaW0417

Red Cross record card British Red Cross

Red Cross card for Elizabeth Roberts

Red Cross record card [reverse]

Red Cross card for Elizabeth Roberts [reverse] showing her service.

Ethel Roberts

Place of birth: Wrexham

Service: Child

Death: 1916/03.09, Moss, Wrexham, Explosion / Ffrwydrad

Memorial: Holy Trinity Church, Gwersyllt, Wrexham, Denbighshire

Notes: Ethel, aged one, died when a souvenir shell brought home by her uncle exploded, killing her and fatally injuring her sister and two cousins. Her uncle Private John Bagnall was seriously injured as well as her mother Sarah Roberts and her aunt Mary Bagnall. The children were buried in two graves in Holy Trinity Churchyard, Gwersyllt, where a memorial to the four girls was dedicated in March 2016.

Sources: http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/wrexham-remembers-four-children-killed-11027982

Reference: WaW0220

Newspaper report

Report of the shell explosion that killed four girls and injured three adults, North Wales Chronicle 10th March 1916

Newspaper Report

Report of the explosion giving the names of the victims.

Memorial

Memorial to Sarah Bagnall, Ethel Roberts, Mary Roberts and Violet Williams at Holy Trinity Churchyard, Gwersyllt, dedicated March 2016.

Gwenllian Elizabeth Roberts

Place of birth: Llangynidr

Service: Sister, QAIMNS Reserve

Notes: Gwenllian Roberts was awarded the Royal Red Cross for her services at the Central Military Hospital, Chatham, Kent.

Reference: WaW0115

Gwenllian Elizabeth Roberts

Sister Gwenllian Elizabeth Roberts QAIMNSR wearing her Royal Red Cross medal

Gwenllian Roberts’s Royal Red Cross

Sister Gwenllian Roberts’s Royal Red Cross, awarded August 5th 1919.

Edinburgh Gazette listing Sister Roberts’s award

Edinburgh Gazette listing Sister Roberts’s award, August 5th 1919 (8th in the right hand column).

Newspaper report

Newspaper report of Sister Roberts’s award, Llais Llafur25th October 1919.

Jane (Jennie) Roberts

Place of birth: Bryncrug

Service: Staff Nurse, QAIMNS

Death: 1917-04-10, HMHS Salta, Drowning / Boddi

Memorial: Cathedral Nurse, Llanelwy, Flintshire

Notes: aged 30. She died when His Majesty’s Hospital Ship “Salta” was sunk off Le Havre on 10 April 1917. She was lost at sea and her body was never recovered. Her name appears on the Salta Memorial at Ste Marie Cemetery, Le Havre, Normandy, France, and on the memorial plaques in the porch of St Cadfan's Church, Tywyn

Sources: http://www.flintshirewarmemorials.com/memorials/st-asaph-memorial/st-asaph-cathedral-welsh-nurses-ww1/roberts-jane/http://www.mawddachestuary.co.uk/warmemorials/#TywynChurch

Reference: WaW0052

Nurse Jane Robert's name on the Nurses' Memorial, St Asaph

Jane Robert's name on the Nurses' Memorial, St Asaph

Tywyn Church

Name of Jane Roberts in the memorial porch, Tywyn Church

Jane (Jennie) Roberts

Jane/Jennie’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