Royal Welsh Fusiliers - Boer War memorial - St Giles, Wrexham

 

I was in Wrexham not so long ago, and took the opportunity to stop by at St Giles Church. I'm glad I did so as there is a wealth of memorials to the Royal Welsh Fusiliers (the old 23rd Foot) inside. Typically, in churches these days, many of the memorials are now half hidden or obscured, but there is a rather splendid memorial to those men who died during the Anglo-Boer War 1899-1902 and the China campaign of 1900. In fact it is so good that I borrowed a step-ladder in order to photograph it head on rather than at an oblique angle. A very helpful church warden steadied the ladder for me at the bottom.

Where possible I have added the men's regimental numbers to their names and I will come to the numbering later.

1st Battalion

5515 Private P J Abbott
3949 Private W G Albach
3420 Private J Alsop
2802 Private A Andrews
3138 Private W Aston
5499 Private E L Averall
3663 Private T H Ballard
1104 Private S Barnes
5743 Private F Barnett
6152 Private F Bates
5687 Private C Baynham
5528 Private R Birkett
4149 Private G Brien
5814 Private E Broad
5543 Private A Burgess
6272 Private J T Cain
4070 Lance Corporal T J Chidley
3628 Private H Cliff
4200 Sergeant T J Cockram
4312 Private W Cowlard
2349 Private G Cox
2831 Private William Croucher
2527 Private A Davies
2753 Private J Davies
5980 Private J Davies
5767 Private S A T Davies
5696 Private T Davies
2901 Private W Davis
6274 Private A Dawes
4624 Private J Dixon
3652 Private W H Dodd
3331 Private J Edwards
5847 Drummer P Edwards
5834 Private E Evans
5787 Private E S Evans
2862 Corporal J Evans
3796 Private P Fallon
Second Lieutenant J C Farmer
5429 Private R Fitzpatrick
2957 Lance Corporal H M Garrett
5332 Private M Gelshon
6446 Private J Glover
862 Private J J Godfrey
6330 Private T W Gooding
2657 Sergeant J W Graham
6055 Private J Green
2898 Sergeant J H Hatton
5979 Private W G Hawkins
6140 Private A Highfield
6270 Private A C Hinks
5484 Private G Horne
5213 Corporal J Hosey
3313 Private M Huggins
5631 Private G Hughes
3355 Private J Hussey
5892 Private W J Jacobs
3455 Private D James
2402 Private C Jenkins
5527 Private W Jephcote
3611 Private C Jones
1232 Private G Jones
Private G L Jones
3288 Private J Jones
3826 Private R Jones
5910 Private W Jones
5349 Private W Jones
Private W Jones
2518 Private R G Joyce
971 Private S Leadbetter
5384 Private F Ledbrook
2625 Private J Lloyd
5646 Private J J Lloyd
6015 Private J Lockett
 Captain Richard Gordon Beresford Lovett
5220 Private A Lucas
2850 Lance Corporal F Maurice
3344 Lance Corporal P Miller
3387 Private G Morgan
5843 Private T J Morgan
3049 Lance Corporal A J Morris
6473 Private E L Morris
2778 Private W A Morris
821 Private F W Mott
5827 Private M Murphy
2361 Private B Murray
5900 Private J Parry
5830 Private C Payne
2316 Private W Perry
5721 Private S Pike
5953 Private J Plant
Private E J Pooltan
6495 Private H Purslow
4790 Sergeant J Rawle
1028 Private A Riley
2728 Private E Roberts
2600 Private P Roberts
5707 Private R J Roberts
Lieutenant G E S Salt
4104 Private W Saunders
6121 Private W Savage
1994 Private J Scott
5821 Private J Shipley
5463 Private C Smith
3050 Private G H Smith
2507 Private J Smith
2632 Private J Smith
Private J J S Smith
5403 Private W C Smith
3096 Private J Starkey
Lieutenant F A Stebbing
5764 Private T Stevens
4243 Private G Stroud
3539 Corporal B Sullivan
2987 Private P Thomas
5729 Private T Thomas
3824 Private W Thomas
5360 Private J J Thompson
5295 Private A Thomson
Lt-Col C C H Thorold
5156 Lance Corporal E Underwood
5854 Private E Vipond
5621 Private A Whiteside
5746 Private G Wilkinson
5751 Private L Williams
5584 Private O Williams
5538 Private W Williams
3145 Private W Williams
Second Lieutenant J R Williams-Ellis

2nd Battalion

It was the 2nd Battalion which took part in the operations in China and all of these men died there.

Private J Barker
Private J Bartram
Private A Burgoyne
Private J Cook
Private J Corben
Private W Crew
Private T Davies
Private H Dunbar
Private A Fisher
Private R Griffith
Sergeant G Hammerton
Private T Hanlon
Private C Heaton
Private W W Huddleston
Corporal B Hughes
Private T C Hughes
Private J Jones
Private P Jones
Private R Jones
Private R Jones
Colour Sergeant R Kirby
Private M Mansfield
Private G Martin
Private T Morgan
Private J Newberry
Private H Paddon
Private C Porter
Private J Porter
Private F Power
Private J Robinson
Private H W Scott
Private J Sheppard
Private W Smith
Private W Sweeney
Private J Thomas
Private J Thomas
Private J Thomlinson
Private W Wilkinson
Private C Wogan

These men all served with the 3rd (Militia) Battalion in South Africa

Lieutenant R W Bate
1379 Private N Cummings
2883 Private H Davies
1806 Company Quartermaster
Sergeant W Denton Private J Dunbar
2269 Private W Edwards
2084 Private J Foley
Private E L Jones
2750 Private W Jones
1760 Private M Kelly
Private G Reilly
1296 Private T Roberts
2223 Private L Rowlands
2344 Private C Thomas
2051 Private D O Watkins
Private E Williams
2096 Private W Williams

These men all served with the 4th (Militia) Battalion in South Africa

1787 Private W Evans
1812 Private J Gelder
Private J I Jones
2554 Private W Kelly
2823 Private T Mailen
1621 Private J Nolan
Private F Taylor
Private H Thomas
Private W H Williams

These men all served with the 1st Volunteer Service Company in South Africa

7376 Private H Brocklehurst
7384 Private A Holt
7464 Private J H Jones
7400 Private A Rogers
7402 Private G Stokes
7590 Private L A Wright

These men all served with the 2nd Volunteer Service Company in South Africa

7357 Private S Bailey
7496 Corporal P W Evans
7341 Private J Gallier
7471 Private T Jones
7554 Private T Lloyd
7373 Private H Parry
7347 Private N Roberts
7331 Private H Wynne

These men all served with the 3rd Volunteer Service Company in South Africa

7302 Private H Deverell
7417 Sergeant C Jones
 Private J Lewis
7522 Private H Roberts

Note the very obvious higher digit numbers for those men who served with the Volunteer Service Companies. I explained the reason behind this on another post all about Volunteer Service Companies in the Boer War. For the other men, the regulars in the 1st and 2nd Battalions all drew their numbers from a single number series. There are some very long-serving men listed here whose numbers date back to the early 1880s. The 3rd and 4th Battalions each had a separate numbering series. and again, the difference between these number series and the series issued to the men of the regular battalions and the VSCs is very evident. I have to say, that it is also entirely coincidental.