42151 Pte Thomas Davies, 11th South Wales Borderers

I recently posted information about the Herefordshire Regiment and enlistment dates for regimental numbers between 1908 and December 1914. In that post I referred to a Herefordshire Regiment man whom I had come across whilst researching another Herefordshire soldier. That man was Thomas Davies and this is his story. 

The first image that appears in Thomas Davies's file in series WO 364 is that of a Field Medical Card dated 24th February 1917. It notes, "42151 Pte Davies, T, 11th South Wales Borderers; amputation of left leg below knee, multiple small wounds, right ankle & toe. GSW rifle grenade." The card is stamped by the 131st Field Ambulance, the reverse detailing the amount of morphia doses given to Thomas, and the times these were administered. 

In actual fact, Thomas would also lose his right leg the same day. A report in his file dated the 20th August 1917 reads, "Rifle grenade wounds. Both legs amputated Feb 24th 1917, Ypres. Had left leg blown off and right leg badly mangled. Right leg amputated at [46] CCS [Casualty Clearing Station] and left stump repaired. Arrived here [Military Hospital, Herne Bay] March 21st via Boulogne [13 General Hospital, Rouen]. On April 10 right leg was re-amputated below knee. May 1, the left leg was re-amputated at upper thigh, wounds healed. General condition good." Thomas, left with a six inch stump on his left leg, was still only 19 years old. 

He was supplied with artificial Blatchford prosthetics (a Blatchford No 2 for his left leg and a Blatchford No 5 for his right leg). The image at the head of this post is from the Blatchford Group website, the company still developing artificial limbs today. 

Thomas was awarded a 100% disability pension for life. In 1918 this amounted to 21 shillings a week and by 1932 this had risen to 40 shillings a week. A claim that year for an additional payment for a carer was rejected; a note in his file reports, "Is able to do everything for himself but doesn't like going out without an escort." 

Thomas Davies was the younger brother of Aaron Davies, and when the 1911 Census was taken he was living with Aarion and his wife Beatrice and their two young children at Pentilcoch, Tregoyd, Three Cocks, Breconshire. Three years later, with Britain at war, he enlisted with the 2/1st Herefordshire Regiment on the 14th October 1914 aged 17 years and four months. He proceeded overseas on the 27th July 1916 and after treading water at an infantry base depot at Rouen for a month, was posted to the 2/4th Battalion, South Wales Borderers on the 24th August 1916, and subsequently posted to the 11th Battalion. It was whilst serving with this battalion that he sustained what we would term today, life-changing injuries. 

I would be interested to know what happened to Thomas Davies after he left the army. He had been employed by the Honourable Robert Charles Devereux (17th Viscount Hereford) of Tregoyd and a note in his file after he had received his injuries states that Viscount Devereux had indicated that he would continue to employ him. In what capacity is unknown, however, and the detail about his pre-war employment is not recorded on his attestation papers. Viscount Hereford's son, Robert Godfrey de Bohun Devereux, had also been wounded whilst serving with the Welsh Guards.

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South Wales Borderers - Other Rank PoWs 1914

A message from an online pal last week, advising me that I needn't bother transcribing South Wales Borderers PoWs because they'd already been done elsewhere, reminded me that I should probably publish what I have. I transcribed all of these PoW lists during lunch breaks at the office a few years ago, and I've been drip-feeding them onto this blog ever since.

There are ninety-four names on this list which have been transcribed from a single source held at the Imperial War Museum. Catalogue reference B.O.2 1/300 is a handwritten letter and two page typed list of South Wales Borderers submitted by No 1 Infantry Record Office, No 4 District, Shrewsbury; letter dated 28th January 1919.  My full transcription of this South Wales Borderers prisoners of war roll call of other ranks (not reproduced here) also contains the men's home addresses and whether or not they had been repatriated.

You can read more about this Prisoner of War data source on my 1914 PoWs page. The image on this post shows PoWs at Minden camp, date unknown.

For help with your own regimental numbering or military research conundrums, check out my military research service. 

6313 Private W Anderson
10309 Acting Sergeant E Bailey
8592 Drummer S H Bailey
7832 Private W Bates
8376 Private R H Beadles
11003 Lance-Corporal A H Betty
10414 Private P Brian
8713 Private R Burrows
9093 Private J Callan
6231 Private P Campbell
10899 Lance-Corporal F Chipp
9646 Private J E Collman
8587 Private F Courtney
10829 Private H W F Cowdery
8313 Private F Davies
8105 Lance-Corporal S Davies
11006 Private W Davies
10578 Private W Davies
8118 Private E Digby
9290 Private S G Dolling
11739 Pte David Driscoll
9702 Private C English
7925 Private J Evans
10744 Private M G Evans
6220 Private W H Eyles
10896 Private J Flynn
8026 Private W France
9396 Private F Franklin
13228 Corporal J Gilmore
9074 Private F J Goodger
10786 Private S Griffiths
8467 Private A Hall
8842 Corporal A Hall
10296 Private A R Hall
13032 Private L Hancock
9856 Private William Harris
8011 Private S Hathaway
9185 Private G Hawkins
6103 Private J Hayes
10904 Lance-Corporal A A Herbert
7785 Private C S Hiron
10523 Private H C Holland
10809 Lance-Corporal H Hollywell
10921 Private H Hughes
10327 Pte Sidney A James
7255 Private W James
11871 Private O Jenkins
11854 Private H John
6924 Private T Johnson
6323 Private H Jones
7974 Private J Jones
9155 Pte David J Kenvin
6221 Private D Leach
10746 Lance-Corporal C Lewis
7394 Private J Lewis
11054 Private N Lewis
9073 Private A Livingstone
11415 Sergeant H Mellor
8800 Private D Meredith
8868 Sergeant W Milford
6207 Private F Millward
11681 Private J Morgan
10925 Private G Morrisey
6466 Private J Murphy
7889 Private J Murphy
8506 Private E Newcombe
11724 Private J Padfield
9835 Private W J Penington
10628 Pte Thomas G Perry
10917 Lance-Corporal F D Phillips
9165 Private G Phillips
8555 Lance-Sergeant W G Redhead
11749 Private T Rees
9375 Private G Richards
9045 Pte Walter R Samuels
9530 Private E Shaw
10887 Private E Slade
8113 Private J Smith
8950 Private William Smith
7418 Private W Spooner
11113 Private D Sullivan
10755 Corporal H Taylor
7922 Private W J Taylor
9749 Private A Tidey
8873 Private R E Turner
8064 Private T Tweedle
7335 Private R Welch
9536 Private J West
8977 Private W J Wheeler
9100 Private J Willenbrook
7801 Private H T Williams
10562 Private J Williams
8228 Private T J Williams
8743 Private J Wiltshire

South Wales Borderers 1881-1914 - 1st and 2nd Battalions

The information contained this post has been compiled as a result of looking at service records in WO 97, WO 363 and WO 364. All of these series, joy of joys, are now online via subscription or pay per view. Clicking on the links will take you to these pay-sites. My online correspondent, Greenwich Pensioner (GP), has also contributed data for 1907-1908 and I am grateful to him for his research.

There are over 28,000 South Wales Borderers pensionand service records (for this regiment - and its antecedents) in various War Office series held at the National Archives. Clicking on the link will take you to the results on Findmypast but you will need a subscription or Pay-Per-View credits to actually view the records. Some of these records can also be viewed on-line on Ancestry although Findmypast has by far the most comprehensive service record collection.

Use the regimental numbers and dates on which these were issued, below, to determine parameters for when your own South Wales Borderers' ancestor would have joined up. Note though that these numbers are only for regular enlistments. Special Reserve and Territorial Force battalions operated completely separate regimental number sequences.

The South Wales Borderers was formed on the 1st July 1881 from the 24th (the 2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot.

The newly formed regiment was established as the county regiment for Brecknockshire, Cardiganshire, Monmouthshire, Montgomeryshire and Radnor and started numbering from 1 in 1881.

12 joined on 12th August 1881
263 joined on 29th June 1882
732 joined on 26th June 1883
985 joined on 8th January 1884
1433 joined on 7th April 1885
1725 joined on 21st January 1886
2169 joined on 5th April 1887
2355 joined on 16th February 1888
2621 joined on 26th April 1889
3237 joined on 28th April 1890
3598 joined on 13th January 1891
3910 joined on 22nd January 1892
4150 joined on 13th March 1893
4520 joined on 10th January 1894
4851 joined on 10th January 1895
5188 joined on 25th January 1896
5551 joined on 12th January 1897
5894 joined on 18th March 1898
6076 joined on 13th January 1899
6623 joined on 9th March 1900

The South Wales Borderers raised two complete volunteer service companies during the South African War and one volunteer service section comprising one officer and 31 men. Numbers were allocated as follows:

1st VSC: numbers within the ranges 6720 to 6738 and 7502 to 7612
2nd VSC: numbers within the range 7613 to 7727
3rd VSC: numbers 7731 to 7761

The 1st VSC departed home locations on 29th January 1900 and by May that year had joined the 2nd Battalion at Osfontein in South Africa. The 2nd VSC was mobilized at Brecon on the 15th February and arrived at Cape Town on the 16th April 1901.

6977 joined on 1st April 1901
7257 joined on 16th April 1902

7358 Thomas William Boon oined on 6th August 1902
7848 John Potter Booty oined on 29th December 1902
7868 joined on 8th January 1903

8313 Frederick Davies joined on 29th December 1903
8341 joined on 28th January 1904

8634 James Williams joined on 28th December 1904
8841 joined on 31st July 1905

9003 Albert Edward Webber joined on 30th December 1905
9246 joined on the 3rd July 1906

9488 Godfrey Charles Tomkins joined on 31st December1906

1907-1908

By 1905, the 1st Battalion South Wales Borderers was in Karachi and a number of drafts from the UK were sent to Karachi during the time frame 1907-8 (about 450 men in all). When it was time for the 1st to come back to the UK, and for the 2nd Battalion to deploy overseas to South Africa (Pretoria), around 250 men were transferred to the 2nd so that the new overseas battalion was well up to strength.

The majority of the following numbers and names from 1907 and 1908 are reproduced here thanks to research undertaken by GP.

9495 Thomas Thomas joined on 8th January 1907

9510 joined on 29th January 1907
9579 Alfred Walker joined on 11th July 1907
9605 Ernest Charles Andrew joined on 24th August 1907
9607 Morgan Hopkins joined on 21st August 1907
9610 Harry Jenkins joined on 26th August 1907
9613 Albert William Powell joined on 22nd August 1907
9614 John Carlton joined on 29th August 1907
9616 Noah Francis joined on 30th August 1907
9617 William Gabb joined on 29th August 1907
9621 William Gough joined on 4th September 1907
9624 Walter Nash joined on 2nd September 1907
9630 Bedwin Robert Watson joined on 3rd September 1907
9637 David Williams joined on 3rd September 1907
9641 Arthur Ernest Peacock joined on 5th September 1907
9642 William Storer joined on 5th September 1907
9643 Joseph Humphries joined on 6th September 1907
9644 Osborn James Hales joined on 4th September 1907
9645 Will F Manning joined on 4th September 1907
9648 Alfred Smith joined on 5th September 1907
9656 James Camplin joined on 7th September 1907
9664 William Pope joined on 9th September 1907
9669 Eugene McCarthy joined on 11th September 1907
9679 Alfred E Box joined on 11th September 1907
9680 Henry George Spencer joined on 12th September 1907
9683 Sidney Ernest Collins joined on 12th September 1907
9686 William Joseph Powell joined on 12th September 1907
9690 George Warner joined on 16th September 1907
9696 William Suggett joined on 16th September 1907
9700 Isaac Rees Evans joined on 18th September 1907
9704 Peter Blake joined on 19th September 1907
9715 Evan John Davies joined on 23rd September 1907
9720 Eric Leslie Bowyer joined on 23rd September 1907
9726 Edgar William Wall joined on 23rd September 1907
9729 Nathan John Goat joined on 24th September 1907
9739 Alfred Ernest Mayhew joined on 12th October 1907
9745 Alfred Gibbons joined on 19th October 1907
9746 Thomas Davies joined on 21st October 1907
9750 John Hudson joined on 22nd October 1907
9752 Francis John Court joined on 24th October 1907
9758 Joseph Jennings joined on 5th November 1907
9769 Thomas Jones joined on 22nd November 1907
9785 John Dillon joined on 30th December 1907

9789 Michael Reed joined on 31st December 1907
9790 Robert Carver joined on 4th January 1908
9791 William Ludwick joined on 4th January 1908
9805 Ernest Cruise joined on 17th January 1908
9818 Fred Round joined on 16th January 1908
9861 Ernest Reuben Loveridge joined on 29th April 1908
9908 Gerbert Cockeran joined on 20th July 1908
10226 James Joyce joined on 18th December 1908
10238 joined on 15th January 1909

10296 Arthur Richard Hall joined on 13th December 1909
10492 joined on the 12th August 1910

10586 Ernest Jones joined on 2nd January 1911
10648 joined on the 6th July 1911

10723 William David Price joined on 29th December 1911
10818 joined on 28th May 1912

10966 Charles Edward Powell joined on 11th December 1912
11041 joined on 5th May 1913

11103 Timothy Burke joined on 24th November 1913
11109 Cecil Jones joined on 14th January 1914
11115 joined on 5th February 1914

11213 Edward Timbury joined on 27th July 1914
11218 Hector Clapton joined on 7th August 1914

The First World War

When Britain went to war in August 1914 an attempt appears to have been made to differentiate between those men who were enlisting for war-time service only and those men who were enlisting during war-time, but under regular terms of enlistment.

By August 1914, The South Wales Borderers had three separate number series running: one for the two regular battalions, one for the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, and one for the Territorial Brecknockshire Battalion. Quite a simple differentiation on the face of it, but the South Wales Borderers numbering is far from straightforward from August 1914 onwards.

Numbers prefixed with the number 3/ start appearing on attestation papers of men who were joining up for a career in the army. The 3/ appears to be a red herring, a way of differentiating perhaps, between war-time only enlistments and regular enlistments. However, the same prefix also appears – as it might be expected to do - on some 3rd Battalion numbers. Thus, for example 3/11283 joined up for seven years with the colours and three years on the reserve on the 2nd September 1914. However, the same number had already been issued to a man joining the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion in March 1913.

At the same time, some men who were joining up for war-time service only were issued with numbers from the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion, even though their papers are clearly not those of Special Reservists but rather men signing up for active service for three years or duration.

In summary, and ignoring the 3/ prefix, it looks as though numbers up until around 12300 were held back for men who wanted to join the SWB as career soldiers whilst numbers higher than this were issued to war-time only recruits.

Recruitment rates 1881-1911

Between 1st July 1881 and 25th February 1891, The South Wales Borderers recruited 3,598 men, a good average of 375 men each year. Of the sixty-nine infantry regiments recruiting at this time, The South Wales Borderers was the seventeenth most successful infantry recruiter.

Recruitment in the 1890s dipped for the regiment and by April 1901 it was issuing number 6977 to its latest career soldier, an average recruitment rate of 330 men per annum and put the regiment in thirty-eighth place out of the sixty-nine infantry regiments recruiting at the time.

Recruitment in the regiment picked up in the first decade of the twentieth century and by July 1911 the regiment had issued number 10648 to its latest recruit; an above-average recruitment rate for the 1900s of 358 men.

1st Battalion stations 1881-1914

1881 Colchester
1883 Kilkenny
1885 Curragh
1887 Dublin
1889 Aldershot
1893 Egypt
1895 Gibraltar
1897 Chakratta
1903 Dalhousie
1905 Karachi
1909 Quetta
1910 Chatham
1913 Bordon
1914 France and Flanders (from August)

2nd Battalion stations 1881-1914

1881 Sheffield
1883 Mullingar (India)
1888 Cork
1891 Devonport
1892 Secunderabad
1897 Bellary
1899 Ahmednagar
1901 Subathu
1904 Quetta
1906 South Africa
1908 (Sep) - 1910 (Jan) Pembroke Dock
1910 (Jan) - 1912 (Oct) Pretoria
1912 (Oct) - 1914 (Sept) Tientsin, China

1914 Tsingtao / Hong Kong
1915 (Jan) UK

The photo on this blog is an anachronism and shows men of the 24th Regiment of Foot in 1879.  Image taken from Historik Orders.

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Further reading:

The South Wales Borderers, 24th Foot 1689-1937

Historical records of the 24th Regiment (South Wales Borderers)

History of the South Wales Borderers 1914-1918