Two Brothers Remembered in The Church of the Holy Cross, Kilgwrrwg

Richard Morgan was one of three men from Kilgwrrwg killed in The First World War( See Able Seaman Richard Morgan-  The Last British Serviceman to Die in World War One? ). Behind the altar, a visitor to The Church of the Holy Cross will find a stained glass window dedicated to the memory of Richard Morgan, and also to the memory of Joseph Allsop Jones Bevan and Frederick James Bevan. These two men were brothers and the sons of John and Elizabeth Bevan of The Bayles, Kilgwrrwg. The Bevan’s and Morgan’s were neighbours. The two families would have known each other well, the children were very likely to have played together and Richard Morgan and Joseph Bevan, who were the same age, were very likely to have gone to school together.

Joseph Bevan enlisted on 7^th April 1915 and was a Leading Seaman in the Drake Battalion of the Royal Naval Division. The Division had been formed in August 1914 from naval reservists, once ships of the fleet had been made up to their full complement. The Division served in Belgium and the Gallipoli campaign and landed in France in May 1916. Though the Division maintained its naval traditions, it fought in the trenches alongside the army. Joseph died on 8^th February 1917 aged 25 in the 3^rd Canadian General Hospital at Boulogne and is buried in Boulogne East Cemetery. The hospital recorded that he died of gunshot wounds and that he also had frostbite to his hands and feet and broncho pneumonia. He was wounded on the Somme where the Naval Division were taking part in a series of attacks on the German lines. Although the Battle of the Somme had officially ended in November 1916, the British high command was determined to maintain attacks against the German lines; events that receive little mention in history books, yet ones in which many men, such as Joseph, died.

Frederick Bevan was a private in the 4^th Battalion of the South Wales Borderers. He died of wounds on 11^th August 1915 aged 22 and is buried in the 7^th Field Ambulance Cemetery at Gallipoli in Turkey. The cemetery was established by The Australian 7^th Field Hospital and was used to bury many of the soldiers killed in this area. Frustrated by the deadlock on The Western Front, the British carried out a series of landings on the Gallipoli Peninsula in 1915 with the aim of knocking Turkey out of the war and opening up a route to Russia via The Black Sea; the campaign was a failure and British forces were withdrawn before the end of the year. The 4^th South Wales Borderers landed at Gallipoli in July 1916 and took part in the final assaults against Turkish forces which began on 6^th August, during which Frederick was presumably wounded.

 

Guided Battlefield Tours Ltd organise fully guided tours to First World War sites, including a Somme Tour and an Ypres Tour. For further information click on: www.guidedbattlefieldtours.co.uk