Jean Roberts

Place of birth: Blaenau Ffestiniog

Service: Worker, WAAC, 1917/11/08 – 1918/01/05

Death: 1918/01/05, Bangor Military Hospital, Spotted fever / Teiffws

Notes: Jean, who was 18 when she died, was the eldest of six children of a widowed mother. In November 1919 her case was raised in Parliament by Haydn Jones, MP for Merioneth. Jean had been the chief support of the family, but her mother was not entitled to any form of compensation and was forced to ask for parochial relief. The matter was ‘considered’ by the Financial Secretary to the War Office, but we do not know the outcome. Jean Roberts’s name appears in the Welsh National Book of Remembrance.

Reference: WaW0260

Grave Register

Details of Jean Roberts in the War Graves Register

Newspaper report

Newspaper report of parliamentary question about Jean Roberts. North Wales Chronicle 14th November 1919.

Welsh Book of Remembrance

Jean Roberts’s name in the Welsh National Book of Remembrance.

War Memorial plaque

Jean Roberts’s name on the War Memorial in St David’s Church, Blaenau Ffestiniog. It was obviously added after WW2, hence the mistake WAAF for QMAAC.rn. rn

M Roberts

Place of birth: Ton Pentre

Service: Munitions worker

Memorial: Jerusalem C M Chapel, Ton Pentre, Glamorgan

Notes: Nothing is known of Miss M Roberts whose name appears on the Roll of Honour in Jerusalem Calvinistic Methodist Chapel, Ton Pentre.

Reference: WaW0159

Roll of Honour

Miss M Roberts, Munitions’ name on the Roll of Honour in Jerusalem Calvinistic Methodist Chapel, Ton Pentre

Margaret Dorothy Roberts

Place of birth: Dolgellau

Service: Staff Nurse, QAIMNS Reserve / Wrth gefn, 29/09/1915 - 31/12/1917

Death: 1917-12-31, SS Osmanieh, Drowning

Memorial: Cathedral Nurse, Llanelwy, Flintshire

Notes: aged 47. SS Osmanieh was sunk by a German mine off Alexandria, Egypt. Grave in Hadra War Memorial Cemetery, Alexandria, Egypt. Born in the Workhouse in Dolgellau, she spent many years in Australia before returning to Britain to join the QAIMNS Reserves.

Sources: http://www.flintshirewarmemorials.com/memorials/st-asaph-memorial/st-asaph-cathedral-welsh-nurses-ww1/roberts-margaret-dorothy/; http://emhs.org.au/person/roberts/margaret_dorothy

Reference: WaW0051

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

Margaret Dorothy Robert's name on the Nurses' Memorial, St Asaph

Margaret Dorothy Roberts

Margaret Dorothy Roberts

Mary Frances Roberts

Place of birth: Wrexham

Service: Child

Death: 1916/03/09, Moss, Wrexham, Explosion / Ffrwydrad

Memorial: Holy Trinity Church, Gwersyllt, Wrexham, Denbighshire

Notes: Mary, aged four, died when a souvenir shell brought home by her uncle exploded, killing her sister and fatally injuring her and her 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: WaW0219

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. Abergavenny Chronicle 17 March 1916

Newspaper report

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

Nancy Roberts

Service: Nurse, VAD ?

Notes: Nothing is known of Nancy Roberts. Her name appears at no 60 on the Roll of Honour of those who served in WWI, Kings Cross Welsh Chapel London.

Reference: WaW0201

Roll of Honour

Roll of Honour of those who served in WWI, Kings Cross Welsh Chapel London

Nancy Roberts’s name on Roll of Honour

Nancy Roberts’s name on Roll of Honour of those who served in WWI, Kings Cross Welsh Chapel London

Sarah Roberts

Place of birth: Wrexham ?

Service: Mother

Notes: Sarah lost both legs in the shell explosion at Moss, Wrexham, on 9th March 1916. Her daughter Ethel was killed instantly and her daughter Mary and two other little girls fatally injured. See Mary Bagnall.Sarah’s account was quoted in the report of the inquest, Canbrian Times 18th March 1916.

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

Reference: WaW0216

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.

Newspaper report

Report of the inquest into the deaths of the four girls.

Gertrude Rosewarne

Place of birth: Ebbw Vale

Service: Nurse, VAD

Notes: Gertrude Rosewarne was working as a pupil teacher in 1911. She joined the VAD early in the War, first in Abergavenny and then in Ebbw Vale. She collected entries by many of her patients in her autograph album.

Reference: WaW0100

Gertrude Rosewarne VAD

Gertrude Rosewarne in VAD uniform

Ebbw Vale Red Cross detachment 1914

Ebbw Vale Red Cross detachment parading, November 1914

A page from Gertrude Rosewarne

page of nurses from Gertrude Rosewarne's album

Red Cross card

Red Cross record card for Gertrude Rosewarne

Red Cross card (reverse)

Red Cross record card for Gertrude Rosewarne

Gwladys Rowlands

Place of birth: Talywain

Service: Assistant Cook, WAAC/QMAAC, 1917/09 - 1919/10

Notes: Gwladys joined the WAAC in September 1917 when she was working as a housemaid in Pontypool Hospital. Her WAAC papers survive in the National Archives, including a letter to Lady Mackworth (Margaret Haig Thomas) in August 1917, enquiring about the possibility of joining a women’s army corps. She served as an assistant cook, first at Bisley near London, then at Catterick Camp in Yorkshire. Gwladys was discharged from the WAAC on compassionate grounds in October 1919.

Sources: National Archives WO-398-193-26

Reference: WaW0291

Reference for WAAC admission

Gwladys Rowlands’s reference from Pontypool Hospital.

Uniform list

WAAC uniform for Gwladys Rowlands (1)

Uniform list

WAAC uniform for Gwladys Rowlands (2)

Roll of Honour

Name of Gwladys Rowlands on the Roll of Honour at Pisgah Baptist Church, Talywain.

Helena May Rowlands

Place of birth: Llangefni

Service: Nurse, Territorial Nursing Service/Gwasanaeth Nyrsio Tiri

Death: 1919-05-10, Military Fever Hospital Liverpool, Influenza

Memorial: Nurses memorial, Llanelwy, Flintshire

Notes: aged 24/25. Buried in Mynydd Seion Chapel, Abergele. Her body was taken by train from Liverpool to Abergele, and straight to the cemetery to avoid infection.

Sources: http://www.flintshirewarmemorials.com/memorials/st-asaph-memorial/st-asaph-cathedral-welsh-nurses-ww1/rowlands-helena-may/

Reference: WaW0054

Nurse Helena May Rowlands's name on the Nurses' Memorial, St Asaph

Helena May Rowlands's name on the Nurses' Memorial, St Asaph

Nurses' Memorial, Liverpool Cathedral

The Nurses’ Memorial in the Lady Chapel, Liverpool Cathedral, listing names of nurses who died in the War and had worked in Liverpool. Ethel Saxon is also recorded here.

Nurses' Memorial Liverpool Cathedral

Name of Helena Rowlands on the Nurses Memorial, Liverpool Cathedral

G(w)ladys Sails

Place of birth: Swansea

Service: Nurse, VAD

Death: 1917/12/15, Mumbles, meningitis

Notes: Gladys (or Gwladys, both spellings occur) worked as a VAD at Danycoed Red Cross Hospital, Swansea, where she contracted the illness that became meningitis. She was 28 when she died, and was well-known in Swansea for swimming in the ladies’ water polo team.

Reference: WaW0287

Newspaper report

Report of the death of Gwladys Sails. Cambria Daily Leader 17th December 1917.

Newspaper report

Report of the funeral of Gwladys Sails. Cambria Daily Leader 19th December 1917.

Newspaper report

Report of names, including Gladys’s, for Swansea Ladies’ Water Polo Team. Evening Express 12th October 1907.