The main challenge that faced us as we began the process of structuring the documentary was obvious, to do justice with one of Wales’ most enduring stories. It’s a story that has been pored over for generations, one that generated an Oscar nominated film during the early nineties, followed by an excellent biography written by its screenwriter, the poet Alan Llwyd. 555j6v

We decided to try and strike a balance between the obvious drama inherent in Hedd Wyn’s life story and a more factual analysis of his life and work; but without forgetting the man himself. Who knew that Hedd Wyn used to compete in local eisteddfodau in order to get his hands on the not insubstantial cash prizes offered at the time, providing him with beer money with which he would indulge his mates in speed-drinking sessions? Having grown up on the Hedd Wyn ‘myth’, this was definitely one aspect of his character I hadn’t heard of; and more’s the pity. I suppose it sort of made him more ‘real’, somehow less hallowed.

The ‘myth’ referred to is one that began to be cultivated almost immediately after his death. In an uneasy parallel to the intrusive tendencies of today’s popular press, The Daily Sketch sent journalists to his home less than two weeks after the official announcement of his death. Almost unbelievably, they had all his eisteddfodic chairs carried out in front of the house, and had his mother and sisters pose next to them for the article’s accompanying photograph. Hundreds of commemorative poems were published in the local and national press and letters of condolence flooded in to Yr Ysgwrn, by people the family had never met. His death had touched the national psyche – it became the symbol for the tragic waste of young Welsh talent.. As his biographer Alan Llwyd stated memorably, and I paraphrase, he seems more alive in death than when he was alive.

A question often asked about Hedd Wyn is “What would he have achieved had he lived?”, and while it is one that we ask in the programme, it is of course rhetorical, an impossible one to answer. One thing that can be said is that “Rhyfel” (War), the poem Hedd Wyn is mainly ed for today shows the hallmarks of a new, modernist approach, a style he would no doubt have further explored had he lived. His winning poem “Yr Arwr” is often cited as the last great Romantic poem in the Welsh language. After the horrors of WW1, there would be no going back.

So what will we all from the filming?

Seeing the work being carried out over the past few years at Yr Ysgwrn, Hedd Wyn’s home, and its outbuildings has been hugely impressive. The Snowdonia National Park Authority staff have been extremely accommodating with our numerous last minute requests to film; on what was essentially a building site! The amount of work that has gone into transforming the site into a visitor centre has been astonishing, but you would never guess, such has been the sensitive way in which it has been conducted.

It was of course a privilege to film the Black Chair at Hugh Hayley’s workshop in St.Clears, the restoration work having just been completed on it. Another humbling experience, undoubtedly, was bearing witness to the futility and waste of war in amongst the hundreds of stock still gravestones at Artillery Wood cemetery in Ypres.

 

Hedd Wyn: The Lost War Poet will be broadcast Saturday 5 August at 9pm on BBC Two Wales. It will also be available on BBC iPlayer. 

 

 

 

Happy New Year!

There’s much in store for what promises to be a very busy 2015, starting this week with a trip to see the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Three years ago, BBC NOW provided a day long soundtrack for Radio Wales. It was so much fun, we’ve decided to do it all again this Friday. Our latest day with the orchestra sees Jason Mohammad and Wynne Evans find out more about the BBC’s Ten Pieces and get their hands dirty as the orchestra plays some listeners’ favourites.

There’s still plenty of time to be part of the day at Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff Bay. Free tickets are available via the Wales Millennium Centre on 02920 63 64 64.

Our coverage of World War One continues with a new three part series: Doves and Hawks sees Aled Eurig presents a history of Wales and the pacifism movement during the First World War.

Tackling in the War in a completely different way, meet The Greatest Welshman Never Heard Of - aka hapless Great War correspondent Aneurin Davies. He’s the subject of our Friday night comedy through January. Check out episode one online now.

A century ago, Caradoc Evans wrote a collection of short stories called ‘My People’, which caused such a storm he became known as ‘the most hated man in Wales’. Rachel Trezise takes up the story in a special edition of the Radio Wales Arts Show on Wednesday at 6.30.

Llandudno’s Courteous Thief have the honour of becoming the first Radio Wales Artist of the Week of 2015. You can hear their new song, Red Ribbons, across the station this week. They’ll be live in session with Eleri on Wednesday. On Thursday Eleri speaks to our very own Elis James about his new BBC Three comedy Crims.

And talking of comedy, Ross Noble s Lynn Bowles as she returns after her Christmas break on Sunday at 2.

So that’s week 1 of 2015. The other 51 will include a General Election, a Rugby World Cup, Cardiff Singer of the World, obviously another Grand Slam and - it goes without saying - qualification to a major football tournament for the first time in my lifetime!

I’m off to the bookies.

Steve

It is still possible to surprise people with incredibly detailed and previously unknown information about their ancestors and this was definitely the case when I researched  BBC Radio Wales presenter Owen Money’s military ancestry.
 
Owen Money was born Lynn Mittell in 1947 in Merthyr Tydfil. His father James Lyons Mittell and aunt Augusta Grace Mittell appear on the 1911 census as living at 5 Dale Terrace, Merthyr Tydfil with their parents Rosalie and James Brett Mittell.
 
Owen’s grandfather James Brett Mittell was born in 1882 in Lewisham. In 1901, his occupation is given as 'Steam Engine Driver' and obviously the lure of work had brought him to the then prosperous town of Merthyr Tydfil where he met and married his American wife in 1903.
 
Luckily James Mittell’s WW1 service papers survived the blitz intact and Owen now has all 14 pages in his possession. These documents, stored at the National Archives reveal that James left his home in Dale Terrace and travelled to Great Yarmouth where he attested in July 1915. Soon afterwards he was posted into the 206th Battery of the Royal Garrison Artillery with the service number, 54638.
 
On 7 June 1916, less than a month before the battle of the Somme, James was sent to and posted to the 108th Siege Battery.
 
Reading through the 14 pages of a service record is always a sobering process, even when I know that the individual I am researching survived the war. It is incredible to think of the sheer volume of paperwork involved and nothing short of a miracle that so much detailed information is available to us now over 100 years later.
 
James Mittell’s service record seemed fairly regular. In fact Owen had told me that nobody in his family had ever done anything special and he was worried that he came from a long line of cowards!  But page 62482 told me different. 

Incredibly, and completely unknown to Owen his grandfather had received the Military Medal following an act of gallantry.
 
While a military medal is not unique (14,504 Military Medals were awarded to of the Royal Regiment of Artillery alone during World War One) it is still a long way from being an act of cowardice, and the medal came as a huge surprise to Owen when I told him live on air during Eleri Sion on 12 November.   Also his grandfather's service record went on to tell me in great detail that James Mittell had been hospitalised in July 1916 and discharged in Dover in 1918, with the additional information that he was “released as a miner”.
 
However, what the service record cannot tell you is what James Mittell actually did to earn a military medal or where or when the performed his act of gallantry.
 
The London Gazette lists the basic details and does at least help to narrow down the dates; it confirms that Mittell was gazetted on 28 September 1917.
 
Consulting an expert was the next step and Paul Evans, the archivist at the Royal Garrison Artillery Museum in Woolwich, was just the chap to ask. He confirmed that sadly there was no war diary for the 108th Siege Battery, but suggested that a search of the local newspapers in the six months prior to the announcement in the Gazette might turn up a story of a local hero.
 
The librarian in Merthyr Tydfil Libraries was amazingly helpful and diligently set to work searching through archived microfilmed copies of the Merthyr Express until she found just what we were hoping for.
 

On 1 September 1917 the Merthyr Express confirmed in black and white that Sergeant James Mittell RGA had been awarded the Military Medal for gallantry at Vimy Ridge. Not only that but Mittell was complimented for bravery by General Julian Byng (see details in the Canadian Encyclopedia).  Mittell had also seen service at Arras and Mametz Wood.
 
Thanks to his local library Owen now has new, valuable and incredibly personal information about his grandfather.
 
He also has a shiny new replica military medal from the Worcestershire Medal Service with his grandfather’s name and number engraved on the rim to treasure and perhaps wear with pride next Remembrance Day, along with the knowledge that his grandfather was a hero and not a coward.
 
Listen to BBC Radio Wales on 17 December 2-3pm to hear me giving people special Christmas “Gifts of Knowledge” with Eleri Sion. If you have something or someone you would like me to trace in time for Christmas then please get in touch.

Among the millions who ed up to serve their country during World War 1 were thousands of young boys who were keen not to miss out on the action regardless of their age.

One of the boy soldiers was BBC Wales broadcaster Gareth Lewis’ great grandfather Frederick Oswald Reginald Hinks, known by his family as Oswald. He was born on 5 May 1899, a fact vital to his story.

Oswald came from an ordinary family. His father Frederick was born in Shropshire in 1873. His mother, Alice Kate Cook, was born in 1876 in Gloucester.  In 1901 the Hinks family lived at 21 Hopkin Street in Treherbert and the 1911 census shows that the family had moved to 26 Aberdare Road in Abercynon. It was from here that the young Oswald Hinks decided on 25 January 1915 that it was time he served his country.

He was aged just 15 years and 8 months but obviously felt very strongly that he could wait no longer to sign up.

 

Having been recruited in Mountain Ash he signed his attestation papers in Abercynon claiming to be a grocer’s assistant aged 18 years and 1 month and 5 ft 11½ inches tall. He was sent for training in Aldershot, aiming to serve for the duration of the war in the Horse Transport section of the Army Service Corps and was given the service number I36346.

He was obviously naive because despite lying about his age he provided his father’s full name and address as next of kin. Imagine the shock then when five days later his father read the details of his son’s name printed on page 5 of the Aberdare Leader.

 

 

On 11 March 1915 a young Oswald Hinks was discharged from the army having served only 46 days.

I can only assume that his father (presumably having seen the notice in the paper) informed the authorities that his son was aged just 15 years and ten months (never mind the fact that his height was only 5 ft 4¼ inches tall) and arranged for him to return home. Recruitment officers were reputedly paid two shillings per man they signed up and it seems that all too often the vital details such as actual age were overlooked.

Gareth Lewis is lucky. Six pages of service papers recording Hinks’ time as Recruit I36436 survived the blitz intact. The last page provides the reason for his discharge in typical blunt military language:

“Having made a mis-statement as to age on enlistment para (VI)A  R.R. 1912”

There are no medals linked to this record because Oswald did not serve overseas.

But this is not the end of the story. Information held in the WWI Medal Rolls Index (MRI) Cards offers a different entry for Frederick O. R. Hinks, a Private in the Somerset Light Infantry with the regimental number: 36437.

 

The details on this image confirm that Oswald, not content with being prevented from enlisting in January 1915 tried again, and succeeded the second time. He went on to serve overseas, and was given the Victory and British War Medals. This honour is reserved for men or boys only when they reach the age of 19 (or perhaps in Oswald’s case when they lie and pretend to be 19 years of age).

The MRI card also confirms that Hinks was not entitled to the 1914-1915 Star; which means that he did not go abroad until after 1 January 1916. But without the details of which battalion it is impossible to know where and when he went. Battalion details are usually to be found in the Absent Voters’ List which reveal specifically the section of the services that every man from each street in every town served with.

Oswald is not listed here because ironically he was not old enough to vote!  So his battalion details were identified using the Medal Rolls which are held at the National Archives (WO 329/892 page 1079). This confirms that Oswald served with the 7th Battalion of the Somersetshire Light Infantry until the end of the war. His final destination on 21 January 1919 is shown to be “Z Reserve”; a contingent consisting of discharged soldiers held in "Reserve" just in case of further problems. Class Z reserve was abolished on 31 March 1920.

 

 

In October Gareth and I took a trip to the regimental museum in Taunton  which is based inside the magnificent castle walls. While there we explored the various exhibitions and displays of militaria.

Sam Astill, Assistant Curator from Somerset Heritage Service helped explain the regiment’s role and how the battalion war diaries and other documents can help provide additional details. I always find it’s best to ask an expert, and this was especially true in this since during WW1 the SLI had 19 battalions, each one involved in different operations, activities and in some cases even in different theatres of war.

But one question remains; when did Private Hinks 36437 enlist into the 7th Battalion?

 

 

In August 1917 Oswald sent a postcard to his then girlfriend Irene from his barracks in Plymouth, having reached the ripe old age of 18 years and 3 months. This postcard is one of Gareth’s grandmother’s most treasured possessions - Oswald Hinks went on to marry Irene Lewis in 1921.

 

Had Oswald stayed in the army after January 1921 then a record of his extended long service would be held at the Army Personnel Centre in Glasgow.

There is however one final fact which should be considered.

On 12 December 1915 Private Glastonbury enlisted into the Somerset Light Infantry and was given the service number of 36460. Three days before that date on 9 December 1915 Private Warman was issued with the service number 36453. This implies that service number 36437 ( Oswald Hinks’ service number) would have been issued sometime around November 1915.

Could this possibly mean that Oswald ed up for a second time aged just 16 years and 6 months?

Sadly this is a question that will never be answered - the service papers recording Oswald’s time with the Somerset Light Infantry have not survived.

Teenage Tommies will be broadcast on Tuesday 11 November at 21:00 GMT on BBC Two. Or catch up later on BBC iPlayer.

 

 

One of the questions I am most frequently asked is “what did my grandfather do in the war?”. Most people who have an ancestor who served during WW1 have an idea of their battalion or their service number but not always an idea of exactly where their ancestor went and which battles they fought.

Ironically, if your ancestor died then their basic details can be traced quite quickly via the Commonwealth War Grave Commission’s website. If you're lucky then their service records will have survived the Blitz and be available in the WO 363 records held at The National Archives or via Ancestry.co.uk, but it is estimated that around 60% of all WW1 service records were sadly lost.

If your ancestor served overseas then they should have received either two or three of the campaign medals and if they survived then they may have received a pension, details of which can both be found online.

More recently, it has become possible to search the WW1 casualty lists and in some cases view the original newspaper cuttings which offer valuable details previously not easily accessible. So it is becoming increasingly easy to follow the paper trail left by a military ancestor, providing you have a few basic details to start with or a surname that isn’t Smith or Jones!

At the start of the summer I received a more specific and complex task.

“My great-grandfather Percy William Laverick won the Military Cross in WW1. All I really know is that he was a Lieutenant with the Royal Garrison Artillery and that he was awarded the MC for gallantry. I'd like to find out more.”

This query was sent to me by BBC Good Morning Wales presenter Ollie Hides.

The fact that Laverick had been decorated meant that the first place to start was by searching The Gazette. A quick search of their database revealed that Laverick was mentioned three times: firstly when he was promoted to 2nd Lt in 1917, then on December 23rd 1918 he was attached to the 329th Siege Battery, and finally in 1919 came the citation for his Military Cross.


SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, 11 JANUARY, 1919. page 629

Lt. Percy William Laverick, 329th Siege By., R.G.A.
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to
duty. When in command of a half battery
in a forward position which was heavily
bombarded with high-explosive and gas
shell, he kept his guns in action and maintained
communication with headquarters.
After being twenty hours under shell fire,
he withdrew his guns in good order without
casualties, and only slight damage to one
gun. His cool judgement enabled him to
extricate his half battery from a dangerous
situation.

The text of this citation makes me feel proud and he isn’t even my ancestor.

Emotions aside, with this information it was now possible to narrow down when Laverick’s gallant deed occurred, which was towards the end of the war, taking into the delay between the action at the Front and the War Office providing accurate details to be printed several months later in the Gazette. Regardless, I was determined to find the actual date and, if possible, the location.

Luckily, WW1 Officers’ service records were not subject to being bombed in the Blitz and Laverick’s service record was available at the National Archives under the reference WO 339/83760, which I quickly ordered for just under £40 because they have not yet been digitised and so are not available to view online. I knew it would take a while to arrive but when it did it should provide more details of his illustrious Military Cross.

Naturally Lieutenant Laverick was also awarded Campaign Medals, but his medal index card revealed that since he arrived in on May 15th 1917 he was only eligible for the Victory and British War Medal and not the 1914-1915 Star.

Because Laverick was an officer the medal index card also provided his address at the time: 2 Spencer Mansions, Queens Club Gardens in West Kensington - which was quite a difference to his entry in the 1911 census. He was a 19-year-old sales engineer living at 97A Rye Lane, Peckham in south-east London with his 14-year-old brother Cecil Ebenezer Laverick, who sadly died on September 13th 1917 while also serving with the Royal Field Artillery.

The National Archives are currently undertaking the huge task of digitising all the WW1 war diaries. These diaries, which were kept in triplicate, reveal the minute details of the day-to-day occurrences and often even hour-by-hour developments.

After ing the Royal Artillery Museum, my hopes were dashed when I learned that there was no war diary kept for the 329th Siege Battery.

But there was still a chance, since they formed part of the 28th Heavy Artillery Group, whose diaries were held both at the National Archives and at the Regimental Museum in Woolwich.

So on August 5th, Ollie and I travelled to Woolwich hoping to find the answers to the final two questions: exactly when and where did Laverick act so bravely?

Safely stored within the thick walls of the library housed within the museum are row upon row of boxes, each containing a war diary. With the necessary expertise of Paul Evans we were provided with a single box to work our way through, scanning for any sign of Laverick’s name.

And thankfully we were rewarded for our efforts.

The word “Eureka” doesn’t do justice to my feelings at that moment.

On October 11th 1918, while stationed east of Fleurbaix, Lieutenant Laverick received the MC as an immediate award for gallantry in the field.

Later in August, Ollie was able to travel to Belgium and drive to the place where the small hamlet of Fleurbaix existed in 1918, and also visit his the grave of his great-uncle Cecil Laverick.

Since the recordings were broadcast on BBC Good Morning Wales, Ollie has also received an incredibly personal letter discovered by Keith Charge whose grandfather served alongside Laverick in the RGA, which proves that brave men have a sensitive side to them.

Not everyone is not going to be this lucky when they research into what their grandfathers did during the war, but you will never know until you start searching.

At the end of my last blog I finished with a single question:

"How and when did Sapper David James Roach get injured?"

Sapper David James Roach, 92519, Royal Engineers signed up for the duration of WW1 and told his son John all about his service; including fighting at the Somme, Ypres, Cambrai and Mametz. But John could find no confirmation of his father's service history since his service record was one of several thousand destroyed during the Blitz.

John had his father's three campaign medals and so knew his service number. He also knew that his father had suffered badly with shell shock and had been injured by shrapnel at some point in the war, and that he had returned once his wounds had healed. But proving these facts to be true had eluded John for all of his life.

Discovering that Sapper David Sidney Williams 92538 enlisted around the same time was a breakthrough since Williams was selected for officer training and his service record showed that he served with the 124th Field Company. This meant that finally a war diary could be ordered by my brother Tim, for him to trawl through. A few days later his text confirmed, "there were no entries for Roach".

Knowing that Sapper Roach had been injured meant that it was possible that he would have received a Silver War Badge if his injuries had been so bad that he was subsequently discharged. These details would appear in the indexes available online.

There was no mention of Roach being awarded a Silver War Badge, this confirmed that he was not discharged which provided proof that what his father told him was true.

There is a new database online which provides the casualty records for all ranks from lists published by the War Office. This includes rolls of honour and other reports of the time in a simple easy-to-search format. Within two minutes of logging on I found my own grandfather as well as the evidence that John so badly wanted:

Forename: D J
Surname: Roach
Casualty Status: Wounded
Rank: Sapper
Service Number: 92519
Regiment: R. E.
Daily List Date: 12th August 1916
Category: N.C.O.'s & Men
Casualty Status: Wounded
Source: Daily Casualty Lists 

This is the first confirmation that John Roach has ever had regarding his father being injured during WW1.

When John appeared on the Eleri Sion programme on 7 August he mentioned the 38th Welsh Division, since among his father's possessions were several items that alluded to the 38th Welsh Division which was used to assault and clear Mametz Wood in July 1916. It suffered severe casualties and did not return to major action until over a year later.

The Royal Engineers of the 123rd Field Company ed and fought alongside the infantry battalions to take and hold Mametz Wood. However since the 123rd, 124th & 151st Field Companies were each linked to the 38th Welsh Division each of their respective Company War Diaries would need to be searched.

Luckily these are now available to from the National Archives and since the 124th had already been searched for evidence of Roach it seemed logical to search the remaining two.

And incredibly a mention of Sapper D J Roach was located.

The following is an entry from the 123rd Field Company War Diary, which reports on the events of 11 July.

 

It clearly shows that Sapper D J Roach was one of several Sappers wounded during that fateful day.

"As nightfall approached, the bedraggled troops found cover where they could, exhausted after 15 hours of continuous fighting. At daybreak on 11 July, the Welsh Division was in a state of disarray, scattered throughout the Wood, with many battalions severely depleted."

We know from the artefacts in John's possession that his father recovered from his wounds and returned to the Front before Christmas of 1916.

War diaries don't often include names of men, especially those from the ranks, which is why it was amazing to find mention of Sapper Roach in July 1916. But reading on through the war diary of the 123rd Field Company revealed a more incredible fact, which is transcribed below.

"14th November 1916. Received instructions from CRE to attach 2 NCOs and 10 Sappers to 14th Bn Welch Regiment to train for a raid on High Command Redoubt."

Amongst the names of the 10 Sappers selected is D.J. Roach 92519.

So here is the unequivocal truth that this quiet and unassuming man who was "the best father you could wish for" was involved in the Raid on High Command Redoubt, a crucial German strongpoint located near Ypres.

me and John Roach live on BBC Radio Wales on Wednesday 24 September at 2pm.

My next emotional reunion between long lost family is on BBC One’s The One Show on Wednesday 1 October from 7-8pm. Without spoiling the story I will just say - get your tissues ready!

It all started when we had family parties back in the 1950s at my home. There was much talk about Annie during these occasions.

Apparently my great aunt was a nurse in WW1 and, as a 10-year-old boy I was curious to know more.

I was told that great aunt Annie had died in 1921. Postcards sent home by Annie were a regular talking point at these functions as she had travelled widely on the continent.

Annie Elizabeth Brewer was my grandfather's sister and she was often known as Nancy. On one occasion my grandfather produced a photograph album at one of our parties. There were about 150 photos taken during the war years. As a young boy, I was shocked by some of the photographs.

My great aunt Edith was a sister to Annie, and I regularly visited her. It was here that I saw a picture hanging on the wall. It caught my eye because it was an angel flying over an army of soldiers and there were flames in the background. All the writing was in French but my aunt told me it was awarded to Annie for bravery. It was the Angel of Mons citation to accompany the Croix de Guerre medal.

After my grandfather died in 1952 all of Annie's personal belongings were ed to her sister Edith. When Edith died in the 1970s all of Annie's possessions were ed to her niece, Nancy. I was shown various certificates and medals which intrigued me and I felt that I had to find out more about great aunt Annie.

For the last 35 years I have been working on her history and this has involved a great deal of detective work. I could not locate her grave as she had not been buried under the name of Brewer but a bereavement card was unearthed which showed that she was buried under the name of Mistrick.

Finding a marriage certificate has so far proved impossible. My next quest was to obtain her death certificate. Success! My luck was changing. This document stated that she was the widow of Daniel Mistrick, which ties in with the bereavement card. Answers were needed. Who was Daniel Mistrick? When did he die and where did he die?

Many unanswered questions remain. Earlier this year I visited in the hope of finding some answers. It has long been my ambition to ensure that nurse Annie Elizabeth Brewer gets the recognition she so richly deserves.

You can watch Annie's War: A Welsh nurse on the Western Front on Monday 8 September, BBC One Wales, 10.35pm. Plus see more archive photos of Annie during WW1 in our Facebook gallery.

Discover World War One At Home stories from Wales.

In my spare time when I am not reuniting people I love to try and solve a riddle - and I'm not talking about Sudoko. This year it seemed obvious to me that the most poignant riddles waiting to be solved are those which involve WW1 medals.

Last autumn I bought a pair of medals from Louis Bannon's military memorabilia shop in Cardiff, along with a British War Medal, Silver War Badge and two postcards, all from World War One and all for £100.

The pair consisted of a Mercantile Marine Medal and British War Medal with their ribbons still attached, safely stored in plastic pouches.

All the medals awarded following WW1 have the basic details of the recipient stamped on their rim (unlike those from WW2).

The details are clear to see and these medals were no exception, with the name Joseph.S.Mayor.

As I hurried home I wondered whether Joseph S Mayor survived the war. Did he have any children or grandchildren? Would they be at all interested in learning more about their military ancestor, if I could trace them?

The Mercantile Marine Medal was awarded to those who served with the Merchant Navy providing vital for Britain; importing food and raw materials, as well as transporting soldiers overseas and keeping them supplied.

Recipients had to have served at sea for at least six months with the Merchant Navy and have made a voyage through a war or danger zone during the 1914-1918 war. The British War Medal was automatically awarded to all recipients of the Mercantile Marine Medal.

Following WW1, 133,135 Mercantile Marine War Medals were awarded. The green and red colours of the ribbon represent the starboard and port running lights of a ship, with the centre white colour being representative of the masthead steaming light.

The National Archives (TNA) at Kew in west London is the UK government's official archive, holding those "service and operational records of the armed forces" which are open for public viewing. Their website offers many helpful research guides and so this is where I started my search for more information.

TNA has an easy to navigate catalogue called 'Discovery' into which I typed four words: "mercantile marine medal mayor". I found to my surprise just 11 results; one of which was for a Joseph Samuel Mayor.

The details were that Joseph Samuel Mayor was born in Cardiff in 1882. His medals were issued in 1921 to his home address at 27 Charlotte Place in Barry, south Wales.

Searching through the census records I quickly found him on the 1891 census living with his parents Joseph and Elizabeth. His father was born in 1860 in Lands End and it turned out his grandfather Samuel was born in 1836 in Harwich, so obviously the family had been closely linked to the sea for several generations.

Joseph Samuel Mayor married Mary James in 1903 and they went on to have eight children; seven daughters and one son, also called Joseph. Their eldest daughter Mabel married John Sullivan in Cardiff in 1925. I was able to locate an address for one of Mabel's grandchildren and eagerly sent out a letter enquiring whether they might be interested in learning more about their family history.

While waiting for a reply I searched for more information and was glad to see that the merchant seamen service records are available to view online for a small fee.

I didn't know that I would be able to see the man, the man whose medals I held in my hand. To know that he was born on 7 December, that he was a 3rd Engineer, that he had blue eyes and fair hair, and stood 5 foot 7 1/2 inches tall.

The helpful staff at the TNA confirmed that the discharge number of 894159 could be cross-referenced to identify that he worked onboard the "Promus" and the "Courtown". They also alerted me to the Crew List Index Project or CLIP which contains valuable information about the records of British merchant seafarers of the late 19th century and which has gathered the largest database of entries from crew lists.

Within a few days of sending out my letter Joseph Samuel Mayor's great-grandson, Paul Burniston, replied to say that "Yes, he was very interested in his family history" but "what was this all about?"

Little did he know when he bravely accepted my invitation to me in the BBC Radio Wales studio on 7 August to take part in Eleri Sion's programme that he would be receiving a photograph of his great grandfather Joseph Samuel Mayor as well as his WW1 medals.

When you think about prisoner of war camps your mind invariably turns to the internment of British servicemen in German camps like Colditz during World War Two. However, there were also many British prisoner of war camps – and not just during World War Two either. One site used as a camp during World War One was Dyffryn Aled, high up on the moors of Denbighshire in north Wales.

Requisitioned by the army on the outbreak of war in 1914, the camp was located just outside Llansannan in a house that belonged to Lady Dundonald and her family. The old mansion house was in a reasonably good condition although, as one German prisoner later commented, the roof did leak and his room got rather wet.

That comment alone says an awful lot about conditions in the house and of the regime that was run there. No regimented barrack blocks for these prisoners; they all had individual rooms where two or three men could share the facilities. Food might have been basic but it was filling and as one prisoner commented to the Daily Mail:-

"I cannot say I am exactly happy; I am a prisoner in the enemy's country. But I am as comfortable and well cared for as any man in my position has reason to expect."

Security was relatively low key. Being situated 600 feet up on the Denbigh Moors in a very bleak and isolated position – and in an area where the main language, sometimes the only language, was Welsh – there was little reason to festoon the grounds with barbed wire and guard towers. The environment provided nearly all the security the place required.

Dyffryn Aled held over a hundred German officers, plus a few civilians who had been caught up and interned when war was declared. Most of the prisoners were navy men, many of them submariners, young men who were intrepid and courageous. The local populace viewed them with interest – they were exotic just by being what they were.

The place even had a sports field, on a flat piece of land on the other side of the river from the mansion. The men could use it – guarded, of course – at almost any time during the day, either to play football or just to walk and think.

One of the most celebrated inmates of Dyffryn Aled was Lt Wolf von Tirpitz, the son of Grand iral Tirpitz, Secretary of State for the German Navy and the man who had masterminded the growth of the Kaiser's Dreadnought fleet. Wolf von Tirpitz had been captured at the Battle of Heligoland Bight when his ship, the Mainz, was sunk by iral Beatty's battlecruiser squadron.

He had been lucky to survive when the mast on which his spotting position was located was blown into the sea. Adrift in the water for half an hour, Tirpitz was eventually pulled on board a British ship and taken back to England.

Obviously well connected, before war began Tirpitz had moved in fairly exalted company. After his capture, Winston Churchill – then First Lord of the iralty – sent a message to iral Tirpitz, informing him that his son was safe. The young Tirpitz, who had spent time in Oxford before the war and spoke excellent English, was interviewed by a reporter from the Daily Mail and explained that:-

"I know Mr and Mrs Churchill quite well. I played tennis with Mrs Churchill at the Queen’s Club last summer and lunched with them both."

Wolf von Tirpitz might have been content at Dyffryn Aled but others were not. There are several recorded instances of prisoners making desperate dashes for freedom.

On 4 April 1915 two officers managed to escape from the camp. They were loose for seven days before being captured close to Llanbedr in Merionethshire on 11th of the month. Interestingly, both men were then convicted of trying to escape – clearly not considered part of an officers' duty in those days – and sentenced to 28 days imprisonment in Chester Jail.

It did not put off other would-be escapees. Lt Commander Hermann Tholens and Captains Heinrich von Henning and Hans von Heldorf managed to get out of the camp in early August 1915. They walked 20 miles across the moors towards Llandudno – in itself no easy task – and in the early hours of 14th found themselves in the Welsh seaside resort.

Despite knowing little English – and certainly no Welsh – they managed to order breakfast for themselves in a local café before heading up onto the Great Orme. Through ingeniously coded letters home they had already arranged to be picked up by a German U-Boat but although the U-38 was actually lying off the Orme, the escapees could not get down to sea level and after two nights up on the headland they gave up the attempt. They were then picked up by police officers trying to board trains for London.

Like the previous escapees, Tholens, Henning and Heldorf were also charged with and convicted of trying to escape from custody. This time each man was sentenced to three months in Chelmsford Prison before being returned to the prisoner of war camp.

When peace returned in 1918 the camp at Dyffryn Aled was slowly run down and was finally returned to private ownership in 1919.

Although the old house was bulldozed to the ground in the 1960s, a single storey house was built in its place. And the present owner can, at least, be content in the knowledge that the place was once part of a very special piece of Welsh history.

Listen to the Dyffryn Aled camp story with BBC Radio Wales and World War One At Home.

Hermann Ethé was a German Professor of German and Oriental Languages at Aberystwyth University. Following the outbreak of war, his continuing presence in the town sparked a series of disturbances that targeted him and his wife.

Local newspaper s at the time confirm the naked hostility many people in Aberystwyth felt towards their foe, as, on the 14 and 15 October 1914, a mob numbering upwards of 3,000, paraded through the town, Union Jack to the fore, seeking out German nationals. 

The crowd confronted Mrs Ethé at her home in Caradoc Road, causing damage to the property. They also assaulted other college academics who attempted to intervene on her behalf. Eventually, Professor Ethé was forced from his home, seeking refuge in Reading.

The story of Professor Ethé does not end in October 1914; in 1916 questions were raised in the House of Commons about his continuing employment at the India Office, and his pension rights became the target of Aberystwyth Council. He did have his ers – a letter in Amman Valley Chronicle of 9 November 1916, by Professor Herford of Manchester, highlighted Ethé's anti-Prussian credentials as the reason why he settled in Britain in the first place. 

Letters written by Ethé in 1915 to former colleagues highlight the fears and anxieties shared by him and his wife. They talk of his hopes about naturalisation and fear of deportation, his quest to seek permission to visit his ailing in-laws in Clifton, Bristol (he eventually died at Clifton in June 1917, despite earlier references in the correspondence to his robust health). His letters asked what would happen to his books and papers in Aberystwyth, and expressed his fears about his wife’s return to the town in order to sort out their possessions. They also include a death threat on his life, received by the college.

The Ethé case highlights a wider story of intolerance, bigotry, even racism, towards so called ‘enemy aliens’ that pervaded British society at the time, which was sometimes tinged with anti-Semitism. This was fed by early ‘atrocity stories’ around the behaviour of German troops in Belgium and , and ‘black’ propaganda, circulated in newspapers like the Daily Mail and the populist magazine John Bull.

Some of the atrocity stories were based on fact, but many were outlandish and based on urban myths spread by soldiers on leave, and a gullible and credulous public. These including the infamous ‘corpse-rendering factory’, where it was alleged the remains of fallen soldiers were used by the Germans in the manufacture of glycerine. 

Later, the shelling of Scarborough and Hartlepool, Zeppelin raids, and in particular the sinking of the Lusitania in May 1915, only added to anti-German hatred in Britain. The Lusitania incident, coupled with the German deployment of poisonous gas at Ypres in April 1915, prompted serious anti-German rioting in other parts of the country, including London and Liverpool.

It is not difficult to see why, in this heated atmosphere, the likes of Hermanne Ethé remained a target for those in authority. His liberal views and his record of service at Aberystwyth counted for nothing. 

These events must be judged against the mood of the time, but by any standard this was not Aberystwyth’s finest hour.

You can explore documents relating to Professor Hermanne Ethé on the Wales Experience of WW1 website, that include documents from the National Library of Wales.

Listen to the story of Dr Hermann Ethé with BBC Radio Wales and World War One at Home.

How did World War One affect women in Britain and, particularly, in Wales? There is a widely-held view that women were rewarded with enfranchisement for their participation in the 'total war' effort and there is evidence that s such a view.

Speaking to the House of Commons during the suffrage debate on 27 April 1917, former Prime Minister Herbert Asquith – arguably the most significant obstacle to women's enfranchisement before the war – said:

"My opposition to woman suffrage has always been based, and based solely, on considerations of public expediency. I think that some years ago I ventured to use the expression, 'Let the women work out their own salvation.' Well, Sir, they have worked it out during this War. How could we have carried on the War without them?"

By linking women's contribution in industry and other services during the nation's 'test' of war, Asquith provides us with a telling view of how ideas of citizenship were shaped and how this had to be earned. During the war women had taken on not just the tasks vacated by enlisted men, but also the slack as industry expanded to fulfil the requirements of the war economy.

This is graphically illustrated here by the War Cabinet's own figures, which shows an overall increase of 23% in the employment of women – though with considerable variations in differing areas of employment such as transport and domestic service (the only area where there was a fall in women's employment).

Broadly speaking, this UK national trend was reflected in Wales. Perhaps the best-known war work for women was in munitions production and in Wales numerous factories employed women to meet the demands of the first truly industrialised war.

One of these was at Pembrey – a pre-war explosives factory – that produced 300 tons of crystallised T.N.T. plus 200 tons of cordite paste every week. Furthermore, workers at Pembrey recovered 50 tons of explosive each week from defective ammunition and filled 1,143,000 shells between July 1915 and May 1917. This came at a considerable cost and there were numerous fatal explosions at Pembrey, as elsewhere.

If, as Asquith had claimed, women had to earn the right to vote then in Wales and in the rest of Britain they had surely done so. But the right was limited to women over 30 and with a property qualification – meaning that most working class young women were overlooked.

Employment of women also proved to be temporary with fewer women in the 1921 census classed as 'economically active' by the government than in 1911. In fact, as the following table illustrates it was not until the 1960s that the temporary gains made by women during the war were recovered.

In Wales, the situation was far worse for women as employment rates continued to fall in 1931. However, in Britain employment as a whole began to pick up again. Wales also bucked the UK trend with regard to domestic service and it is estimated that over 10,000 young women left Wales to seek employment in the large houses around the home counties by 1931 – indicating a rise in this area of work for Welsh women.

Were women rewarded for their war effort? The picture is certainly patchy. Gains were short-lived for most women and for many – including those in Wales – there was arguably a net loss. But some obstacles had been removed and the long process of reform was at least set in motion.

Historian, Dr Gerard Oram, lectures at Swansea University and specialises in the impact of war on modern European societies and culture. 

He is also an advisor on the stories from Wales being produced as part of the BBC's World War One At Home project.

WW1 At Home: a growing collection of stories that show how WW1 affected the people and places of the UK and Ireland. The BBC has partnered with Imperial War Museums and the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Discover more World War One At Home stories from Wales

Listen to BBC Radio Wales to hear WW1 At Home stories on air.

100 years ago today, people in Wales were preparing for war. At exactly 11 o'clock tonight a centenary ago, Britain declared war on , who had invaded Belgium and violated the country's neutrality. 100 years on, we're ing the rest of the BBC and the rest of the world in ing those who put their lives on the line for a long, costly conflict.

Across the day we'll hear from reporters at the official events including Liege in Belgium, Glasgow and London. Here in Wales, there is a National Service of Commemoration at Llandaff Cathedral at 10pm tonight. You'll be able to hear the service live on BBC Radio Wales from 9.30pm. Sian Pari Huws will be ed by historian Phil Carradice and former armed forces chaplain, Marcus Wyn Robinson, to describe proceedings.

On Good Morning Wales every day over the next month, you'll be able to listen back to how a Welsh radio news bulletin could have sounded on this day in 1914. Throughout Jason's show, the moving of Tom is told - a soldier from Llanelli who signed up for the Welsh Battalion as soon as war looked inevitable. Tom's story was recorded in his own words by his grand-daughter and is one of a number of World War One at Home stories running throughout our programmes this week.

Throughout the day, we'll be asking who you will be ing today. Our presenters, like many others, are trying to understand more about what their ancestors were doing a hundred years ago. Owen Money is one of those. He wants to know more about what the Mittells (Owen's real surname) were doing during the war. Owen will be ing genealogist Cat Whiteaway on Eleri Sion's show after 3pm today. Cat will be back on Thursday at 3pm taking your calls.

We're also marking World War One from other perspectives: at 9pm tonight, in Histories of Wales, Professor Angela John considers its impact on Welsh women's lives and opportunities. And there's a new series on Sunday at 1.30pm: Wales and the Great War Today sees the war through the eyes of six people with a connection with modern-day wars. In programme one Thea Davies, whose partner died in Afghanistan, looks at life for those left to grieve a hundred years ago.

Elsewhere this week, we're off to the National Eisteddfod in Llanelli. West Wales reporters David Grundy and Jason Phelps will be there for our programmes all week. Jason will be ing Nicola Heywood Thomas for a special round-up programme on Sunday at 5pm. Also on the Maes are Science Café (Tuesday), Good Evening Wales (Wednesday) and the Radio Wales Arts Show (Wednesday). Bethan Elfyn will be introducing live performances from some of our Horizons 12 into Eleri and Wynne's shows, and she'll be rounding up the best of the Eisteddfod's music scene on Saturday at 7pm.

In fact one of the Horizons 12, Dolgellau's Swnami, are the Radio Wales Artist of the Week this week. You can hear their new song, Cynnydd, across the output.

Finally, Rob Phillips, Simon Davies and the commentary team will be dusting down their microphones for the start of the new football season this week. Cardiff kick off on Friday away to Blackburn plus there will be live commentary of Newport County and Wrexham on Saturday. Call Rob Phillips returns on Saturday at 5.30pm too. Before then Rob gets a shot at restoring his pride as he takes on Nanny the World Cup Wonder Goat one final time on Jason Mohammad's Quizbreak later this week.

For well over a century, the Mond nickelworks has been a major landmark and an important employer for the people of Clydach, in the lower Swansea valley. The works first produced nickel in 1902, using a process pioneered by a German chemist-entrepreneur named Ludwig Mond whose statue stands nearby, surveying his creation. Although the ownership of the works has changed over the decades, so that it is now operated by Vale, a Brazilian company, to locals it is simply 'the Mond'.

The Mond family prospered as a result of Ludwig's talent. Ludwig's son Alfred took over running the family's businesses when his father ed away in 1909. He was knighted in 1910, the year he became Swansea's MP. Well-connected and ambitious, he served as a government minister from 1916 until 1922 and his upwardly-mobile trajectory continued when he was raised to the peerage in 1928.

In 1914 the Mond Nickel Company had a virtual monopoly on nickel production in the British Empire. The ore was mined in Canada and shipped to Clydach to be refined, where around 850 men were employed at the plant making it easily the town's most significant employer.

The outbreak of the war led to an enormous increase in the demand for nickel, because nickel-steel is far stronger and more resilient for use in armour-plating than ordinary steel. Thus the Mond Nickel Company's profits were very healthy during the war years, greatly increasing the wealth of the Mond family and the other shareholders.

Of the 850 employees, 250 volunteered to serve in the Armed Forces in the first few months. Besides any other reasons for volunteering, they were encouraged and ed by the company's management, who promised to pay half-wages to the families of married volunteers, and also to the dependents of single men who ed up. Looking at the details of exactly who ed up early shows some interesting patterns. Excellent research work has been done by local historian Bill Hyett, detailing the lives of the 33 men from the works who died while serving.

By the end of the war, 450 men from the Mond had volunteered or been conscripted into the armed services, but of course, the demand for nickel kept on growing. The gap was filled by recruiting women to work in the refinery for the first time. This raises all sorts of interesting questions: how did the women fit into what had previously been an all-male environment?

Unfortunately for historians, the sources that should help with these issues prove to be extremely frustrating. The company's employment ledgers give details of the employees through the war years, and tell us which men worked as labourers, fitters, painters etc. However, the occupation of the ladies is simply listed as 'female'!

One aspect of their employment which can be measured is their length of service. It is clear that many women only lasted a very short period at the nickelworks. Of a sample of 23 female employees, three left within a week, four more within a month, and five between one and three months. Only one of this group stayed at her work for two years.

This image gives details of a variety of women who were employed at the Mond from December 1916 onwards.

At the end of the war there was a collapse in the demand for nickel and a slump in its price, which meant that the Mond Nickel Company laid off most of its workforce in 1919, with decreased wages for those who remained.

Many families in Clydach, as elsewhere, paid the price for the fateful decisions of those who pushed the world into war in the summer of 1914. The employees of the Mond did their bit for the war effort, both as volunteers and in labouring to produce the valuable nickel for the war machine.

Find out more about the Mond nickelworks on World War One At Home website.

Listen to the story on BBC Radio Wales.

Dr Gethin Matthews is the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol lecturer in history at Swansea University, and has been employed by the Arts and Humanities Research Council to advise BBC Cymru Wales on the World War One at Home project. His grandfather, Arthur Morris James, worked at the Mond for a period after WWII. The research in this piece builds upon the work of Rhian Evans and her final-year dissertation at Swansea University.

Company Sergeant Major Fred Barter, Cardiff’s first Victoria Cross winner in World War One, was a hero. Such a hero, in fact, that when he returned to the city for a brief period of rest and recuperation (and, of course, for a quick boost for army recruitment) on 5 July 1915 only a few weeks after winning the award, he was met at the station by a crowd of several thousand eager spectators and new friends.

The crowd cheered and waved. They sang patriotic songs and they all pushed and shoved to get a glimpse of the man who, just a few months before, could have ed unnoticed among them. Not now. Now he was a celebrity.

It did not stop there – the Germans could not wound him but one over enthusiastic young lady threw a box of chocolates in his direction and hit him in the face. Sgt Barter was bruised, his nose skimmed and his eye blackened. He apparently took it all in good humour.

Frederick Barter was born at 60 Daniel Street in the Cathays area of Cardiff on 17 January 1891. Educated at Crwys Road Board School, he ed the Royal Welch Fusiliers on 4 December 1908. By the time war was declared in August 1914 he had served his time with the Regulars and was then doing his obligatory stint with the Special Reserve.

After leaving the army Barter worked in the Cardiff area as a collier and as a porter with the Great Western Railway. He was recalled to the Colours in August 1914 with the rank of Sergeant Major and was soon in with the 1st Battalion of the Regiment.

During a “push” against enemy positions on 16 May 1915 Fred Barter gathered together a party of eight volunteers and attacked the German lines with bombs and hand grenades. He managed this so effectively that three officers and 102 men of the enemy force promptly surrendered.

By his efforts, Barter had captured 500 yards of enemy trenches and also managed to cut the wires on 11 German mines that could have caused undue havoc for advancing British soldiers.

For his bravery, Fred Barter was awarded the Victoria Cross, the award being presented to him by the King at Buckingham Palace on 12 July.

Soon after his return visit to Cardiff, Fred Barter was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant and, after another brief period in , was seconded to the Indian Army where he served with the 4th Battalion 3rd Queen Alexandria’s Own Gurkha Rifles. He was promoted Lieutenant in 1917 and went on to serve in both India and Palestine.

Barter was also awarded the Military Cross and the Cross of St George, a Russian decoration. In an interesting footnote to his story, on 10 April 1918 he was involved in another award of the Victoria Cross – this time, however, not to him.

In an action at El Kefir in Palestine, Rifleman Karanbahadur Rana of his Regiment was awarded the VC – for saving Barter’s life.

A few weeks later Fred Barter was itted, full time, to the Indian Army. Unfortunately a serious bout of fever saw him invalided home in 1919 and although promoted Captain in 1920, he retired from the army on 5 November 1922.

Married in 1925, Barter settled in the Home Counties where, during the Second World War, he acted as Major in charge of a Company in the Middlesex Home Guard. After being widowed, he died in a nursing home at Poole on 15 May 1952. His Victoria Cross is now kept at the Museum of the Royal Welch Fusiliers in Caernarfon Castle.

Fred Barter was a modest and unassuming man who little thought when he was recalled to the Colours in the summer of 1914 that the highest decoration in the land would soon be his. He remains one of Cardiff’s great heroes.

See also:

• Welsh Victoria Cross winners
• World War One on the BBC
• World War One at Home: Wales
• John Henry Williams V.C. honoured

Late last autumn while there was still a sun in the sky and warmth in the air, I paid a visit to one of the antique shops in Cardiff that sells World War One military memorabilia. Like a magpie I was drawn to the small shiny objects in the display cabinet and after much negotiation I walked away as the new (if temporary) owner of various medals and a Silver War Badge.

Silver War Badges were issued from 1916 until 1922 to officers and men who had served for at least seven consecutive days from August 4th 1914. Entitlement for the badge was gained by leaving the service through being disabled by wounds, sickness or old age.

The badges were created, in part, as a reaction to one of the most intimidatory tactics on the civilian front - the handing out of white feathers, for cowardice, to men not in uniform. War veterans and injured servicemen were not immune, a plight recognised by the War Office in awarding Silver War Badges they could wear pinned to their civilian clothes to show any potential doubters that they had not evaded their duty.

The badge bears the inscription ‘For King and Empire’ and ‘Services Rendered’ around the border with the crown and cipher of King George V in the centre. The reverse has a number and/or a prefix stamped on it.

The silver war badge I bought for £25 has a horizontal pin and the serial number 200282 on the reverse. Numbers 1-360,000 were created between September 1916 and March 1918 and full details linking the number to the solider can be traced via Ancestry’s website.

I learned that Silver War Badge number 200282 was awarded to Private Arthur Edward Sweetingham of the 5th Battalion Gloucester Regiment, whose regimental number was 241818. He had enlisted on 11 December 1915 and was discharged on 20 June 1917 due to sickness.

The code ‘K.Regs Para 392 xvi’ is given which simply means that under the King's Regulation, Arthur Sweetingham was no longer physically fit for war service as per the details provided in his pension record.

A quick look at his pension record on Ancestry confirms that Arthur E Sweetingham was born on 3 December 1887 and revealed that he suffered from neurasthenia, nerves, headaches and disturbed sleep. As good a case of shell shock or post-traumatic stress disorder as you'll find.

He was itted to Wharncliffe War Hospital in Sheffield on 23 October 1916 and discharged in June 1917 after spending 133 days in hospital. The date of the origin of his disability is given as 13 October 1916, when he was involved in an incident whilst carrying bombs as far as the communication trench.

The pension record also reveals that Arthur was five foot five and a quarter inches tall, with blue eyes and a vaccination scar on his left arm and that he was a gardener.

Before the war started, Arthur lived on the Isle of Wight with his parents William and Agnes who married in 1882 and his siblings Albert, Beatrice, Percy and Ethel. At times the family lived at Barley Field Cottage which still stands today.

Since my aim was to return the Silver War Badge to Arthur’s descendants I was keen to learn whether he had married and had children. I discovered that Arthur married Mary Ann Crabb in 1918 and later that year their only child Irene was born. However, Irene never married, so when she died in 2008 Arthur’s direct bloodline died out.

Out of Arthur’s four siblings Albert was a bachelor, Percy died in World War One and Ethel died in 1919, as did their father William, both possibly victims of the influenza epidemic. Full details of their graves were kindly sent to me by a local society called the Friends of Northwood Cemetery, who confirmed that there were no headstones.

Therefore I focused my attention on Arthur’s only surviving sibling Beatrice, who married George Duffin in 1913. She also only had one child but luckily Doris Duffin survived and had four children of her own following her marriage to Ronald Driscoll.

I am pleased to confirm that the Silver War Badge now takes pride of place in the home of Arthur Sweetingham’s great nephew, which is where it belongs.

Another happy ending.

To hear me solving more family history puzzles, listen to the Eleri Sion show on 26 February and 26 March on BBC Radio Wales.