Welcome to the Pembroke County Virtual War Memorial
The Men of Pembroke War Memorial, Haverfordwest
The aim of this website is to remember the men and women of the County of Pembrokeshire, in South West Wales, who gave their lives during both World War 1 and World War 2.
This site is mostly geared up toward men who fought in the Great War, due to the tremendous amount of research material available, but the men of World War II are not forgotten, being also remembered on this website, and more information will be added as it becomes available. These men are harder to research, as their Service Records are not yet available to the general public, so this will be an ongoing project.
The website will act as a database of all those from the County who fell during both wars, and will commemorate them on the relevant pages, using whatever information is available on each person to build up a short biography, which will be published on the website along with any available photographs. For Towns that I have not yet got a transcript of the War Memorial for, the rolls will be built up purely through information from available sources, namely the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Soldier's Died in the Great War, or local newspaper archives. I am always grateful for any information or photos that anyone can send in of any of their local War Memorials, as I can use the information in my research and ensure that no-one is missed out.
To give some idea of the loss of life in both World Wars, over 16 million people were killed in the Great War. On the first day of the Battle of the Somme alone (on 1 July 1916) over 60,000 casualties were incurred by the British and Allied forces (Made up of around 19,000 dead, and the remainder wounded or missing). During the Second World War, the number of people killed throughout the world was estimated at over 55 million. This stupefying figure includes the mass German slaughters of millions of Russian people and the near extinction of the Jewish Race in Europe.
Estimated Casualty Figures for the County
The Original Pembroke County War Memorial in Haverfordwest was erected in honour of the 1,300 men of the County who gave their lives during the Great War of 1914-1918. Ensuing research has uncovered many more, so these extra men and women will be listed on the pages of the village where they had connections to, and their omission from the memorials will be noted.
This site will run in conjunction with my existing sites, The Carmarthenshire Roll of Honour, and the Ceredigion War Memorial, and will be run in the same way, with a page dedicated to a specific area in Pembrokeshire, and with a separate page to remember the men of each of the big Towns of the County. Hopefully in this way, all of the casualties of West Wales will eventually be remembered.
Information and Photographs
The main method of remembering these men is through photographs, either portrait photos of the men them selves, or of their graves or names inscribed on the various memorials. My database of War Grave and Memorial photos is growing constantly, and if anyone requires any copies of the photographs on the site, or indeed has any that they would be willing to share, please contact me via the link below-
Pembrokeshire War Memorial
About the Site Itself
This website consists of 80 pages. Because of this limit of 80 pages, the Rolls of Honour have been condensed, whereby Memorials from smaller villages have been placed on the page of their nearest Town or Village, usually by means of utilising the old systems of Parishes.
In addition to these rolls, there are separate pages on the Boer War Memorial, the local Infantry Battalion (Pembroke Yeomanry), and on the R.A.F. in Pembrokeshire.
I welcome any information or comments, whether positive or not, as it will help me to form the website, so please feel free to use the Contact Form on the site, or the link above.
Donations to the Site
This work is a labour of love, and is entirely self funded. However, the running costs of the website, and the purchase of war grave photographs from other sources are significant. To this end, any donations towards the upkeep of both this and the Carmarthenshire sites are most welcome, and help to continue to build up the archive of photographs and information on the fallen. If you wish to donate, please contact the author via the link below. The eventual aim is that copies of all collected material will be donated to the local Archive Offices or County Museums at Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire.
During a recent spate of copying material from this website to use in publications and on Ancestry, readers are reminded that most of the material used in this website has been compiled from various sources by the Author, except where otherwise noted. Due to the immense amount of hard work, time and money that has gone into creating the website, if any material is copied for anything other than personal research, permission should be sought from the author by using one of the contact links below, and that acknowledgement is given to this website.
News Items/ Information
26 May 2012. The new page, Castlemartin and Warren, contains the memorials of both small villages.
15 July 2012. Around 40 new photographs of graves and memorials have been added throughout the site, which have been purchased via Bob Pike. The Amroth and Marros Memorials have been grouped together to create a spare page, which has been used to load the Begelly War Memorial onto. The Pembroke and Monkton WW1 and WW2 Memorials have been added together onto one page, in order to free up another, which have been used to add the Jeffreyston and Lawrenny Memorials.
2 September 2012. Several war grave photographs have been added throughout the website, following a trip to France by myself, also some sterling work by Les Nixon in negotiating overgrown churchyards in Pembrokeshire.
19 September 2012. The Solva and Whitchurch Memorial page has been updated, after photographs of the memorial plaques within the Solva Memorial Hall were sent in by Mike Berrell. As a result, several other men have been added to the page.
22 October 2012. The Fishguard War Memorial has been tidied up, and put onto one page. The Tegryn War Memorial has been added to the website. Each memorial page is currently being updated, to try and eliminate some of the errors which inevitably occur. Extra details are always being added, so each page will be changing slightly over the coming months as it is updated.
15 December 2012. The Hubberston War Memorial has been added onto the website. Extra web-space has also been purchased, and work has started to separate each memorial onto its own page- please keep an eye over the coming weeks for alterations.
7 February 2013. The details of six more local men have been researched and passed onto the Commonwealth War Graves Commission today. These men died as a result of their service during WW1 and have been forgotten by the CWGC for over 90 years. Please visit the 'Uncommemorated Local Men' page and scroll down to the recently submitted section for more details of these men.
10 February 2013. After a lot of work, all of the 2,500 plus men and women who fell during WW1 have now been re-checked, using Ancestry, and extra details have been added to many throughout the site. A lot of errors have also been corrected and several unidentified men have been located and added.
27 February 2013. The Llanhowell War Memorial has been added to the St. David's page. The Moylgrove Memorial has been added to the St. Dogmaels page.
This website is one of three websites which have been privately set up to commemorate all of the men of West Wales who fell during both World Wars. Each website covers one of the three counties which together once made up the larger County of Dyfed; Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire. Links to the sister sites can be found below-
Carmarthen County War Memorial
Ceredigion War Memorial
Local War Memorial Books
After a lot of work and research, I have decided to publish War Memorial Books for the Villages of Kidwelly, Llanddowror, Whitland (including Lampeter Velfrey) and St. Clears, along the same lines of my book on Laugharne. These books are being printed as paperbacks, and contain details (and photographs where available) of all of the men of these Villages who lost their lives during both World Wars. I have also updated and republished the Laugharne Roll of Honour.
Please click on the link below if you are interested. If there is enough interest, more books on the War Memorials of Carmarthenshire will be written and published in due course.
Steve's War Memorial Books
ABOUT MYSELF
My name is Steven John. I was born in Laugharne, and attended Laugharne V.C.P., and Whitland Grammar Schools. Upon leaving school, I gained an Apprenticeship as a Mechanical Engineer, at the Royal Aerospace Establishment, Aberporth, and have since worked as an Engineer for Dairy Crest, McCain Foods, BMI Healthcare, and now for Muller (yoghurts), where I still work in Engineering- through necessity of supporting my family, not choice! Due to a work-related move to Muller, in Shropshire, I had to give up playing rugby for Laugharne, and found myself with plenty of spare time. This seemed the ideal opportunity to try and unravel the mysteries of the 'John' family tree.
After researching my family tree I discovered that my Great Grandfather, Lance Corporal David Thomas John, of Laugharne, was killed in the Great War. He served as an original member of the 4th Battalion, Australian Imperial Force, and was one of the original men who landed at ANZAC Cove, on Gallipoli, on the 25th, April, 1915. He survived the terrors of Gallipoli, and fought through the beginning of the Battle of the Somme in July 1916, being part of the victorious First Australian Division who captured the German stronghold of Pozieres. He died whilst leading a patrol to discover the exact whereabouts of the German Front Line at Mouquet Farm on the 18th August, 1916, aged just 25. His grave was lost in the following fighting over the area, and so he is remembered on the beautiful Villers Brettoneaux Memorial to the Missing, on the Somme. His death left my Grandfather, John William John, fatherless at three years old.
A couple of years back, prompted by this discovery, I wrote a book about the men of Laugharne who died in both World Wars. As a result of the research that I undertook, I began compiling information about the men of the villages nearest Laugharne, but this again escalated, so I decided to undertake the research & compilation of a Roll of Honour for the whole of the County of Carmarthenshire for both Wars. As part of this research, I am in the process of photographing as many of their War Graves and Memorials as possible, and of trying to build up a collection of photographs and information about the men, which is being entered into a database, so far with around 2,800 men who lost their lives in World War One, and over 1,000 men who lost their lives in WW2. Also I discovered that my Great Uncle, Harry Montague Allen of Whitland, was fatally wounded while attacking Mametz Wood with the 15th Welsh, and that my Great Grandmother lost her first husband in the war, James Richards of Haverfordwest. This has prompted me to venture into the County of Pembrokeshire, and to start a similar project for the County that will run in conjunction with the original.
Thanks for looking, I hope you enjoy the website, and please feel free to comment, criticise or to send in information- it all helps to build the site.
Contact Details (Click the link below)
* CONTACT THE WEBSITE *
Please click on the blue link above. For anyone who does contact me, I will reply to all e-mails as soon as I can, unless I am away on holiday. I would be grateful if anyone who does contact me would please acknowledge my replies.
Acknowledgements
None of this work would be possible without a lot of very valuable help, and my gratitude is given to those who have, and still are, helping with this project. Acknowledgements are given to individuals throughout the website, but I must thank my main contributors here; namely Les Nixon, for his assistance with photographing memorials and war graves throughout Pembrokeshire; to Bob Kettle, for his ever continuing supply of material from his own local research; to Mike Berrell for sending in dozens of memorial photos; and to Bob Pike for his assistance in photographing war graves from France, Malta, Salonika and Gallipoli. Much of the work on this Pembrokeshire site would not be possible without their continued assistance and support.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission provides a valuable, and much forgotten service to the casualties of both world wars, and to their families, by providing a very high quality service with regards to the maintenance and upkeep of the thousands of war graves and cemeteries scattered throughout the world, and by providing information and help to researchers. In fact much of the personal detail on the men within this website comes from their extensive database.
Chris Baker's excellent website, 'The Long, Long Trail' proved useful for biographical information on the various Army Divisions, and, along with the associated 'Great War Forum', is an excellent tool for someone wishing to trace their military ancestors. The link to this site is on the Links page.
Copyright © 2013 Steven John