Welsh Regiment - Roll of Honour of Officers of the Welsh Regiment Who Died in the Great War Whilst Serving With 19th (Service) Battalion Welsh Regiment (Glamorgan Pioneers)

No	Date Died	Surname	Forenames	Rank	Decs	Age	Cause	Country	Location/Sector/Area	Cemetery/Memorial	Notes
Died in 1916
1	11th July	NEWLYN	Walter Tessier	2Lt	-	32	KIA	France	Mametz Wood, Somme	Thiepval Memorial (Panel/Face 7A/10A)	2/p116
Died in1917
2	18th February	TAYLOR	Charles Frederick	2Lt	-	23	DOW	Belgium	CCS at Proven, near Poperinghe	Mendinghem Military Cemetery (II.A.14)	(1)
3	27th February	FRETTINGHAM	Arthur Cyril	2Lt	-	27	DOI	UK	Nottingham	Nottingham (Church) Cemetery (Plot 2853)	(2)
4	24th June	EVANS	Arthur Ernest	Capt	-	31	KIA	Belgium	Canal Bank, north of Ypres	Bard Cottage Cemetery (II.A.14)	2/p267
5	24th June	WILLIAMS	Howell Morgan	2Lt	-	23	KIA	Belgium	Canal Bank, north of Ypres	Bard Cottage Cemetery (II.A.15)	2/p267
Notes: (The numbers marked with a "p" in the Notes column refers to the page within the trio of Books "The Welsh At War" - (Book 1) - From Mons to Loos and the Gallipoli Tragedy, (Book 2) - The Grinding War :The Somme and Arras and (Book 3) - Through Mud to Victory: Third Ypres and the 1918 Offensives, by Steven John, where the death of the officer is mentioned or indicated). 1. TAYLOR was wounded near "Pallisier Farm", west of Brielen on 15th February 1917. 2. FRETTINGHAM died of pneumonia. He had joined 19th Battalion in the field on 26th September 1916 after receiving commission into the Welsh Regiment on 21st September 1916. He had been wounded and evacuated to UK in late 1916 (?) (WO 339/72285)

Battalion History

The 19th (Service) Battalion (Glamorgan Pioneers) was formed at Colwyn Bay in February 1915 as the Pioneer Battalion for the then 43rd Division, originally part of the Fifth New Army. On 28th April 1915 the Division was renumbered the 38th (Welsh) Division when the Fifth New Army was broken up to form the units of "K4". The nucleus of the Battalion was composed of drafts from other infantry Battalions of the Division, but the majority of the men were recruited from Glamorganshire hence the title "Glamorgan Pioneers" Drafts were also received from 123rd and 151st Field Companies RE. In August 1915 the Battalion, with the Division, moved to Winchester for intensive individual, collective and unit training which was completed on 29th November 1915. The Battalion marched to Southampton for embarkation for Boulogne on 5th December 1915, moving to the St Omer area over the next few days to commence specialist pioneer training, mostly with the Guards Division Pioneer Battalion. The Battalion fought with 38th (Welsh) Division in France and Flanders throughout the war.

The brass “collar dog” insignia worn by men of Pioneer Battalions in the British Expeditionary Force. The design is of a crossed rifle and pick, representing the battalion's dual fighting and labouring role.

Regimental History

The Welsh Regiment was formed on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms which saw an amalgamation of the 41st (Welch) Regiment of Foot and the 69th (South Lincolnshire) Regiment of Foot. These two units became the Regular 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Regiment, with the Regimental Depot based at Maindy Barracks, Cardiff. The 1881 reforms also redesignated the Militia and Rifle Volunteer Corps (RVC) units within the Regimental District of Carmarthenshire, Glamorgan and Pembrokeshire as Battalions of the Welsh Regiment (1st Pembrokeshire RVC, 1st Glamorganshire RVC, 2nd Glamorganshire RVC and the 3rd Glamorganshire RVC). The Militia unit of the Regiment was the Royal Glamorgan Light Infantry Militia. In 1908, as part of the Haldane Reforms, the Militia Battalion was reorganised and restructured forming the 3rd (Special Reserve) Battalion and the four RVC Battalions formed the 4th Battalion, 5th Battalion, 6th Battalion and 7th (Cyclist) Battalion of the Regimental Territorial Force. After the Declaration of War on 4th August 1914 and up to 1st June 1918, the Welsh Regiment had had formed 17 Service/Reserve Battalions, a further 9 Territorial Force Battalions and 3 Graduated/Young Soldier Battalions.

Analysis of 19th Battalion Officer Casualties

Year	BE	FR	UK	TOTAL
1915
1916		1		1
1917	3		1	4
TOTALS	3	1	1	5

Page last updated: 19th January 2025

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