It’s great when people offer to share old photographs with us and with scanners and smart phones being able to take such good copies of old photos these days it’s never been easier.  If you have photos of Roath and surrounding areas you would be willing to make available to us just click or scan away and send them to us at roathhistorywebsite@gmail.com

A while ago we were sent this batch of copies of historic pictures from the David family album.  We are hoping that someone may be able to help identify some of those in the pictures.

I had looked at the David family a number of years ago when I discovered Captain Thomas William David was killed on the Western Front in WWI.  His story copied below is now captured on the Roath Virtual War Memorial:

THOMAS WILLIAM DAVID

Captain, 4th Battalion, Welsh Regiment

Thomas ‘Tom’ William David was born in Cardiff on 6 Aug 1891 to George David, a solicitor and the Official Receiver in Bankruptcy for Cardiff, originally from Pwllheli, Caernarvonshire and Annie Florence David née Jordon, originally from Newport, Monmouthshire. Thomas was baptised at St German church on 27 Aug 1891 and the David family lived at 126 Newport Road. Tom went to school at Arnold House, Knutsford, Cheshire before going on to study law at Keble College, Oxford.  He was a good sportsman, playing rugby and cricket for his college and also cricket for both Cardiff and for Glamorgan Cricket Club. He obtained a commission as 2nd Lieutenant on 3 Nov 1914, was promoted Lieutenant on 3 Nov 1916 and Captain on 19 Jul 1917.  He undertook training of recruits at Pontypridd and served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from 22 Feb 1917, being attached to the 15th Battalion, Welsh Regiment.  Tom was killed in action on the Yser Canal, north of Ypres on 27 Jul 1917 aged 26. He is buried in Bard Cot Cemetery, Canal Bank, north of Ypres, Belgium (Grave III.G.31).  His Commanding Officer wrote: ‘A German aeroplane with British colours dropped very close over the trench, lit a signal, and directed the German shell fire into the trench in which your brother was killed. He will always linger in our memories, and none of us will ever forget a good officer and a brave gentleman.’  He is remembered on the war memorials at St German church and Keble College, Oxford and Glamorgan Cricket Club Roll of Honour.  Commonwealth War Grave Commission record.

 

I’ve also recently learnt that there was a connection between Captain Tom David, Reverend Philip ‘Tubby’ Clayton and Talbot House, Poperinge.  A signed photo of Tom and a note from him are in the Talbot House Museum.

There is also a link between one of our previous blogs and the David family.  In our blog Viscount John Sankey, Lord Chancellor – Roath’s top Brief we learnt how John Sankey grew up on City Road and then lived on Newport Road, attending St Margaret’s church. He went on to become the Lord Chancellor, the top legal man in the UK government. Another solicitor who lived nearby on Newport Road at the time was George David, father of the aforementioned Captain Thomas David.  In fact John Sankey ‘had been a bar pup’ in George David’s office and George David gave him his first brief.

Here’s an obit of George David:

David Family Photograph Album

This first batch are pictures of patients at the St Pierre Hospital at 58/60 Newport Road, dated April 1917.  Two of Tom David’s sisters were nurses in this hospital and appear in the pictures. Some of the injured soldiers also appear in the pictures, taken in the back garden of 126 Newport Road, the David family home.

There is a Red Cross war memorial plaque remembering the men who died at St Pierre Hospital in St Edward’s church Penylan. One of the nursing sisters at the hospital who died in 1918 is also remembered on the memorial.  I wonder if she is pictured in any of these photographs.

The next batch of photographs appears to be autographs of some of the soldiers who stayed at the hospital.

This last autograph included is a sketch of a ship at anchor but no further details of the vessel. The soldier seems to have been Lance Corporal W Dance? 1/2 Welsh Field Ambulance, ? M.C, Cardiff ?

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This young woman isn’t a member of the David family. Her cap badge is that of a First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY). The David family think she may be Elsie Agnes Courtis who was a FANY member. They have only been able to find a rather fuzzy, oblique image of Elsie among other FANYs and she hasn’t been definitely identified. The Courtis family lived in Hillside, Penylan and later Fairwater Croft in Llandaff.

The reason the family thinks it may be Elsie Courtis is rather circumstantial, she was a witness at a David family marriage and she is mentioned in family correspondence in the early 1920s.

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And to finish with a couple of photos that I think we may have featured previously. The first is of a bridge that, according to notes, spanned Queen Street, Cardiff. The view is looking eastwards, out of town and the Cardiff University Queens building can be seen on the left. The second photo shows the plaque identifying the builder.