The Roath Park Wesleyan Church WWI Memorial Plaque:

The whereabouts of this memorial has recently come to light.  It is in the safe keeping of Cardiff Bereavement Services having at one stage been stored on one of the chapels at Cathays Cemetery.

Fourteen men are listed on this memorial.

GEORGE WILFRED ABBOTT

Private, 1st Battalion, Welsh Guards (Service Number 2506)

George WIlfred Abbott was born in Abertillery, Monmouthshire in 1893 to Edwin Abbott and Emily Margaret Abbott née Collier.  By 1901 the family had moved to Roath and George’s father Edwin was working as a wood sawyer but he dies in 1903 leaving Emily to bring up the three sons.  In the 1911 census we find George working as a weights and measures assistant for the city council and the family living at 64 Cottrell Road, Roath.  George is killed in action on 25th September 1916 at the battle of the Somme.  He is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial in France.  He was also remembered on the Roath Road Weslyan Church memorial.  Commonwealth War Graves Commission record.

---

HENRY FRANK BASELOW

Second Lieutenant, 220th Company, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry) (Service Number PS/7607)

Henry Frank Baselow was born in 1897 in Harlesden, Middlesex to Henry David Frederick Baselow, a cigar manufacturer, originally from Rostock, Germany, and Alice Emma Bielski, originally from Cardiff. The family lived in both Middlesex and Mexico, where his father’s cigar factory was based. His father fought for Germany in the Franco-Prussian war but died in 1913 after which the family moved to Cardiff and lived at 55 Westville Road, Penylan.  Henry Frank Baselow was employed in the accounts department of Morgan Wakely and Co, coal exporters, Mount Stuart Square, Docks, Cardiff.  He joined a Public Schools Battalion, Royal Fusiliers in April 1915 and went to the Western Front the following November. He underwent Officer Cadet training at Oxford in May 1916 and was commissioned in the Hampshire Regiment in September 1916 and later transferred to Machine Gun Corps. He returned to France in February 1917 but was killed in action on 5 Oct 1917 aged 20.  He is buried at the Buttes New British Cemetery, Belgium (grave XII. AA. 14).  He was remembered on the Roath Park Wesleyan church memorial, currently in storage at Thornhill crematorium. Commonwealth War Graves Commission record.

---

THOMAS ARTHUR BRYANT

Lance Corporal, 14th Battalion, Welsh Regiment (Service Number: 56771)

Thomas Arthur Bryant was born on 16 Jan 1887 in Beckenham, Kent to Thomas Arthur Bryant, a grocer, originally from Sandhurst, Kent and Ellen Louisa Bryant née Andrews, originally from Bromley, Kent. In 1901 the Bryant family were living in Penge, Kent but by 1911 Arthur had left home and was living at 16 Bangor Street, Roath, Cardiff and working as a third class clerk at the General Post Office.  He later moved to live at 115 Westville Road, Pen-y-lan.  He enlisted in Dec 1915 in Cardiff with the 7th Cyclists Battalion, Welsh Regiment before later transferring to the 14th Battalion. He was killed in action on 19 Apr 1918 aged 31 in France. He is buried at the Warloy-Baillon Communal Cemetery Extension (plot IV. F. 3.).  He was remembered on the Roath Park Wesleyan Methodist church war memorial plaque.  Commonwealth War Graves Commission record.

---

GEORGE ARTHUR BREWSTER

Private, 2nd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders (Service Number: S/7914)

George Arthur Brewster was born in Paddington, London in 1893. In 1901 he was living at 82 Neville Street, Cardiff, aged 8, as the adopted son of Harriet James, aged 56, lodging house keeper.  In 1911 he was living at 34 Angus Street, Roath Park and working as an apprentice upholsterer and living with George Benjamin Pollard Williams and Harriet Ann Williams née Weller and is described as their nephew. (George and Harriet Williams were also living at the same lodging house in Neveille St in 1901 as Arthur Brewster).  He enlisted in Bridgend and served with the 2nd battalion, Seaforth Highlanders.   He was shot and died of wounds on 17 Oct 1916 aged 23 on the Western Front. He is buried at the Grove Town Cemetery, Meaulte, France (plot I. N. 13). He was remembered on the Roath Park Wesleyan Methodist church war memorial plaque.  Commonwealth War Graves Commission record. (Notes: his place of birth, Paddington, is as described in his entry in the 1911 census and matches a birth registration of George Arthur Brewster in Q2 1893, Paddington, no mother’s maiden name recorded.  Somewhere, possibly his enlistment papers, seems to have his birthplace as Dundee, hinting that there was possibly family connection with Dundee).

---

HAROLD LESLIE CRATES

Private, 1st/6th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment (Service Number 66011)

Harold Leslie Crates was born in Cardiff in early 1899 to William Henry Crates, a grocer, originally from Beaufort, Breconshire and Mary Jane Crates nee Morgan originally from Cardiff. The Crates family lived at 14 Marlborough Road, Roath.  Before war broke out Harold worked in his father’s grocery shop in Clifton Street. He joined the training battalion at Kinmel Park, North Wales in Feb 1917 by which time his brother has already served in France and Salonika with the 11th Welsh Regiment. He was transferred to the South Wales Borderers and served in Ireland for some months before proceeding to France with the Cheshire Regiment in Jan 1918. He was killed on 3 Mar 1918 aged 19 at Gouzeau, the only casualty his battalion suffered that day. He is buried at the Fins New British Cemetery at Sorel Le Grand, France (grave IV. C. 16). He is remembered on the war memorial plaque which was at Roath Park Wesleyan Methodist Church.  Commonwealth War Graves Commission record.

---

W. Norman Davies

John Dyche

---

WILLIAM HENRY EADE

Master, S.S.Southborough, Merchant Navy

William Henry Eade was born in Arundel, Sussex in 1865 to John Eade, a whitesmith, originally from Aurndel and Mary Ellen Eade née Lettis originally from Madehurst, Sussex.  He joined the merchant navy and qualified as a Second Mate in 1885, age 20, and then as a First Mate in 1891, and finally as Master in 1898.  He married Alice Mary Ede in Portsea Island, Hampshire in 1892. They had one daughter together, Phyllis Mary Eade born 1894, Portsea Island.  In 1911 they were living in Southsea, Hampshire before moving to Cardiff probably because William was working for a Cardiff-based shipping company.  The Eade family lived at 1 Roath Court Road from 1915. Eade was Master of the SS Southborough, an armed merchant ship owned by Humphries Ltd. (Global Shipping Co) of Cardiff.  The ship was sunk on 16 July 1918 killing William Eade, aged 53, and twenty nine others.   The ship was on passage from La Goulette to the Teeside, England with a cargo of iron ore. She was torpedoed by the German submarine UB-110 at 1.43 p.m., 4-5 miles from Ravenscar, near Scarborough.  The vessel was hit on the starboard side of the forward bunker.  The Southborough was in convoy at the time and sank almost at once killing 30 of the crew.  The eight survivors were picked up by an escort vessel and landed at Middlesbrough.  William Eade commemorated at the Tower Hill Memorial, London. He was also remembered on the Roath Park Wesleyan Methodist church war memorial plaque.  Commonwealth War Graves Commission record.

---

J. Robert Hodge

David John Jones

Philip Harold Jones

Noel L. Thomas

C. Ray Thomas

Ernest Tregarthen

---

The Roath Park Wesleyan Church Roll of Honour:

This Roll of Honour is now on display at Roath Park Primary School . The story of how it was re-discovered is told below.

A full list of the names on this Roll of Honour can be found on the War Memorial Register website

---

The story of the rediscovery of the Roll of Honour is told here:

Western Mail 17th October 1997 p5

Wartime Roll of Honour found in warehouse

A MEMORIAL roll of honour from a church commemorating the valour of 109 men killed in the Great War of 1914-18 has turned up in an antiques warehouse in Guildford, Surrey with an a price tag on it of £35.

The mahogany framed plaque with the names of the men inscribed by craftsmen on hardboard across four columns hung proudly in Roath Park Wesleyan Church, also known as the Roath Park Methodist Church,  until it closed seven years ago

It was discovered this week dusty and neglected in the back of the warehouse by a former Royal Marine who is fighting to save the nation’s memorials from vandals, thieves and neglect.

“With WAT I paid just £44.13 to retrieve the memories of 109 men who gave their lives fighting for their country and the freedom we now take for granted.  It’s pretty disgusting.” said lan Davidson. who two years ago founded the Friends of War Memorials to conserve memorials and preserve them for posterity.

He now wants 10 see the roll of honour which according to the date on it, was painstakingly completed on July 10. 1921, returned to Roath Park. and the community from where the 109 men came.

I will personally present it to Roath Park School for the benefit of children who may be related to the men whose names are on the roll of honour and would like the pupils to be present at a re-honouring service,” he said.

I want to see an amnesty declared on war memorials so they can be returned to the town or village where once they meant so much.

“They shouldn’t be sold but passed on to other churches in the area or placed in schools so children can become aware of a vital pan of our heritage.  We want to stamp out this negligent disposal of war memorials.”

The discovery of the memorial from the church in Roath is only the tip of the iceberg in a market where memorials to the war dead are sold off as curios.

War memorials are being discarded as a result of the closure of hundreds of churches.

While some are sold as curios, others finish up as fireplaces and even menu boards for fashionable restaurants.

In one case an antiques dealer attempting to sell a carved oak memorial covered in the names of a village’s war dead assured the potential purchaser that the lettering could be removed without too much difficulty.

The National Inventory of War Memorials set up in 1989 to record every war memorial in the British Isles believes that there are approximately 54.000 around the UK.

So far at has only recorded around 26,000 and fears that many of those outstanding are lost forever.

Churches and chapels across Britain are being closed at a rate of around one a week and in the process their memorial plaques are being removed.  Some are sold to antique dealers while others are exported to the US.  Others end up in scrap yards.

During World War I communities made fists of local men and women serving with the armed or auxiliary forces and as news reached home that those named on the lists had died they became revered objects.

After the war the lists were enshrined  in permanent memorials.

Grand plans were discarded

SINCE the imposing Grade II-listed Roath Park Wesleyan Church building on the corner of Albany Road and Wellfield Road was sold it has been used as an indour market selling cheap consumer durables.

Developers had much grander plans for the church.  They had wanted to turn it into an upmarket shopping complex and had won backing from the local council.

But the recession got in the way and the proposals never materialised.

Now the doors are closed and the interior fabric is said to be deteriorating.

Robin Pearce, a steward at the time the church was closed down said he had no idea how the memorial roll of honour could have found its was to Guildford.

“I haven’t got a clue. We had to sell it seven years age and I believe it’s up for sale again now.”

---

Whilst the Roll of Honour above lists of all those at the church who served in WWI it would also include those who lost their lives.  The following document names the men who lost their lives in WWI and are named on the memorial plaque (see top of page).  This plaque is in safe keeping at Cardiff Bereavement Services.