For casualties whose surnames begin with other letters of the alphabet please visit the main Roath Virtual War Memorial page.
JOSEPH XUEREB
Private, 6th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment (Service Number: 15009)
Joseph Xuereb was born in Malta in 1891 to Joseph Xuereb, a seaman, originally from Malta and Annie Xuereb nèe Ahern, originally from Cardiff. In 1901 they were living at 67 Wimbourne St, Splott. Joseph played football for the Splott Crusaders. In 1911 the Xuereb family were living at 20 Llanelly St and Joseph was working as a steel worker. He married Mabel Moore Jones, daughter of the manager of the Wimbourne Hotel on 25 Jul 1914. They went on to have two children together; Mary Margret Xuereb (b.1914) and Joseph Xuereb (b.1915) and lived at 45 Eclipse Street, Adamsdown. He signed up for the army in Oct 1914 joining the South Lancashire Regiment. The 6th Battalion fought in Gallipoli and moved to Mesopotamia in 1916. Joseph Xuereb was killed in action in Iraq on 14 Feb 1917, aged 26. He has no known burial place but is remembered on the Basra Memorial (panel 24). He is also remembered on the Splott war Memorial. Commonwealth War Graves Commission record.
CHARLES ALAN YOUNG
Second Lieutenant, “D” Battery, 256th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery
Charles Alan Young, known as Alan, was born on 25 Nov 1892 in Cardiff to Charles Alfred Young, a ship shore merchant, originally from North Shields, Northumberland and Maria ‘May’ Burrell Young nèe Putt originally from Brixham, Devon. He was baptised at St Margaret’s church, Roath, when the family were living opposite the church at 1 Church Terrace. The family then moved to Dinas Powys. His father died, aged just 38, in 1900. At the time of the 1901 and 1911 census Alan, together with his sister and widowed mother, were living at 16 Cwt-y-vil, Penarth. Alan got a job as a fitters apprentice in Mount Stuart Dry Docks, Cardiff. His mother remarried Herbert Field, a schoolmaster, in 1912 and the family moved to Headington, Oxfordshire. In the First World War Alan Young served in the “D” Battery of the 256th Brigade of the Royal Field Artillery. He served for a considerable time in Salonica before being relocated to France. On 10 Jun 1918 he was gazetted Second Lieutenant. He was killed in action in France on 14 Oct 1918, age 25. He is buried at Ramillies British Cemetery, France, grave D22. He is remembered on the St Andrew’s Roll of Honour in Headington as well as the Penarth War Memorial and the All Saints War Memorial in Penarth and the St Augustine’s War Memorial, Penarth. Commonwealth War Graves Commission record. His uncle Walter Young was also killed in WWI.
HERBERT CLIFFORD YOUNG
Rifleman, 8th Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps (Service Number: R/2623)
Herbert ‘Bertie’ Clifford Young was born on 22 Feb 1895 in Cardiff to Edwin John Young, a timber labourer, originally from Barnstable, Devon and Minnie Young nèe Adams, originally from Bristol. He was baptised on 30 Mar 1895 at St Margaret’s church, Roath, when the family were living at 41 Mackintosh Place. At the time of the 1901 census the family were living at 51 Arabella Street. Bertie attended Albany Road School for boys and remained there until 1909 when he started work. On the 1911 census, the family was living at 31 Porthkerry Road, Barry, with Minnie’s widowed mother and Bertie working was a railway engine cleaner. He later worked at the Crown Patent Fuel Works in Roath Dock. Bertie enlisted in Barry and arrived in France with his regiment on 21 Jul 1915. He served as a Rifleman in the 8th Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps. He was wounded in 1916 having served 14 months of active service and evacuated to Shepton Mallet Hospital, Somerset. He was later moved to the Bristol War Hospital where he died on 22 May 1918, aged 23. He is buried in Cathays Cemetery (grave J.105). He is remembered in Barry War Memorial Hall. Commonwealth War Graves Commission record.
MARY ANN ELIZA YOUNG
Nurse, 57th General Hospital, Voluntary Aid Detachment
Mary Ann Eliza Young was born in Cardiff in 1883, eldest child of John Roger Young, a newspaper printer, originally from Newport and Mercy Young née Bray originally from Thornbury, Herefordshire. She was baptized on 12 Apr 1884 at St Mary the Virgin church when the family were living at Green Street, Riverside. By the time of the 1901 census they had moved to nearby 7 Machen Place and Mary, aged 17, is described as a pupil school teacher. From 1903 to 1905 she was a student at Cheltenham Training College where she trained to be a teacher and went on to be Assistant Mistress at Lansdowne Road Council School. In WWI she served as a nurse. Her record shows she was with the Western General Hospital, Cardiff from Oct 1915 which was based at the Infirmary on Newport Road. From Jul 1917 she was abroad with the Voluntary Aid Detachment at the 57th General Hospital in France stationed at Boulogne and then Marseilles. She was awarded 2 Scarlet Efficiency Stripes in Sep 1918. Nurse Mary Young stayed on after the conflict ended to nurse soldiers with influenza. She caught the disease herself and died of pneumonia on 13 Feb 1919, aged 35. She is buried at the Mazargues War Cemetery, Marseilles (grave III.A.57). She is remembered on a Roll of Honour of Council employees at Cardiff City Hall and on the Wartime Nurses Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire. Commonwealth War Graves Commission record. Mary’s sister Alice married an American, Thomas Frank Burt in Cardiff in 1919. They had a daughter Josephine Mary Burt in Cardiff in 1922 and shortly after emigrated to Wisconsin. Josephine Mary ‘Jill’ Burt served as a lieutenant in the Woman’s Medical Specialist Corps of the US Army in WWII and afterwards. She died in 2016 and is buried at an Army Veterans Cemetery in Pennsylvania.
WALTER YOUNG
Serjeant, 2nd Battalion, Gloucestershire Regiment (Service Number: 21417)
Walter Young was born in Cardiff in 1882 to Charles Octavius Young, a shipowner, originally from North Shields, Northumberland and Margaret Emily Young nèe Avery, also originally from North Shields. Walter was baptised at Llandaff Cathedral on 5 Jul 1882 when the family were living at ‘Campville’, 28 Cathedral Road. His sadly father took his own life when Walter was just two years old. By 1891 Walter was living in Plymouth Road, Penarth with his widowed mother and siblings. He was educated at Haileybury College, Hertfordshire and afterwards served in the Taff Vale Railway workshops. He played two games for Cardiff Rugby Club in the 1906/7 season. He went out to South Africa and served in the Mounted Police but subsequently returned and went to Canada. At the time of the 1911 census he was single, living in Winnipeg, Manitoba and working in an office. He had a daughter by Mary Ella Tinniswood from Penarth and took up farming. The daughter, Dorice Enid Young, was born in Elva, Manitoba, Canada in Apr 1912. They returned to the UK shortly after the outbreak of the war, lived in Bristol and Walter served as a Serjeant in Gloucestershire Regiment. He died on the 4 Oct 1916, aged 34, while serving in the Balkans. He was buried at the Struma Military Cemetery in Greece (grave IV.D.12). He is remembered on the St Augustine’s War Memorial, Penarth and on his parent’s headstone in Cathays Cemetery. Commonwealth War Graves Commission record. Walter’s daughter, Dorice Young, married William Horrell, a butcher from Dartmouth, Devon. They went on to have a son Roger William Horrell, a British diplomat and senior MI6 intelligence officer, who at one time was tipped to become head of MI6. Walter’s nephew, Charles Alan Young, born in Roath, was also killed in WWI and remembered on memorials in Penarth. Walter’s elder brother, George Avery Young, also played rugby for Cardiff and Wales and was part of the 1885/86 Cardiff team captained by Frank Hancock, accredited with inventing the modern game of passing rugby.
WILLIAM JOSEPH PAUL YOUNG
Serjeant, 1st Battalion, King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment). (Service Number: 10053)
William Young was born in Cardiff on 7 Jul 1889 to Thomas Young, a market gardener, originally from Ireland and Julia Young nèe Keohane, originally from Cardiff. The Young family lived at 48 Croft Street, Roath. His father died in 1898. William is not mentioned on the 1901 census and in the 1911 census, now calling himself William Joseph Paul Young, is in Jersey with the 2nd Battalion, King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment) based at Grève de Lecq Barracks. In WWI he continued to serve with the King’s Own (Royal Lancaster Regiment with the 1st Battalion, and was killed in action on 12 Dec 1914 in Belgium, aged 25. The 1st Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment was based in Dover on the outbreak of the war. They were mobilised and sailed from Southampton and arrived in France on 23 Aug 1914. Within days they were in bitter action at Haucourt, in the Battle of Le Cateau. The battalion sustained many casualties, killed, wounded and also taken prisoner of war in the first months of the war. He is buried at Tancrez Farm Cemetery (grave I.F.17). He is remembered on the St Peter’s Church, Roath Roll of Honour. Commonwealth War Graves Commission Record.
DOUGLAS ALBERT JOHN ZERK
Assistant Cook, S.S. Empire Progress, Merchant Navy
Douglas Albert John Zerk was born in Cardiff in 1920 to Andre Gustev Zerk, a ship steward, originally from Antwerp, Belgium and Clare Evelyn May Zerk née Setchfield originally from Cardiff. In 1921 the Zerk family were living at 27 Plasnewydd Road, Roath and in 1939 at 208 Pearl Street. Douglas joined the merchant navy and worked as an assistant cook. He was killed on 22 May 1941 aged 21 when the S.S. Empire Progress was bombed by enemy aircraft off the Needles in the English Channel with the loss of four crew. The S.S. Empire Progress was beached the next day at Totland Bay but was later repaired but sunk a year later in Apr 1942 in the North Atlantic after being torpedoed. Douglas Zerk is buried in Southampton (Hollybrook) Cemetery (Sec. M. 12. Grave 89). Commonwealth War Graves Commission record.
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