Brynley Llewelly Joseph & Frederick Regan

This last blog will be about the two last servicemen buried at Bethel.  They are Brynley Llewelly Joseph and Frederick Regan

Stoker 2^nd Class Brynley Llewelly Joseph served with the Royal Navy, on board H.M.S. Pekin, who died on 11^th April 1945—aged 42. 

Brynley was the son of Thomas and Annie Joseph and the husband of Mary Ann Joseph.

1911 Census

Born in 1903 at the 1911 Census, Bynley is recorded to be resident at 5 Shelley Crescent, Swansea, his parents' home. Thomas, 40, who is a Glass Furanceman.  Annie, who is also 40.  They have been married since 1890.   The children are Thomas George, 13; William Owen, 10; Brynley Llewellyn, 8 and Elsie May, 7.

1921 Census

A decade later at the 1921 Census, the family is still living in No.5.  Thomas, 50; who is employed by Lead and Silver Works V. & S. Sons as a Furnace Man.  Mary is 50.  The children are Thomas George, 23, who is a Milk Vendor employed by J. R. Davies Dairyman. Brynley H., 18, is Out of Work having been employed by Swansea Corporation as a General Labourer. Elsie May, 17, who is employed by H. M. Missard Uncle Bart Confectioner as a Confectionary Parker and Albert James, 7.

1939 Register

The 1939 Register entry for Brynley is recorded as 62 Gwili Terrace, Brynley is a General Labourer, and his wife is Mary A. They were married in 1936.

H.M.S. Pekin was a four-master barque, which the Royal Navy commissioned in 1940 finally being decommissioned in 1945.  The ship was launched in 1911, by F. Laeisz, a German shipping company. Christened Peking was one of the last iron-hauled sailing ships which was in use in the nitride and wheat trade.  Peking maiden voyage during 1911 was to Valparaiso, South America around Cape Horn. It was here, that Pekin remained during the First World War.  As part of the war’s reparations, Pekin to the Kingdom of Italy.

1923 sold back to Laeisa and used in the nitride trade until traffic through the Panama Canal made it quicker and more economical.  Pekin was sold to Shaftesbury House in 1932, for £6,250.  Towed to Greenhithe, Kent and renamed Arethusa II. Moved to her permanent mooring off Upnor, on the River Medway, and “officially” opened by Prince George on 25^th July 1933, as a children’s home and training school.

During the Second World War, renamed Peking, saw action with the Royal Navy. Following the war, renamed Arethusa II, and finally sold to the United States in 1974, and sold to Jack Aron, renamed Peking, and served as the South Street Seaport Museum, New York.  2012, Peking returned to Hamburg, where she was originally built.  It's here that Peking is part of the German Port Museum. 

South Wales Daily Post

The only reference in the newspapers is an article in the South Wales Daily Post, published on 10^th May 1945.

Brynley Llewelly Joseph
Bethel Welsh Congregational Chapelyard
credit - findagrave 

Brynley Joseph who died at home in Swansea, was buried at Bethel.

Frederick Regan
Bethel Welsh Congregational Chapelyard

Finally, Gunner Frederick Regan, who served with the Royal Artillery, died on 25^th July 1947 aged 20.  Frederick was the son of Baden and Fanny Regan.

There are no records for Frederick, and equally, there is no headstone at his grave at Bethel.