Samuel Brooks

Private Samuel Brooks – The Last First World War Burial at Danygraig Cemetery

Early Life

Private Samuel Brooks was the last of the First World War burials at Danygraig Cemetery. Born in 1885 in Swansea, he was the son of Samuel Brooks and Rebecca Nightingale, originally from Durham. The couple had married in 1884 at St. Mary’s Church, Islington.

1891 Census

By the time of the 1891 Census, the Brooks family were living at 57 Foxhole Road. Samuel senior, aged 30, worked as a Copperman at the Furnace Works, while his wife Rebecca was also 30. Their young children were Samuel, 6; Mary E., 4; and Richard J., 1. The household also included two boarders, Thomas E. Thomas, 18, and Patrick Brian, 15, who both worked at the Furnace Works.

1901 Census

By 1901, the family had moved to 42 Foxhole Road. Samuel senior, still working as a Copperman, was now 40, as was Rebecca. Their children were Samuel, 15, working as a Labourer at the Copper Mills, and Mary E., 13. The home also included lodgers and extended family: Thomas E. Thomas, now 22, Samuel William, 31 (both General Labourers), as well as Samuel’s siblings—David, 31, John, 27, Esther, 18, and Brinley, 10. A niece, Sarah Keift, 12, also lived at the property.

Goal Records

In 1910, Samuel had a brush with the law, being found guilty of drunkenness and disorderly behaviour, for which he was sentenced to prison.

1911 Census

At the time of the 1911 Census, the Brooks family were living at 95 Foxhole Road. Samuel senior, 50, was still employed as a Copperman, while Rebecca was also 50. Samuel junior, now 26, worked as a Dock Labourer, and his sister Mary Elizabeth Wather, 24, was also present with her daughter Maud, aged 2. A long-time boarder, Thomas E. Thomas, now 41, remained part of the household, employed as a Mason’s Labourer.

Marriage and Military Service

Attestation Records

The following year, in 1912, Samuel married Ellen Williams. At the time of his enlistment, the couple were parents to two daughters, Phyllis Maud and Rebecca.

Samuel enlisted with the Devonshire Regiment on the 10^th of September 1914, joining the 2^nd Battalion. His service took him away from Swansea, but his links to Foxhole Road and St. Thomas remained central to his family life.

Death and Burial

Private Samuel Brooks died on the 24^th of October 1918, just weeks before the Armistice. His death brought deep sorrow to his wife Ellen and their two young daughters.

Samuel’s funeral was held at Danygraig Cemetery, conducted with the solemn respect afforded to men who had served. Local reports note that comrades from the Devonshire Regiment were present to honour his service, and neighbours from Foxhole Road turned out to pay their respects. The cortege made its way through St. Thomas, with mourners following the coffin to its final resting place.

Unlike some earlier burials at Danygraig, which included military bands or volleys of rifle fire, Samuel’s funeral was quieter and more intimate—reflecting both the strain of the war’s final months and the personal grief of his family. His headstone stands as a reminder not only of his own service but also of the sacrifices borne by Swansea families in the war’s last, wearying year.

Samuel Brooks
Danygraig Cemetery
credit - findagrave

Importantly, Samuel’s interment carries a symbolic weight: he was the last First World War burial at Danygraig Cemetery. His grave effectively closed the roll of those laid to rest there during the conflict, marking an end to a chapter of loss that had shadowed Swansea since 1914.

Legacy

The story of Private Samuel Brooks is not only a family tragedy but also a poignant marker in Swansea’s wartime history. His grave represents the final addition to Danygraig’s long roll of First World War dead, a reminder of how deeply the war touched the streets of St. Thomas, Foxhole Road, and beyond.

His wife Ellen, left to raise two young children alone, carried the burden of grief into peacetime, while his daughters grew up in the shadow of a father’s absence. In this way, Samuel’s story illustrates the lasting toll of war, where the loss extended beyond the battlefield into homes and futures forever altered.

Today, his headstone stands as both a personal memorial and a collective symbol—the end of Danygraig’s wartime burials, but not the end of memory. Through him, we recall not only the men who died but also the families who endured.