Stanley Griffiths

Private Stanley Griffiths – Welsh Regiment, 1^st/6^th Battalion

Early Life

Stanley Griffiths was born in 1897, the youngest son of David Griffiths, a police sergeant, and his wife, Sarah Ann. He was one of a large family, with an older brother, David Daniel, and several sisters.

1901 Census 

At the time of the 1901 Census, the Griffiths family was living at the Police Station, Llangefelach. David, then aged 46, was serving as a police sergeant, while Sarah Ann was 43. Their children at home were Elizabeth, 25, a knitter; Jane, 23, a shop assistant; Eleanor, 22, and Edith, 18, both tailoresses; Mary Ann, 13; Maggie, 11; Rebecca, 9; Emma Grace, 9; David Daniel, 6; Stanley, 4; and Agnes, 15, a knitter.

1911 Census 

By the time of the 1911 Census, the family had moved to 50 Iorwerth Street, Swansea. David, now retired on a police pension at 56, lived with Sarah Ann, 53, and their children Mary Ann, 23, a milliner; Rebecca, 19, a dressmaker; Emma Grace, 18, a domestic servant; David Daniel, 16, employed in the tinplate trade; and Stanley, 14, who was working as an office boy.

Military Service

Stanley enlisted on 10^th August 1914, only days after the outbreak of the First World War. He joined the Welsh Regiment, following in the footsteps of many young men from Swansea eager to serve.

Death and Burial

South Wales Daily Post

Stanley was wounded during the fighting at Loos and succumbed to his injuries on 4^th June 1917, after being brought home to Swansea. His funeral, held at Danygraig Cemetery, was reported in detail by the South Wales Daily Post.

The cortege left the family home at 50 Iorwerth Street, accompanied by relatives, comrades, and many neighbours who came to pay their respects. Stanley’s coffin, draped in the Union Jack, was borne by soldiers of the Welsh Regiment, who also provided a firing party at the graveside. The solemn notes of the “Last Post” were sounded, echoing across the cemetery as a final farewell to a young man whose service had ended too soon.

 Stanley Griffiths
Danygraig Cemetery
credit - findagrave

Floral tributes were laid in abundance, not only from his family but also from friends, fellow parishioners, and members of the regiment. The presence of military comrades alongside civilian mourners reflected both the personal grief of his family and the collective sorrow of a community that had already lost so many young men to the war.

Stanley’s grave became one of the many new military burials at Danygraig during 1917, marking Swansea’s continuing contribution — and sacrifice — in the Great War.

Legacy

The Griffiths family endured a double tragedy during the war. Just a year before Stanley’s death, his elder brother David Daniel Griffiths had been killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, 1st July 1916, one of the darkest days in British military history. David Daniel is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in France, alongside thousands of others who have no known grave.

Together, the brothers’ stories illustrate the heavy price paid by Swansea families during the First World War. David Daniel’s name is inscribed on the fields of the Somme, while Stanley lies at rest in Danygraig Cemetery. One brother remembered far from home, the other buried among his own community — their lives and sacrifices forever linked, a reminder of how the Great War touched both distant battlefields and the heart of Swansea itself.