Hedley Bevan of Oxwich

A young bank clerk who answered the call to serve

Early Life and Family

Francis Bevan and Mary Bevan
marriage certificate
St. Mary's church

Hedley Bevan was born in 1892 in the coastal village of Oxwich, on the Gower Peninsula. He was the youngest child of Francis and Mary Bevan, who had married in 1869 at St Mary’s Church, Swansea.

1901 Census

By the 1901 Census, the Bevan family were living at Oxwich Castle Farm.
Francis, then 63, was listed as a farmer on his own account, while his wife Mary was 55. Their household included five children: Mary J. (27), John F. (23), Elizabeth M. (17), Frederick (14), and the youngest, Hedley, aged nine. Also residing with them was a servant, Mary J. Miles, aged 15.

Life at Oxwich Castle

1911 Census

By the time of the 1911 Census, the Bevans were still living at Oxwich Castle.
Francis, now 73, continued to farm, with his son Frederick (24) working alongside him, recorded as a “Farmer’s Son Working on Farm.” Hedley, then 19 years old, had chosen a different path, working as a bank clerk — a sign of education and ambition that would have been notable in a small rural community at that time.

Enlistment and Military Service

When the First World War broke out in 1914, Hedley enlisted in Bridgend, joining the 2^nd/1^st Glamorgan Yeomanry, a mounted regiment within the Territorial Force.

The Glamorgan Yeomanry was originally a part-time cavalry unit drawn from across South Wales, made up of farmers, tradesmen, and clerks. At the start of the war, it was divided into three lines:

• the 1^st/1^st Glamorgan Yeomanry, destined for overseas service;
• the 2^nd/1^st, a reserve and training regiment that remained in Britain; and
• the 3^rd/1^st, a later depot unit formed in 1915.

Hedley served in the 2^nd/1^st, which was stationed around Bridgend, Cardiff, and Porthcawl through 1914 and 1915. The men of this unit were engaged in training new recruits, patrolling the coast, and performing home defence duties — guarding ports, railways, and the South Wales coastline against possible enemy landings or sabotage.

Conditions were harsh. Many volunteers were billeted in temporary huts or barns, exposed to cold and wet weather. Medical facilities were limited, and outbreaks of influenza, pneumonia, and meningitis were common. For many of these early recruits, military life was as dangerous as the front itself.

A Life Cut Short

Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects

Tragically, Hedley’s service was brief. Records in the Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects show that Trooper Hedley Bevan died on 7^th February 1915 at Bridgend War Hospital, aged just twenty-three.

The 2^nd/1^st Glamorgan Yeomanry had not yet been deployed overseas, and no battles were being fought near their camp. It is therefore likely that Hedley succumbed to meningitis during his time in service — a common fate among soldiers stationed in home units during the early months of the war.

Laid to Rest at St Illtyd’s

Hedley Bevan
St. Iltyd's church
credit - findagrave

Hedley’s body was returned home to Oxwich, where he was laid to rest in the tranquil churchyard of St Illtyd’s, overlooking the bay and the fields his family had worked for generations.
His grave remains a poignant reminder of one of Oxwich’s own, a young man who traded the safety of civilian life for duty, and who never lived to see the war’s end.

Legacy

Today, Hedley Bevan’s name stands among those of the Glamorgan Yeomanry who gave their lives in the Great War.
Though he never left Wales, his service was part of the same national effort — one that relied on ordinary men who trained, guarded, and supported the army at home while others went to fight abroad.

His story reflects that of countless Welshmen of his generation — men of modest background and quiet courage, whose service and sacrifice left a lasting mark on their communities.

In the peaceful churchyard of St Illtyd’s, with the sound of the sea beyond the hedgerows, Hedley’s memory endures — a life of promise ended too soon, but never forgotten.