Arthur Rhys Daniel, Welsh Guards, 1st Battalion

Lance Corporal Arthur Rhys Daniel, Welsh Guards, 1^st Battalion

Arthur Rhys Daniel

Lance Corporal Arthur Rhys Daniel was born in 1890 in Blaenavon, Monmouthshire, the eldest child of Jabez Daniel, a grocer, and Jane Jackson, who had married in 1889 at Abergavenny.

Early Life and Family

1891 Census

The 1891 Census records the Daniel family at 42 High Street, Llanover Upper, where Jabez worked as a grocer and infant Arthur—then 7 months old—was their only child.

1901 Census

By the 1901 Census, the family had moved to 1 Khandella Terrace, Oystermouth. Jabez was working as a wine merchant, and the household now included four children: Arthur (10), Harold (8), Spencer (6), and Hilda (2).

1911 Census

In 1911, the family was living in the Mumbles, where Jabez had returned to work as a grocer. Arthur, now 20, was employed in the same trade alongside his brother Spencer, while Hilda, aged 12, remained in school.

Military Service

Arthur enlisted on his 24th birthday, joining the Grenadier Guards. Following the creation of the Welsh Guards by Royal Warrant on 26^th February 1915—a significant moment marking Wales’s own regiment of Foot Guards—Arthur transferred to the newly formed 1^st Battalion, Welsh Guards.

The battalion was deployed to France, joining the 3^rd Guards Brigade, Guards Division, and became involved in the aftermath of the Battle of Loos. By October 1915, they were holding exposed front-line positions around Vermelles and Hill 70, sectors still fiercely contested after the September offensive.

Although 17^th October 1915 was not a day of major battle, it was part of a period of extreme and unrelenting danger. The Welsh Guards were engaged in front-line holding operations, repairing heavily damaged trenches, enduring continuous artillery shellfire, facing persistent sniper activity, and carrying out night-time consolidation work under fire. These hazardous duties produced a steady toll of casualties, illustrating the deadly routine of trench warfare. Arthur fell during one such operation, serving in some of the most unstable and perilous positions on the Loos front.

Death and Burial

Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects

Arthur Rhys Daniel
Vermelles Cemetery, France
credit - findagrave

According to the Army Registers of Soldiers’ Effects, Lance Corporal Arthur Rhys Daniel was killed in action on 17^th October 1915. He is laid to rest at Vermelles British Cemetery, France, among many comrades who died in the same bitterly contested sector.

Personal Life and Legacy

Herald of Wales

An obituary in the Herald of Wales (October 1915) records that Arthur had been a chorister at the Wesleyan Church, played rugby for Mumbles, and was also a skilled cricketer. His life—rich in community involvement, sport, and service—was tragically cut short at the age of 25. Arthur’s name endures in both local memory and the quiet dignity of Vermelles Cemetery, a lasting reminder of his sacrifice.