David Henry Thomas Bendle – Welsh Regiment, 2nd Battalion

Private David Henry Thomas Bendle – Welsh Regiment, 2^nd Battalion

Birth and Family Background

James Bendle and Eleanor Evans
marriage certificate
parish of Llansadwrn

David Henry Thomas Bendle was born in 1898 in Llansadwrn, Carmarthenshire, the son of James Bendle and Eleanor Evans, who married in April 1894 in the parish of Llansadwrn.

1901 Census

The 1901 Census shows the Bendle family living at Glanbrane Lodge, Llanfair-ar-y-Bryn, Carmarthenshire. David’s father, James, aged 35 and born in Herefordshire, was employed as a gardener, while his mother Eleanor, aged 27 and born in Carmarthenshire, was at home caring for their two children: M. A. Bendle, aged 5, and D. T. H. Bendle, aged 3.

1911 Census

By the 1911 Census, the family had moved to Glanffrydd Villa, Garnant, Carmarthenshire. David’s father James, then 50, continued working as a gardener, and his mother Eleanor, aged 39, remained at home. Their daughter Mary Ann, aged 15, was employed as a Tin Worker, while David Thomas Henry, aged 13, was still at school. Also living with them was Elen Evans, Eleanor’s widowed mother, aged 59, along with two boarders: David Owen, a 51-year-old widowed carpenter, and Frede J. Noett, a 19-year-old GWR Fireman.

Military Service

David later enlisted at Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, joining the 2^nd Battalion, Welsh Regiment as a Private.

Death and Burial

Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects

David Henry Thomas Bendle
Cambrin Military Cemetery
credit - findagrave

The Army Register of Soldiers’ Effects records that Private David Henry Thomas Bendle was killed in action on 23^rd July 1918, during the final months of the First World War. At the time of David’s death, the 2^nd Battalion, Welsh Regiment was serving on the Western Front as part of the British Expeditionary Force’s ongoing operations in France. Although surviving public records do not document the battalion’s exact movements on that specific day, the unit was engaged in the routine—but hazardous—front-line duties typical of mid-1918, including holding and rotating trench positions, patrolling, and enduring frequent shellfire as Allied forces prepared for the major offensives of late summer. His recorded death “in action” strongly suggests that he was killed during one of these frontline encounters or as a result of enemy artillery, which continued to inflict casualties even during quieter phases of the line.

He is buried at Cambrin Military Cemetery, France.

Aftermath

1921 Census

Following David’s death, the 1921 Census shows his father, James Bendle, aged 60, living as a boarder at Dilkysha, Blackpill, where he worked as a groom for H. Folland of Blackpill.