Edwin Lewis Rees – Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Hawke Battalion
Able Seaman Edwin Lewis Rees – Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, Hawke Battalion
Edwin Lewis Rees was born in 1892 in Swansea,
the son of Samuel Rees and Margaret J. Hopkins, who were married
in 1888.
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| 1901 Census |
By the 1901 Census, the Rees family were living at 20 Pentlea Terrace, Swansea. Edwin’s father, Samuel, aged 32, worked as a Furnaceman, while his mother Margaret, also 32, managed the household. Their children were Sarah H. (11), Edwin (9), Thomas G. (7), Mary (3) and Benjamin (2). Also living with them was Edwin’s grandfather, Thomas L. Rees, aged 64, forming a three‑generation home typical of industrial Swansea families of the time.
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| 1911 Census |
By 1911, the family had moved to 41 Wern Terrace, Port Tennant, Swansea. Samuel, now 42, continued to work as a Furnaceman, and Margaret, also 42, remained at home caring for their growing family. Edwin, now 19, and his brother Thomas George (17) were both employed as Furnacemen, almost certainly at the same or similar local works as their father. The younger children—Mary Elizabeth (16), Benjamin (11), John (8), Samuel Lennard (5), William (3) and Percy Oswald (1)—were still at home, with the older ones attending school. The census paints a picture of a large, hardworking family rooted in Swansea’s industrial community.
Military Service
Edwin later enlisted in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
and was assigned to the Hawke Battalion of the Royal Naval Division,
serving as an Able Seaman. The Royal Naval Division was formed of Royal
Navy and Royal Marine reservists who were not required at sea and were instead
deployed as infantry on the Western Front after service at Gallipoli. The Hawke
Battalion fought in several major offensives in France, including the battles
of the Somme, Arras, and Passchendaele.
Hawke Battalion on 25th August 1918
On 25th August 1918, the date of Edwin’s
death, the Hawke Battalion was engaged in heavy fighting during the Second
Battle of Bapaume, part of the wider Hundred Days Offensive that
would bring the First World War to a close. The battalion advanced with the
rest of the 63rd (Royal Naval) Division through a sector of the front
lying between Loupart Wood and the village of La Barque,
northwest of Bapaume. Here they encountered determined German rearguard forces
who were withdrawing toward the Hindenburg Line but fighting hard to delay the
British advance.
Two companies of the Hawke Battalion became embroiled in
fierce combat within Loupart Wood, where machine‑gun fire and concealed
strongpoints inflicted casualties. The other two companies pressed on through
the wood toward La Barque, where they engaged German forces in further
sharp fighting. These actions formed part of the relentless forward pressure
applied by the British Third Army as it sought to break the German line.
Fighting was often chaotic and close‑quarters, with rifle fire, grenades, and
rapid manoeuvre across difficult ground shaping the day’s events.
Casualty records from the day confirm that numerous men of
the Hawke Battalion were killed in these engagements, several of whom are
commemorated—like Edwin—on the Vis‑en‑Artois Memorial, as they have no
known grave. Among them were Able Seaman Claud Elwyn Corrin and Leading
Seaman Eloff Jackson, whose deaths on the same date help confirm the
battalion’s involvement in these intense actions.
Death
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| British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records |
The British Army and Navy Birth, Marriage and Death Records and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission confirm that Able Seaman Edwin Lewis Rees (R/4849) was killed in action on 25th August 1918, aged 26, during these operations. CWGC records further note that he was the husband of Louisa Ann Watkins (formerly Rees) of 42 Villiers Street, Hafod, Swansea.
Commemoration
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| Edwin Lewis Rees Vis-en-Artois Memorial, Pas de Calais, France credit - findagrave |
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