James Eric Davies – British Army, Royal Artillery, 64 Battery, 4 Heavy Anti‑Aircraft Regiment

Gunner James Eric Davies – British Army, Royal Artillery, 64 Battery, 4 Heavy Anti‑Aircraft Regiment

Early Life and Family Background

James Eric Davies was born in 1907 at Llanelly, Carmarthenshire, the son of William Henry Davies and Mabel Elizabeth Churchill.

1911 Census

By the time of the 1911 Census, the family had settled at 135 Rhondda Street, Swansea, a residence that would remain their long‑term home. William, then thirty‑eight and Carmarthenshire‑born, was employed as a Shop Assistant, while his Somerset‑born wife Mabel, aged thirty, managed the household. The children recorded were Mabel’s stepson Claud, aged thirteen, young Eric, aged four, both attending school, and the infant Esther, under two years old.

The Family in the 1921 Census

1921 Census

The 1921 Census again places the Davies family at 135 Rhondda Street, where William, now forty‑eight, had progressed to the position of Grocer Manager with Home Colonial Stores Ltd., 5 Oxford Street, Swansea. Mabel Elizabeth, aged thirty‑nine, remained at home, and the household had grown into a busy family of school‑age children. William Claud, aged twenty‑three, was employed as a Clerk with the Swansea Corporation Water Department at the Guildhall, while James Eric, aged thirteen, H. Esther Elizabeth, aged eleven, and Sidney Frank, aged six, were all recorded as attending school.

Marriage and Adult Life

In 1934, James married Dorothy Silvey at St Jude’s Church, Swansea, marking the beginning of a new chapter shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.

Wartime Service

James served as a Gunner in the Royal Artillery, attached to 64 Battery, 4 Heavy Anti‑Aircraft Regiment, a formation that played a vital role in the defence of Malta during the height of the siege. War Office records (WO 169/7410) confirm that the regiment was serving under Malta Command throughout July–December 1942, placing 64 Battery on the island during one of the most intense and dangerous phases of the war.

The regiment was responsible for the protection of Malta’s most strategically important sites, including Grand Harbour, Valletta, and the airfields at Luqa, Ta’ Qali, and Hal Far. Equipped with 3.7‑inch heavy anti‑aircraft guns, the battery operated under constant pressure, responding to frequent alerts, reconnaissance flights, and intermittent bombing raids. Even as Axis air activity began to lessen in late 1942 due to the shifting focus toward North Africa, the danger to gun crews remained severe. The work was exhausting, hazardous, and unrelenting, with risks arising not only from enemy action but also from the handling of heavy ordnance and ammunition under combat conditions.

Death During the Siege of Malta

James Eric Davies
Brookwood 1939-1945 Memorial, Surrey
credit - findagrave

It was in this demanding operational environment that Gunner James Eric Davies lost his life on 30 October 1942. Although the precise circumstances of the day are preserved only in the original war diary, the context of the period makes clear that he died while serving on an island still under threat, where anti‑aircraft positions were frequent targets and where accidents, splinter injuries, and direct hits were tragically common. His death, and the absence of a known grave, are wholly consistent with the dangers faced by AA personnel on Malta during the siege.

Commemoration

Gunner James Eric Davies has no known resting place, and his name is commemorated on the Brookwood 1939–1945 Memorial, Surrey, where he is honoured among those who fell in the service of their country and whose graves are unknown. His inclusion on this memorial ensures that his sacrifice, made far from his Swansea home, is preserved in the national record of wartime loss.