David Daniel Griffiths – Devonshire Regiment, 2nd Battalion

Private David Daniel Griffiths – Devonshire Regiment, 2nd Battalion

David Daniel Griffiths was born in 1895 in Swansea, the son of David and Sarah Ann Griffiths. His early life was shaped by a large, industrious family and by his father’s long service in the police force.

1901 Census

According to the 1901 Census, the Griffiths family were living at the Police Station, Field Street, Llangyfelach, Swansea. David, then aged 48 and born in Carmarthenshire, was serving as a Police Sergeant, while his wife Sarah Ann, aged 23, managed a bustling household of children from David’s earlier marriage as well as the younger members of the family. The home included daughters employed in trades such as knitting, tailoring, and shop work, while the younger children — including David Daniel, then aged six — were still in school. The family at that time comprised Elizabeth, Sarah Jane, Eleanor, Edith, Agnes, Mary Ann, Maggie, Rebecca, Emma Grace, David Daniel, and the youngest, Stanley.

1911 Census

By the 1911 Census, the family had moved to 50 Iorwerth Street, Swansea. David, now 56, had retired and was recorded as a Police Pensioner, while Sarah Ann, aged 53, continued to oversee the household. Several of the older children had left home, but those still residing at Iorwerth Street included Mary Ann, now a milliner; Rebecca, a dressmaker; Emma Grace, employed as a domestic servant; David Daniel, aged sixteen and working as a Tin‑Plate Trade Tender; and Stanley, fourteen, employed as an office boy. The census reflects a hardworking Swansea family rooted in the trades and industries of the town.

As a young man, David Daniel enlisted and served as a Private with the Devonshire Regiment, 2nd Battalion, a Regular Army battalion of 23rd Brigade, 8th Division, which had been on the Western Front since 1914. On 1 July 1916, the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, the battalion took part in the assault on Ovillers Spur, advancing across the exposed ground of Mash Valley towards the fortified German positions near Pozières.

David Daniel Griffiths
Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France,
credit - findagrave

The attack began at 6.30 a.m., when the British artillery lifted and the infantry moved forward. A and B Companies advanced first, followed by C and D Companies, but they were immediately met by devastating machine‑gun fire from the German front line and from both flanks. The fire was so intense that it cut down the advancing waves almost as soon as they left their trenches. Only a handful of men reached the enemy line, and those who did were quickly overwhelmed. As the mist and dust cleared, the scale of the disaster became apparent: the ground before Ovillers was strewn with the dead and wounded, and no reserves were able to continue the attack.

Griffiths family greave
Danygraig Cemetery
credit - findagrave

The 2nd Devons suffered terrible losses that morning — 17 officers and 433 other ranks killed, wounded, or missing — effectively destroying the battalion in a single assault. Among those who fell was Private David Daniel Griffiths, one of the many men whose bodies were never recovered.

He has no known grave, and his name is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France, the great monument to the missing of the Somme. His name is also inscribed on the family grave at Danygraig Cemetery, ensuring that his sacrifice is remembered both on the battlefield and within the community from which he came.