John Edgar Rees – King’s Royal Rifle Corps, 2nd Battalion

Lance Corporal John Edgar Rees – King’s Royal Rifle Corps, 2nd Battalion

Early Life and Family Background

John Edgar Rees was one of the oldest casualties to fall on 1 July 1916, the opening day of the Battle of the Somme.

James Rees and Elizabeth Annie Hinckley marriage certificate St. James' Church, Swansea

Born in 1877 in Swansea, he was the son of James Rees and Elizabeth Annie Hinckley, who had married in 1868 at St. James’ Church, Swansea.

1881 Census

By the 1881 Census, the family were living at 54 Mansel Street, Swansea, where James, a Master Mariner, was away at sea, leaving Eliza A., aged 34, to manage the household. Living with her were her children Annie M., aged 10; John E., aged 4; and Frederick B., aged 1, together with her widowed mother Eliza Hinckley, aged 75, her niece Alice E. Hinckley, aged 19, her widowed sister‑in‑law Jane F. Hinckley, aged 45, and a lodger, John Smyth, aged 56. This extended household was typical of Swansea’s maritime families, where long absences of seafaring husbands shaped domestic life.

1891 Census

By the 1891 Census, the family remained at the same address. James, now 53, had returned from sea and continued his work as a Master Mariner, while Eliza A., aged 59, oversaw the home. Their children were Annie M., aged 20; John E., aged 14, employed as a Clerk; Frederick B., aged 11; and James R. H., aged 5. Also present were their niece Alice E. Hinckley, aged 20, two lodgers, William H. Towers, aged 29, and George A. Hepburn, aged 22, and a sister, Christiana Jameson, aged 21, creating a busy, multi‑generational household closely tied to Swansea’s maritime economy.

Military Career Before the First World War

1901 Census

By 1901, John Edgar Rees had enlisted and was serving as a Sapper with the Royal Engineers at Brompton Barracks, Gillingham, Kent. His early military career took him far beyond Britain. He served in the South African Campaign (1899–1902), a conflict marked by long marches across harsh veldt, entrenched defensive positions, guerrilla warfare, scorched‑earth tactics, and extreme climatic conditions. The campaign demanded endurance, adaptability, and fieldcraft, shaping Rees into a seasoned soldier long before the First World War. He later served in German South West Africa during the 1914–1915 campaign to seize Germany’s African colony, a theatre defined by desert warfare, severe heat, water scarcity, and long‑distance marches. The fighting included actions at Sandfontein, Gibeon, and the occupation of Windhoek. During this period, Rees served with the 1st Rhodesian Regiment, a unit composed of settlers, miners, farmers, and experienced colonial volunteers known for their mobility, marksmanship, and ability to operate in remote frontier conditions. Their duties included reconnaissance, mounted patrols, railway protection, and the occupation of key settlements. Service with the 1st Rhodesian Regiment required resilience, improvisation, and self‑reliance — qualities Rees carried with him into the trenches of France.

Service in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps

With the outbreak of the First World War, John Edgar Rees transferred to the King’s Royal Rifle Corps and served as a Lance Corporal with the 2nd Battalion, a Regular Army unit with a distinguished record on the Western Front. By June 1916, the battalion held trenches opposite the heavily fortified German village of Beaumont‑Hamel, one of the strongest positions on the entire Somme front. Their role in the coming offensive was to advance across open ground and break through the German front line north of the village, a task that would prove almost impossible.

The 2nd Battalion KRRC on 1 July 1916

At 7.30 a.m. on 1 July 1916, when the British artillery barrage lifted, the 2nd KRRC advanced in waves into No Man’s Land, burdened with rifles, ammunition, grenades, wire cutters, and heavy packs. They immediately came under devastating machine‑gun fire, enfilading fire from both flanks, and accurate rifle fire from deep German dugouts, while belts of uncut barbed wire halted many before they could reach the enemy line. The battalion suffered terrible casualties within minutes. Entire platoons were cut down before reaching the first belt of wire. Officers fell almost immediately, leaving NCOs to take command. Wounded riflemen lay exposed for hours under relentless fire. Despite the slaughter, small groups attempted to push forward, but the German defences were virtually untouched. The battalion’s war diary for the day is stark and brief — a testament to the chaos and destruction they endured. Among the many killed was Lance Corporal John Edgar Rees, aged 39, one of the oldest Swansea men to fall that day.

John Edgar Rees
Arras Memorial, Pas de Calais, France
credit - findagrave

Commemoration

He has no known grave, and his name is commemorated on the Arras Memorial, Pas‑de‑Calais, France — a memorial dedicated to those who fell in the Arras sector and whose resting places are unknown. Though the surviving details of his life are scattered across census records and military service entries, John Edgar Rees stands out as a seasoned soldier whose long years of service — from the South African veldt to the deserts of German South West Africa, and finally to the killing fields of the Somme — ended in sacrifice on one of the darkest days in British military history.