Archibald Davies – Welsh Regiment, 6th (Glamorgan) Battalion

Private Archibald Davies – Welsh Regiment, 6th (Glamorgan) Battalion

George Davies and Eva Kneath marriage certificate St. James' Church, Swansea

Archibald Davies was born in 1897 at Reynoldston, Gower, the son of George Davies and Eva Kneath, who had married earlier that same year at St James’ Church, Swansea.

1901 Census

By the time of the 1901 Census, the Davies family were living in Reynoldston. George, aged 31, worked as a stone mason, while his wife Eva, aged 24, managed the home. Their children were Archibald, aged 4, Olive F., aged 2, and George A., a baby of five months. Also living with them was a lodger, George H. Gordon, aged 24.

1911 Census

A decade later, the 1911 Census records the family at Groe Hill, Parkmill. George, now 40, continued his trade as a mason, and Eva, aged 34, oversaw the household. Their children were Archibald, aged 14, George Ashton, 10, Edward John, 8, and Albert Douglas, also 8. The three younger boys were all attending school, while Archibald—on the threshold of adulthood—was soon to enter working life and, ultimately, military service.

Archibald Davies
St. Nicholas' Church, Nicholaston
credit - findagrave

Archibald Davies enlisted as a Private in the Welsh Regiment, serving with the 6th (Glamorgan) Battalion, Territorial Force. Like many young men of Gower, he answered the call to serve during the First World War, joining a battalion composed largely of men from the surrounding towns and villages.

Archibald died of wounds on 15 December 1915, a loss felt deeply in the close-knit communities of Parkmill and Reynoldston. He was brought home to rest in familiar soil and was buried at St Nicholas' Church, Nicholaston, where his name remains part of the parish’s quiet remembrance of those who gave their lives in the Great War.