James Williams – Royal Army Service Corps

Private James Williams – Royal Army Service Corps

James Williams
Cwmgelli Cemetery, Swansea
credit - findagrave

James Williams, born in 1879 in Swansea, is one of the more elusive figures among the men who rest at Cwmgelli Cemetery. Surviving records provide only limited detail about his early life, though it is known that his wife was Mary, and that he lived and worked in Swansea before the First World War.

What is clear is his service: James Williams served as a Private with the Royal Army Service Corps, the branch responsible for transport, supply, and logistical support across the British Army. Men of the RASC ensured that food, ammunition, equipment, and horses reached the front — a vital but often overlooked role.

James died on 23 December 1920, two years after the Armistice, and was buried at Cwmgelli Cemetery, where his name stands among Swansea’s wartime casualties.