Rees Davies – Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers, 4th Siege Company

Sapper Rees Davies – Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers, 4th Siege Company

Early Life

Rees Davies was born in 1876 in Swansea, the son of Thomas Davies and Rachel Davies. He grew up in Treboeth within a large working family whose occupations reflected the industrial and commercial character of late‑Victorian Swansea.

1881 Census

1881 Census

At the time of the 1881 Census, the Davies family were residing at Pillar, Treboeth. Thomas, aged 34, was recorded as a Grocer & Hammerman, and his Carmarthenshire‑born wife Rachel, aged 33, managed the home. Their children present were Jane (13); William Llewellyn (11); Griffith (8); Rees Bevan (6); Thomas (4)—all attending school—and Rachel Ann (2).

1891 Census

1891 Census

A decade later, at the 1891 Census, the family were living at 11 Cwm Level Road. Thomas, now 44, was employed as a Steel Works Labourer, while Rachel, also 44, was recorded as a Grocer. Their children present were Jane (23); William Ll. (21); Griffith (18)—all working as Tin Plate Mill Behinders; Rees B. (15) and Thomas (14), both Cold Rollers; and the younger children Rachel A. (12), Mary (10), Moses (7), and Llewelyn (5), all attending school.

1911 Census

1911 Census

By the time of the 1911 Census, Rees’s father Thomas Davies had died in 1908, and the remaining family were still living at 11 Cwm Level Road. Rachel, aged 59, continued as a Grocer. Her children present were Jane (38), working as an Assistant; William (27), a Tinplater Furnaceman; and Rees (35), Moses (26), and Llewelyn (24)—all employed as Plasterers.

Military Service

Rees served as a Sapper with the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers, attached to the 4th Siege Company. Siege companies were responsible for heavy engineering tasks, including construction, fortification, and the operation of large‑calibre artillery positions—roles vital to the British Army’s operations during the First World War.

Rees Davies
Mynyddbach Congregational Chapel credit - findagrave

Death and Burial

Rees died on 31 May 1917 at Bellahouston Hospital, Glasgow. Although sometimes referred to informally in family accounts, the correct institution was Bellahouston Hospital, a major Scottish National Auxiliary Hospital established during the First World War to treat wounded servicemen from Glasgow and the wider West of Scotland. It provided surgical care, convalescence, and long‑term treatment for military patients, forming part of the extensive network of wartime auxiliary hospitals. His body was brought home to Swansea and laid to rest at Mynyddbach Congregational Chapel, where his grave forms part of the community’s First World War memorial landscape.