Rees Atherton

Rees Atherton was born in Kilvey, Swansea, Glamorgan, in 1897, the son of Rees Atherton and Mary Ann Jones.

Rees Atherton and Mary Ann Jones
marriage certificate
Holy Trinity Church, Swansea

His parents had married at Holy Trinity Church, Swansea, in 1889.

1901 Census

At the time of the 1901 Census, the Atherton family was living at 5 Phillip Street, Swansea. Rees's father, also named Rees, was aged 38 and had been born in Kilvey, Swansea. He was employed as a spelter foreman, working in an industry that played an important part in Swansea's industrial economy. His wife, Mary Ann, aged 31, had been born in Swansea.

Their children recorded at home were John, aged 11; Henry, nine; Esther, six; Rees, four; William, two; and Brinley, who was just four months old.

1911 Census

A decade later, the 1911 Census recorded the family at 27 Mysydd Terrace, Landore, Swansea. Rees senior, now aged 48, was still employed in the spelter industry as a foreman, while his wife, Mary Ann, was aged 43.

Several of their children were now old enough to be working. John James, aged 21, was employed as a steelworks furnaceman, while Henry, aged 19, worked as a spelter worker's helper. Rees, aged 14, had also entered employment and was working as an office porter.

The younger children remaining at home were William Edward, aged 12; Brindley Clifford, 10; Thomas, seven; and Catherine Irene, aged two.

Rees grew up surrounded by the heavy industries for which Swansea and the Lower Swansea Valley were renowned. While his father and elder brother Henry worked in the spelter industry and his brother John was employed in the steelworks, Rees himself had begun his working life as an office porter.

The First World War was to take him away from his family and his Swansea home. Rees entered the British Army and served as a Private with the 14th Battalion, Welsh Regiment, popularly known as the Swansea Battalion.

Rees survived until the closing weeks of the conflict. On 20 October 1918, during the final Allied advance on the Western Front, he was killed in action. He was only about 21 years old.

His death came just 22 days before the Armistice of 11 November 1918 brought the fighting to an end.

Private Rees Atherton is buried at Bertry Communal Cemetery, Nord, France.

Rees Atherton's story was typical of many young men from industrial Swansea whose lives were transformed by the First World War. From his childhood in Kilvey and Landore, he entered employment as a teenager before leaving his family to serve with Swansea's own battalion of the Welsh Regiment.

Having survived almost to the end of the war, Rees lost his life in its final weeks. His grave at Bertry in northern France remains a lasting memorial to a young Swansea man who never returned home.