Pte 22897 David John Williams

• Age: 19
• From: Beddgelert, N. Wales
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 20th Btn
• K.I.A Monday 3rd July 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

David John Williams was born in the March quarter of 1897 the first born and only son of David Williams and his wife Myfanwy Glynn (nee Rowlands) Williams who were married in 1896. Both parents were born in Carnarvonshire. His siblings were his sisters Nellie, Maggie and Myfanwy.

The 1901 Census  finds the family living at 11 Gwynant Steet, Beddgelert. His father David is a 31year old slate quarryman born in Beddgelert, whilst his mother Myfanwy is 24 years of age, born in Penmorfa. They have two children in the household; David J. aged 4 and Nellie aged  2, both being born in Beddgelert. His maternal grandparents live a couple of doors away.

On the 1911 Census the family are still living at 11 Gwynant Street. Father David 41,is still a slate quarryman, mother Myfanwy G. is 35 years of age. They advised that they had been married for 15 years and have had 3 children. David Jnr is a 14 year old quarryman an dhe has two siblings in the household;  Nellie is aged 12 at school, and Maggie G. 9 at school, both were born in Beddgelert.

David enlisted on 09th November 1914 in Liverpool, joining the 20th Battalion as Private 22897, giving his age as 19 years and 11 (record destroyed, probably months, but he added a year). He might have just turned 18.  He gave his occupation as warehouseman. He is described as being 5’5”,  weighing 122 lbs, with a fresh complexion, grey eyes, and dark brown hair.
He gives his Next of Kin as his father, David Williams of Plas Gwyn, Beddgelert.

Formed in November 1914 the 20^th Battalion were originally billeted at Tournament Hall, Knotty Ash before on 29^th January 1915 they moved to the hutted accommodation purposely built at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 20th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

He went to France with his battalion on 07th November 1915 and was killed in action on 03rd July 1916, probably as a result of the Germans shelling the positions they surrended at Montauban on the 01st July 1916.

At the time of death his parents were living at 72 Argyle Street, St. Helens.

A notice in the Liverpool Echo on 15th July 1916 reported that David John Williams, Beddgelert, of the Liverpool “Pals” had been killed in action.

He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

His mother wrote a letter received on the 20th July 1916 by the authorities. A word from Sergeant R.W. Hales [probably 23944 KLR] on the 13th July informed her of the death of her son, and she said "I am dying to know for something about him."

David's death was reported in the Herald Cymraeg on 18th July 1916:

SAD EVENT: LOSS OF A YOUNG SOLDIER FROM BEDD(GELERT)

Soldiers Effects to father David, Pension to mother Myfanwy, Plas Gwyn, Beddgelert.

David is commemorated on the Beddgelert War Memorial, along with three other young men from his street.

His mother died in the March quarter of 1948, aged 71. His father's date of death is uncertain.