The First World War A Handlist of Records at Gwent Archives Sergeant Richard Richards in a group at Heaton Park, Manchester, 1918 This is a guide to the sources available at Gwent Archives for the history of the First World War in the former county of Monmouthshire and surrounding areas. The Outbreak of War War was declared on 4th August 1914. On that day, Newport Police and dock officials boarded the German paddle steamer S.S. Belgia which had anchored in the Bristol Channel near Newport, and arrested the German crew. National Reservists, trained ex-servicemen, were required to report for duty. Library (LIB 289) And So to War (the Belgia Incident). 2005 (File compiled by Idris Davies, describing the capture of the German S.S. Belgia at Newport by Newport Police in 1914.) D3213 Photo of Volunteers in Twyn Square, Usk Aug 1914 D25/409 Book containing names of officers and men of 1914 the no. 18 Division, National Reserve, plus insets of correspondence Pictorial/Newport Photo, Parade of National Reservists, Stow 1914 93 Hill, Newport Refugees Belgian refugees began to arrive in Monmouthshire in October 1914. Refugee communities were established in many parts of the county. D3293/B/1 Report of the Newport (Mon.) Belgian Dec 1915 Refugees Committee and Forty other Belgian Refugees Committees in Monmouthshire & Neighbourhood (printed booklet) MISC MSS 1487 Report re Belgian refugees at Mathern 1914 Palace. (Photocopy) D314/45, 46, 47 Belgian Refugee Relief Fund, Machen. Minute 1914-1918 book, accounts and correspondence. D2732/ACC2732/53 Blaenavon Co. Ltd. Correspondence file. 1915 (Includes correspondence re Belgian workers, e.g. 18/4/15 letter describing their living conditions, and 23/4/15 a copy of a notice to the workers in French.) CEA 80/6 Griffithstown Mixed School Admission 1906-1923 Register. (Includes Belgian refugees, who lived at Panteg House; main entries are dated 2nd to 7th December 1914, but entries continue until December 1915.) Life at Home By the third year of the war, the Government found it necessary to control the distribution of food and the increase of food production. County war agricultural executive committees were appointed, with powers to cultivate agricultural land. A Ministry of Food was established, and household foodstuffs such as sugar, meat, butter and tea were rationed. D1651/30 Programme, Newport Empire, Charles Street, 1917 Newport D4264 Ministry of Food publications etc. (The 1917-1920 (see catalogue for National Food Journal, Ministry of Food weekly individual bulletins and other publications. Also Usk references) Food Control Committee correspondence, etc.) MISC MSS 1638 Ration books, Newport 1918 MISC MSS 1639 Ration book, Newport Co-op 1918 D586/39 Food ration cards for persons at Upper House 1918-1919 Farm, Grosmont DPA 13/88 Royal Proclamation re economy in use of grain 1917 D975/1 Newport Year Book (includes photo of 1916 “Distribution of Hot Pots, Christmas 1914”). CSWBGN/M2/52 Newport Board of Guardians, Emergency 1914-1918 Committee Minute Book CSWBGN/M2/81 Newport Board of Guardians, Monmouthshire 1914 War Relief Committee, Sub-Committee Minutes Pictorial/Newport Photograph of Lloyd George at Shaftesbury 1917 90 Park, Newport A320/C/314 Brynmawr UDC correspondence file. (Includes 1915 2 notices re National Registration Act 1915: a general notice from the Registrar General, and one by Brynmawr UDC asking for voluntary assistance in the compilation of the national register so far as it relates to Brynmawr UD - 'this work can adequately and well be done by women'). CEB11/2 Llanfair Kilgedin Church in Wales School, Log 1899-1920 Book. (Oct 16 1917. “Sent 1 sack of vegetables & 1 sack of apples to the Navy.” Dec 4 1917. “Sent to Director of Propellants 4 cwt. of Horse-chestnuts.” Aug 6 1918. “The Head Teacher was absent attending a Military Camp at Porthcawl. During the fortnight there he was specially detailed for a course in bayonet work & physical training.”) Public Order D709/1 Newport Constabulary. Watch Committee 1916-1925 Report Book. D709/47 Newport Constabulary. Police Order Book. 1909-1919 D2113/23 Griffithstown Police, General Order Book. 1914-1918 (Home Office and War Office orders on various wartime subjects e.g. registration, reporting presence of aircraft, prohibition of photography in certain areas.) D2113/57 Sergeant's Journal, Griffithstown Police. 1914-1915 (Journal of Charles Nurden referring to apprehension of deserters etc. Also see the other journals in this series.) War Production War Service Badge and Certificate, Henry White & Co., Pontymister During both World Wars the Blaenavon Company was involved in Government work. During World War I the works was engaged in the manufacture of shell steel as one of the Government's "Controlled Establishments". Henry White & Co. Ltd., Engineers, Pontymister, advertised themselves as manufacturers of steel, iron, phosphor, bronze and brass castings. They were on the Admiralty list, Contractors for the Crown, and Agents for the Colonies. Some employees were eligible to wear a War Service Badge showing that they were employed on work for War purposes; the badges were accompanied by a card signed by Lloyd George. D394/B3/- Certificates authorising 23 employees of 1915-1916 Henry White & Co., Pontymister, to wear War Service badges (together with several badges) D480/67 Notice to Debenture stock holders of an issue 1918 of stock to be held by the Government as collateral security for a loan to finance extensions to the Blaenavon Company’s works (as one of the Government's "controlled establishments"). A110/C/3168 Newport Borough Council Education file - 1915-1918 record of war work performed in schools Military Service A110/C/3169 Newport Borough Council Education file - 1914-1922 Military Service (Teachers and Pupils). Includes photographs. D709/57 Newport Constabulary. Correspondence file, 1914-1919 Police and Military Service. D1348/23 Poster giving notice of Abergavenny Borough 1915 Librarian's replacement while he was on active military service, and warning re misconduct of "lads". The Forces Letter to Mrs. Humphreys of Newport from her son Percy while a prisoner of war D1147/6 War Diary of 10th Service Bn. The South 1915-1918 Wales Borderers (1st Gwents) D3345/98 Free Press of Monmouthshire. Extract of 18/12/1914 account by Private O.G. Hedges, R.A.M.C., of retreat from Mons. D396/329 Account (typescript) of capture, imprisonment 1915 and escape of Cpl. Lovell Jolliffe, 1st Mon. Regt., with map (Germany) and photos of Jollliffe. [Cpl. Jolliffe escaped to Holland, arriving at Lutte, near Oldenzaal.] A320/C/314 Anonymous diary of soldier in France. (The 1914-1915 soldier may have been in the 3rd Monmouthshire Regiment. The diary describes his journey from Blaina, Monmouthshire, to the front line near Ypres - Zillebeke, etc.). MISC MSS Personal papers of Sgt. Richard Richards of 1916-1924 1272/15-19 Ebbw Vale: photograph, letters from France, newscuttings, discharge and disability pension papers. Includes (MISC MSS 1272/16) letter from France, to "Jack" from "Dick" (Richard Richards of Ebbw Vale, South Wales Borderers) January 1916. (The letter describes conditions in the trenches of Neuve Chapelle. “Everything is mud from head to foot.”) Also (MISC MSS 1272/13) photo of Sergeant Richard Richards in group at Heaton Park, Manchester, 1918 (elsewhere noted, wounded on 10th July 1916 at Mametz Wood, Somme, with Welsh Division). MISC MSS 2074 Letter to Mrs. Humphreys of Newport from 1918 her son Percy while a prisoner of war in Zerbost, Anhalt, Germany MISC MSS 2108 Photo (?) of group of British soldiers, 1918 prisoners of war MISC MSS 1626 Photos of military funeral, Newport c.1914- 1918 D554/91 Diary of Col. J.A. Bradney as Agricultural 1917-1918 Officer, and correspondence. D554/92 Field message book of Col. J.A. Bradney 1917-1918 D554/168 J. A. Bradney photographs. (Also see catalogue D554 in general) D554/91 Colours of Welsh Regiment and Welsh Guards 20th (from papers of Sir Joseph Bradney relating to century 1st World War) on silk? MISC MSS 1327 Personal reminiscences of W.H. Alderman of 1908-1918 service in Royal Gloucestershire Hussars Yeomanry in Egypt. MISC MSS 1701/5 Photo of tank "Egbert" and crew at 3/7/1918 Aberbargoed. “Egbert”, a “Mark IV” tank, had been in action at the battle of Cambrai on the Western Front, and subsequently travelled around England and Wales as an aid to raising money for War Savings Certificates to help to fund the war. In 1919, “Egbert” was presented to West Hartlepool as a thank you for raising over £2 million in War Bonds, and was displayed there for many years but was sent for scrap metal during the Second World War. CEA167/14 Aerial Reconnaissance photograph of German 1917 trenches at Quéant (copy). (Found inside admission register for Blaina Boys' School. Also explanatory letter from Imperial War Museum to Gwent Archives, 1998.) D1583/282/2 Notice re motor ambulance cars for the army 1915 in France (with letter 10 Jan 1916). (With records of Nantyglo & Blaina Ironworks Co. Ltd.) D1348/73 Two Photographs: Senior NCOs, c.1913 Monmouthshire Regiment, possibly at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, c.1913; large group of Boy Scouts, Boys' Brigade, Cadets of the Monmouthshire Regiment, with senior officers, post-1912. D1348/59 Poster appealing for men to join a regiment of no date horse (undated, post 1901). D5948 Honourable Discharge certificate, Royal 1916 Berkshire Regiment (Ernest Bond of Cwm) DPA 111/68 Panteg Church Scouts Patrols Roll Book with 1910-1918 notes as to fate of the boys in 1st World War. DPA 84/19 Griffithstown, list of servicemen and c.1914- addresses 1918 Support for the Forces D3349/1 Cwm Patriotic Fund Registration Book 1914-1918 D1447/1 Newport Savings Committee, Minute book 1916-1919 D4165/63 Letter from E.S.