In memory of Lewys Jones Williams
Lewys Jones Williams was born on 18 June 1889, writes great nephew Dafydd Llewelyn Jones. Lewys was the first-born son of Richard and Margaret Williams of Fourcrosses House, Penrhos, near Pwllheli, five of whose children survived into adulthood. He had two older sisters and a younger sister and brother.
Lewys received his secondary education at the County School, Pwllheli, where he displayed considerable academic ability. His aptitude for Art won him prizes in local eisteddfodau as well as the National Eisteddfod which was held at Caernarfon in 1906.
He became a student at the University College of North Wales, Bangor, in October 1909 where he studied for the degree of BA. He was the best draughtsman of his year and one of the best that the college’s Department of Education had ever had. He played a prominent part in the college’s social and athletic life. He was a member of the Students’ Representative Committee and Captain of the Boat Club. He was also a member of the Officers’ Training Corps at the college, in which capacity he gained the “A” Certificate of the War Office.
He was appointed deputy head of Tregarth Church School on the 1 October 1912 but left his duties at the school on 23 October 1914 to join Lord Kitchener’s army. The military authorities pressed upon him more than once to accept a commission as an officer but he refused each time. He preferred to remain a simple soldier until he felt that he had gained sufficient experience of warfare, but fate denied him his wishes.
On 17 December 1915 his battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers marched to the Belgian trenches, probably east of Ypres, where he was severely injured the following day. Four days later, Corporal Williams died of his wounds in a field hospital at Dickebusch. He was 26 years old.
He was buried in a church cemetery by his friends the following day. After the war, his body was reburied at the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery near Poperhinge in Belgium.
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