In memory of Vivian Llewellyn

cathays_vivian_llewellynVivian Llewellyn was born in 1898, writes great nephew Jeremy Sparkes. Vivian was the second of 10 children for Lemuel and Isabella Llewellyn of Cathays Terrace, Cardiff. He went to Gladstone Primary, won a scholarship to Howard Gardens, and then gained certificates in French and Spanish at Cardiff Technical College.

Vivian joined his father at shipping company John Cory & Sons. He worked as a coal foreman at Cardiff docks.

cathays_vivian_llewellyn_familyIn 1916 he enlisted with the Artists’ Rifles Officer Training Corps, gaining his commission in 1917. The group photograph shows him in uniform with his father and two of his sisters, probably Isabella (left) and Patty. 

Probably because of his language skills, Vivian was assigned to the 14th Service Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers (RWF) as an Intelligence Officer. He was responsible for initial translation of enemy documents and interrogations of newly captured prisoners at the front line, in case these yielded immediate information of use to his fellow officers. 

On 4 November 1918 Second Lieutenant Vivian Llewellyn was killed by a shell during an attack on a wood at Poix du Nord, south of Valenciennes. He was 20 years old. He is buried in Forest Communal Cemetery, France. 

A memorial tablet, funded by the Cory shipping company, was dedicated on 4 May 1919 at Crwys Hall Presbyterian Church, Cathays, in a ceremony where the RWF Regimental Band played and a tribute was given by his Commanding Officer, Major WP Wheldon DSO. John Cory also gave a tribute, saying that had Vivian “been spared he would ... have attained a very high position in the business world at Cardiff Docks” and was “a son worthy of his father”. 

The memorial tablet was lost in the mid-1980s but was rediscovered, restored and rededicated by the Llewellyn family descendants at Highfields Church (formerly Crwys Hall church) in 2018.

Return to Crwys Hall war memorials page

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