Frank Groves Dawbney

Navy, Registered War Grave

Frank Groves Dawbney
Ships Steward M/11801
H.M.S. “Falmouth”

 Division 52

Dawbney FG photo

Frank Groves Dawbney died suddenly from heart failure.  He had enlisted on 8th February 1915 and had always enjoyed good health and passed three doctors. 

 The Captain of the Falmouth wrote to Mrs Dawbney ” I very much regret to have to inform you that your son Frank Groves Dawbney, ship steward’s assistant died suddenly at 4.15 a.m. on the 18th May 1915 of heart failure.  He had only been in the ship for a short period, and was well liked by the ship’s company, and his death was much felt among his mess mates.  There is no doubt that he has sacrificed his life for his country as truly as those who have fallen in action.  It must be a comfort to you to know that his death must have been  a painless one”.

 He was educated at Ardingly college and York House.  He stated his career as an Architect in Reading before moving to work for London County Council.  He was a young man of great promise – his early death coming as a great shock, only the day before his death he wrote to parents saying he was quite well.  The body was interred in the family grave, the coffin covered with a Union Jack and there were many floral tributes.  There were many mourners.  His father was a prominent Conservative and vice-chairman of the Katesgrove Ward No1.  The grave is a registered war grave, number 11925.

Joseph Davis

Australian, Commemorated name/s, Reading Blue Coat School, Somme

Joseph Davis
Private 3154
49th Battalion Australian Imperial Force

Division 40

CIMG2198

Joseph Davis, is commemorated on a family memorial.  Grave number 8790.  He was killed in action at Dernancourt, a small village SW of Albert, Somme, on 5th April 1918.  The village was captured by the Germans for a time during the spring offensive to be reclaimed later in the year by the allies.   

Joseph Davis has no known grave.  His name is commemorated on the Villers-Bretonneux Memorial.  This is the Australian National Monument erected to commemorate Australian soldiers who fought in France and Belgium, to their dead, and especially those of the dead who have no known graves.  These soldiers fell in the battlefields of the Somme, Arras and the “Hundred Days”.  There are over 10,000 casualties commemorated on this memorial. 

Rudolph Ellis Davies

Army, Commemorated name/s, Other Regiments, Ypres

Rudolph Ellis Davies
Lieutenant 1st/7th Battalion Duke of Wellington’s
(West Riding Regiment)

 Division 15

Rudolph Ellis Davies was the son of Baptist Minister Reverend A. J. Davies and Mrs K Davies.  At the time of CWGC registration Mrs Davies address is given as 29, Montague Road, Cambridge.  Rudolph is remembered on the grave that bears both the name of his sister Gwen, who died aged 19, September 29th 1905 and the Reverend Davies who died on May 19th 1916, aged 55. 

 Rudolph Davies died on 11th August 1917, aged 27, during the very heavy fighting of the battle of 3rd Ypres. It is not known exactly when Rudolph Davies received the wounds that caused his death.  The 11th August was the day the Germans launched a heavy counter attack and pressed the British line back in Glencorse Wood. 

 Davies is buried in Adinkerke Military Cemetery, De Panne, West- Vlaanderen, Belgium.  Location G. 3.  Adinkerke was an area that hosted two major Casualty Clearing Stations serving the British XV Corps that held the front from the Belgium coast to St Georges.