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WORLD WAR ONE

The Men Who Died

WORLD WAR ONE

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Private Alfred Pritchard

South Wales Borderers, 4th Battalion, service no. 18783

Died on December 25th, 1915 in Malta, aged 21

Buried in Pieta Military Cemetery, Malta

The Pritchard Family

This family are worthy of special mention as four members feature in this selection. At one time there were at least 10 family members on active service with the Army or Navy during World War One, with five of these listed at the same address, 41, The Struet.

Thomas and Rachel Pritchard lived in Chapel Street in Brecon, just off The Struet. They had ten sons between 1864 and 1884. The boys attended Pendre School in Brecon.

A number of the brothers left Brecon for jobs in different areas of South Wales, but some remained in Brecon including John who married and raised his own family, living at 41, The Struet in 1911.

Arthur and Phillip were the two of the brothers who fell in the war, along with Alfred, one of John's sons and William Jones, a stepson of John's following his remarriage in 1907.

Thomas and Rachel both died in 1907 and John's home became the family base with Henry, James and Sidney all listing this address on their service records.

He enlisted with the South Wales Borderers 1st Battalion in Pontypridd in February 1915. He disembarked in France on May 2nd, 1915 and was probably involved in the Battle of Aubers on May 9th, as well as subsequent fighting in Flanders where he was wounded and

sent home. It is then that he was probably transferred to the Fourth Battalion. They landed at Gallipoli in July 1915 and were engaged in various actions against the Turkish Army. The Battalion suffered severe casualties from combat, disease and harsh conditions and were fully evacuated to Egypt by early January of 1916. Alfred left earlier in December 1915, having contracted dysentery. He was taken to Malta where he died from the disease on Christmas Day 1915.

Alfred was born in Brecon in 1894, a second son of John Pritchard and Margaret Ann (nee Lewis). By 1901 the family lived in 7, Prospect Close; Alfred and his elder brother

John now had sisters Margaret and Sarah. Alfred's mother died in 1902 and John remarried in 1907, moving to 41, The Struet by 1911.

Alfred had moved to Pontypool for work and here, in 1913 married Annie Williams.