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WORLD WAR ONE

The Men Who Died

WORLD WAR ONE

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one son (Dorothy Rose, Edna Lorraine, Hilda G and Gordon).

Samuel served four years with the Pembrokeshire Yeomanry before enlisting on October 28th, 1914. Initially joining the Brecknocks, he later served with the South Wales Borderers in France.

In April 1917 his record shows he was wounded in the field. He suffered a scalded foot, in the performance of military duty, cooking for the company Officers’ Mess at Arras, but was in no way to blame.

On 18th September 1917 in Shrewsbury he was discharged as no longer fit for active war service on account of Phthisis (a respiratory disease) caused by active service. On his subsequent death his details were included in the Commonwealth War Grave Commission list.

His widow, Lily, was still living at 54, The Watton, Brecon when she was awarded an army pension after his death in 1921.

Lance Corporal Samuel R Nesbitt

South Wales Borderers, 3rd Battalion, service no. 3/12065

Died 15th January 1921, aged 35

Buried in a military grave at Brecon Cemetery

Samuel was born in Tenby in 1887, the son of Samuel Nesbitt, a soldier, and Alice, nee Jenkins. Alice died in 1887, whilst Samuel (senior) died of pneumonia whilst on military service in Jersey in 1889 leaving the boys orphaned.

In the 1901 Census young Samuel and his elder brother Joseph are listed as orphans living with Thomas and Susan Williams in Tenby. By 1911 he is working as a groom in the Heath, Cardiff.

In June 1913 he married Lilian Eldred of Brecon in St Mary's Church, where his occupation is a groom and address as 54 The Watton, Brecon. The witnesses were William Howcroft and Charlotte Hill. William Howcroft had previously married Lily's sister Grace Eldred and their family home in 1911 was 54 The Watton. William's brother Henry Simpson Howcroft also features in this book, as does Bertie Eldred. Lily's brother³⁷.

By 1914 the couple are living in 54, The Watton, Brecon, presumably with the Howcroft family. Samuel and Lily had three daughters and

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See pages 86 and 238