1/1 Welsh (Carnarvon) Heavy Battery (TF)

[Guest mullockmorgans]

I have jsut found out - after many years of fruitless research - that my grandfather 310573 Gunner Griffith R Hughes served with the 1/1 Welsh (Carnarvon) Heavy Battery (TF) having joined as a Territorial shorlty before the outbreak of war. Does anyone have any information about this formation and its whereabouts? We know that my grandfather was on the Somme but that was about all.

[sotonmate]

XDO

War Diary at Kew for 1/1 Welsh Heavy Battery RGA is WO95/226 and runs from Aug 1914 to Jan 1918. Attached to First Army.

Medal Index Card for a Griffith R Hughes shows number as 310574 Acting Bombardier RGA,no date shown before 31.12.1915 so not into a War Theatre before 1916,he has the British War and Victory Medals shown on the Card,and listed on Roll (TF) RGA/105B page 429.

The Long Long Trail,at top left of this page,has a page on deployments of Heavy Batteries:

http://www.1914-1918.net/heavy-battery-index.htm

which will show that this unit landed in France in March 1916.

Sotonmate

[kevinrowlinson]

Your best bet would be to see, if possible, the actual medal roll that is referenced on the MIC. Hopefully this will confirm he served with the 1/1 Welsh Heavy Battery. I believe this battery arrived in France on the 2nd March 1916.

By seaching the internet you can see an unusual photo taken in France of some of the gunners of a Welsh heavy battery. The photo is attributed to a Morris Hughes, who strangely had the number for the one you gave for Griffith R Hughes; 310573. http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/ww1lit/db/results...Battery+in+Cart . It also has some writing on the back. Unfortunately it doesn't say that it could also be the 38th (Welsh) Heavy Battery. Perhaps someone else will be able to say whether one or both were at the Somme.

Kevin

[geraint]

Just a little info on the unit up to April 1908 and the re-organisation.

First artillery volunteers corps for Caernarfonshire was raised in 1862 as the First (Caernarvon) Corps. 1873 the Caernarfon unit and the Anglesey (Beaumaris) unit were combined with the Cheshire Corps becoming the 1st Cheshire and Caernarvonshire Art Vol Corps. They consisted of 8 batteries of which Caernarfon provided #6+7. Though HQ was at Chester the Caernarfon Volunteer Gunners had their drill station at Bangor, and most of the recruits were from the Bangor area.

July 1904 the Caernarfon Unit was seperated from the Cheshires into the 1st Caernarvonshire Artillery Volunteers, with it's HQ at Bangor and a prescedence number 64 in the RGA Volunteers. 1908 it became the Welsh (Caernarvonshire) Royal Garrison Artillery (Heavy) reduced to one battery with HQ at Bangor and 318 members in 1908.

Caernarfon with a 'v' is the archaic spelling.

[Hywyn]

XDO

Croeso yma.

Can you tell us how you arrived at Griffith having this number. Possibly its a typo but as pointed out its Morris Hughes who has this number and a Griffith R Hughes with 310574.

I've had a bit of a study of this units numbering system over the years and that number was not allocated untill about October 1915. A pre war enlistment would be no more than around 310167 (or 453 in the old numbers before they were renumbered in 1917)

Where's your grandfather from?There is a Griffith Richard Hughes from Llanllechid who was in the Royal Field Artillery (Territorial) I've gots bits and bobs from most of the villages in Arfon area.

Hywyn