No 60: Another Liverpool Scottish man from Colwyn Bay

In the last blog I concentrated on cricket but in his comments on Blog No 58 Hywyn also gave details of another person from Colwyn Bay who had joined the Liverpool Scottish Regiment. I have a problem in that I'm not able to respond directly to people who sent comments. However, I recognised Hywyn as one of the regular contributors to the Caernarvonshire Rootsweb List. I wrote about the Rootsweb lists in Blogs No 36 and 37 as a very useful way of getting information and making contacts. When I see a message on these lists which contains a reference to a source which is, or could be, of interest then I usually save it. I went to this file and found that I had saved one of Hywyn's messages and so found his email and was able to make contact.

Hywyn has taken an interest in Caernarvonshire men in WW1 and, starting with the names on the war memorial in his home village of Deiniolen, has done an enormous amount of research over the past ten years and has created files on men from the Caernarvonshire parishes between Aber and Llanllyfni. If you have some unanswered questions about someone from these parishes in Caernarvonshire who was in WW1 then it's worth sending a question through the Caernarvonshire Rootsweb List and it's possible that Hywyn may be able to provide an answer or some guidance as to how to search further.

Hywyn gave a reference to a Hugh Hughes who was also from Colwyn Bay - a Wine and Spirit Merchant aged 25 living with his aunt, Ellen Price, at 57 Park Road, Colwyn Bay. He joined the Liverpool Scottish Regiment on 29 November 1915, eight days after Tom joined on 21 November. Hugh, like Tom, was also taken prisoner during the Battle of Cambrai on 30 November 1917. However, they were taken to different POW camps, Tom to Minden and Hugh to Munster and later Hugh was transferred to Parchim.

It's likely that Hugh and Tom were friends in Colwyn Bay before they both joined the Regiment but there is no mention of any friends on the post cards he sent. They could well have been mention in the letters (which I know he sent) but none of the letters have survived. There are a number of photos with no names on them. These would have been photos of people he knew well and he didn't feel the need to include any names - an attitude that has caused us great puzzlement for us so many years later!

I show one photo of a soldier in a kilt with no name on it. Could this be Hugh Hughes? This person looks very much like a man in another of Tom's photos taken in Colwyn Bay before the war. I'm very grateful to Hywyn for his comments and for the information he gave me about his research.

In Blog No 58 I showed photos of players from the Colwyn Bay Light Opera Company from 1920 and 1927. In the latest edition of Gwynedd Roots I saw news from the Conwy Archives saying that the records of The Operatic Players, Colwyn Bay (1928 to 2000) have recently been deposited in the archives. The photos that I have are before 1928 and I don't know whether the Colwyn Bay Light Opera Company was a forerunner of The Operatic Players. Anyone interested should go to the Archives in the Old Board School, Lloyd Street, Llandudno (01492 577550) and you're likely to find some interesting documents and photos.

It was a joyous day last Thursday when another milestone in my family history was created with the birth of my third grandchild. He is Calan Wyn and is a brother to Cara and Seán.

I'm affraid I'm having difficulties putting up photos again. If you wish to see the photo please right click on the icon in the space and the photo will appear in a new screen.

Gwynedd Family History Society, www.gwynedd.fhs.org.uk
Meetings start again in September

Clwyd Family History Society, www.clwydfhs.org.uk
The meetings are held on the second Saturday of each month (except August) at 2.00 pm at locations that rotate within the former county of Clwyd.
Meetings start again in September.