1914 - Charabanc - Sgwâr Wdig / Goodwick Square

Deuddeg dyn mewn charabanc. Mae oed y bechgyn, y faner a’r gwisgoedd yn awgrymu mai tua 1914 y tynnwyd y llun. Mae’n eithaf posib mai taith i gofestri ar gyfer y fyddin yw hon. Yn y cefndir gwelir ‘Ty Abertawe’. Arno, mae arwydd ar gyfer ‘D John – Tailors’. Yn uwch i fyny, mae capel Cynulleudfaol Bethany. Adeiladwyd y capel tua 1905 mewn steil Gothig Syml. Erbyn 1993, roedd yr adeilad yn storfa ac fe gollwyd y tŵr oddi arno. Yn anffodus, nid yw’r adeilad yn bodoli mwyach.

Gwelir y dynion eto yn y llun nesaf. Y tro hon, gwelir math o dai bach cyhoeddus y tu ôl iddynt. Y dyn ifanc yn union i’r dde o’r rhingyll recriwtio oedd Percy Adolph o’r Continental Cafe – ef oedd y milwr cyntaf i’w ladd o Wdig.

A dozen men in a charabanc. The age of the young men, the flag and the style of the garments suggest that this may be a photo taken c. 1914. It is quite possible that this charabanc is taking them to enlist for military service. In the background stands ‘Swansea House’. On the wall is a sign for ‘D John – Tailors’. Further up the hill, there is Bethany Congregational Chapel. It was built c.1905 in the Simple Gothic style. By 1993 this chapel was in use as a storage facility and it had lost it’s spire. The chapel has since been demolished.

The same twelve men are seen in the next photograph. This time they are standing near an early gentleman’s toilet. The young man directly to the right of the recruiting sergeant was Percy Adolph from the Continental Cafe – he was the first fatality from Goodwick.

This was indeed a charabanc taking a group for enlistment c.1914. The man sixth from the left behind the recruiting sergeant (standing photo) is my great uncle Sidney George Wood. He enlisted into the 8th Battalion, Welsh Regiment – the Pioneer Battalion to the 13th (Western) Division. The Division left Britain on 13 June 1915 for Gallipoli where they landed on 6 July 1915. They transferred to ANZAC cove on 3 August 1915 and fought in the Battle of Sari Bair. Sidney was killed in action on 8 August 1915 aged 27 and is commemorated on the Helles Memorial, Gallipoli. (Sidney’s brother Henry Francis Wood, a regular soldier, had been killed in action at the First Battle of Ypres on 30 October 1914 aged 31 and is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Belgium). Chris Lanham.

Both Sidney and Henry are also commemorated on the Fishguard Cenotaph.