WWI REMEMBERED Servicemen saw little respite over war-torn Christmas

PRIVATE Edwin James Smart died of his wounds 100 years ago this month. His brother-in-law, meanwhile, was invalided home having contracted a fever. Pte Smart is one of two men with strong links to Porthcawl who perished on the Western Front during December 1917.

Pte Smart, of the Highland Light Infantry, died of his wounds at No. 64 Casualty Clearing Station, on December 4 of that year.

Edwin was born, one of five children, in Cardiff in 1884 to Edwin and Lavinia Smart.

His father was a wood cutting machinist, a trade that young Edwin later pursued.

The family home was Kings Norton, Worcestershire, but around 1910, young Edwin moved to Neath to work as a wood machinist.

It was at this time that he met Richard Howe, who was working as a timberman, in a colliery outside Porthcawl.

Edwin soon met Richard’s daughter, Isabella, whom he married in 1912, took up work in Porthcawl and moved to 21 Queen’s Avenue, where daughter Margaret was born in July 1915.

At Nottingham, Edwin joined the Royal Scots Fusiliers in August 1916, and was posted to France with the regiment in July 1917.

In the months before his death, he was transferred to the 16th Battalion, Highland Light Infantry.

Edwin is buried in Mendinghem Military Cemetery, Belgium, previously the site of the No. 64 Casualty Clearing Station.

His brother-in-law, Sergeant Oliver Howe, was also heavily involved in the war efforts, and had served in Gallipoli with the Motor Transport Army Service Corps, which he joined on January 5, 1915.

Before the war, while working for the Great Western Railway as a signalman in Porthcawl, Oliver served with the 3rd Battalion, Welsh Regiment (Special Reserve) between February 1908 and February 1914.

As a result of contracting a fever whilst in Gallipoli, Oliver was invalided home, and spent the rest of the war years as an army instructor in Bedford, until his discharge on April 4, 1919.

After the war, Oliver served as a fireman, with the Porthcawl Fire Brigade. He died in 1960, aged 74. Sharing the same forename, the second soldier to perish during December 1917 was Lance Corporal Edwin “Percy” Percival Stradling of the 2nd Battalion, Welsh Regiment. It came after he was wounded by shrapnel while transporting rations on November 10, and immediately admitted to hospital where he underwent what was perceived to be a successful operation.

The following week, he wrote home to his brother, Ernest, saying he was progressing well and was looking forward to coming home for Christmas.

But complications set in, and Percy died on December 6.

Percy had been born, the last of five children, in Barry 1898, to William and Mary Stradling.

At the time of his birth, his father, William, had been a railway clerk, but by 1911 had become a “cycling agent”.

It was also a trade that his son Ernest took up following his father’s death in 1913, when he opened The Cycle Shop on Station Hill.

Percy also worked in the shop until he enlisted into the Welsh Regiment in June 1916, being posted to the Western Front early in 1917.

Lance Corporal Stradling was 19 years old at the time of his death, and is buried at Wimereux Communal Cemetery, France.

Interestingly, on October 26, 1916, his brother, Ernest had been conscripted into the Motor Transport Army Service Corps at Bridgend.

He was posted to Isleworth, but due to severe arthritis, from which he had suffered since 1905, he was discharged on October 31 1917, returned home to his wife, Annie, and three children, and continued with his business.

On December 15, 1917, Sergeant Meredith Rowden, 31st Canadian Infantry won the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for extreme bravery at Vimy Ridge.

He was promoted to Company Sergeant Major in the field a fortnight