Elation felt at Armistice but sorrow prevailed in Porthcawl
At 2.15am on November 11, 1918, the German delegation met Marshal Foch and allied representatives in Foch’s railway carriage in the Compiegne Forest. Tragically, between the signing of the Armistice and the ceasefire at 11am, 2,738 more men on all sides would be killed, Ceri Joseph of Porthcawl Museum reports
SURRENDER of weapons and conquered lands were the enforced terms for an Armistice signed by Mathias Erzberger at 5.10am.
The previous day, Kaiser Wilhelm abdicated and left Germany for an exile in Holland that would last until his death in 1941, aged 82 years.
The news that Germany had surrendered reached troops along the Western Front at different times as the information had been conveyed either by telephone, telegraph, dispatch riders or by runners.
The Western Front was the last theatre of the war as Bulgaria, Turkey and Austria/Hungary had surrendered in the weeks and days before.
Mixed reactions greeted the Armistice.
As allied leaders rejoiced at the end of hostilities, Marshal Foch predicted: “This is not a peace. It is an Armistice for 20 years”.
Some 20 years and 65 days later, World War Two broke out.
At home, the Porthcawl News reported that “in John Street, the Square, Esplanade Avenue, Mary Street, Suffolk Place, Fenton Place, South Road, New Road, Mackworth Road, Newton, Nottage and other parts of Porthcawl, flags were flying.
“The bugle band of the local Boy scouts, as well as some hundreds of school children, were eagerly upon the scene. Hooters, gongs and church bells pealed merrily... crowds of people waited outside the Council chamber to hear the speeches.”
However, when the official announcement came from the balcony of the council chamber (Spar today) there was a sad touch as earlier that morning at Porthcawl police station, John Street, PC Frank Trott had died from the Spanish flu.
Born in Somerset in 1887, Frank had moved to Pontypridd by 1911, where he worked as a plate layer. Within a year he had joined the Glamorgan Constabulary and by 1914 had been posted to Newton police station.
Along with five other Porthcawl policemen, he joined the newly formed Welsh Guards Regiment on April 3, 1915. In August that year the regiment was posted to The Western Front, seeing action at Loos, The Somme, Neuve Chappelle and Ypres, during which Frank had been severely wounded and gassed twice.
As a result of his health, Lance Sergeant Frank Trott was discharged from the service on May 27, 1918, whereupon he returned to Porthcawl and the police force, this time at John Street station under the command of Sergeant Jenkins. On October 21 he married Annie Mary David, of Nottage, but tragically their marriage lasted only three weeks.
It seems that PC Trott’s funeral encompassed the grief of the whole town, as many had been robbed of the chance to bury their own loved ones.
PC Trott was interred with full military honours in Newton Churchyard on Thursday, November 14.
That morning hundreds of people had assembled outside the police station in John Street, where the Rev WJ Phillips conducted a service before the cortège began its journey to Newton. The cortège headed a party of local Volunteer Training Corps under the charge of Sergeant-Major Farrow, a military band, 35 of the Glamorgan Constabulary, wounded soldiers, discharged soldiers and more Porthcawlians, who joined the procession as it made its way to the churchyard.
Upon arriving at the church, the body was met by the Rev T Holmes Morgan, who conducted the service, while later at the graveside, the firing
party fired three volleys over the grave, followed by Last Post.
No sooner had the town begun to cope with its grief, news reached the town that Cyril Jones Williams had died on November 20 of bronchial pneumonia, following influenza. He was buried in Saint Marie Cemetery, Le Havre, France.
Born in 1885 in Porthcawl, Cyril was the eldest of six children born to Thomas and Clara Williams, of Bryngwyn, Mackworth Road.
Gunner Williams, 293rd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, had enlisted at the outbreak of war and had served initially on the East African Coast before transferring to the Western Front.
In 1911, while working as a quarryman, Cyril had married Margaret Hopkin and the couple had set up home at 2 Hutchins Terrace, where a son was born two years later.
His father, Thomas, served with the Royal Defence Corps during the war, while brothers Ivor, Alfred, Ewart and Fred served with the Royal Artillery, Royal Air Force, Welsh Regiment and Royal Navy respectively.
Before the month was out Company Sergeant Major Arthur Thomas Roberts had died as a result of his wounds on November 23 at 2nd Western General Hospital, Pendleton, Manchester.
CSM Roberts’ remains were conveyed by train to Porthcawl by 11pm on Tuesday, November 26, where they were received by VT Corps Sergeant Major Farrow, Sergeant Oliver Howe and Tom Harding, of the railway staff.
CSM Roberts was buried the following Saturday with full military honours at St John’s Churchyard.
Earlier in October, Mr and Mrs Stradling Roberts, of The Morfa, South Road (Windmill House today), had been informed that their son had been severely wounded in action, in France. A missive, later received from the chaplain, further explained that it had been found necessary to amputate the right arm.
Arthur had been born, one of six children, to Stradling and Mary Roberts in 1888.
Stradling worked as a stonemason, while Arthur had been a haulier at the local timber yard.
His military career began when he joined the Glamorgan Yeomanry at Porthcawl in 1908.
Called up at the outbreak of war, he served at home, in Egypt, the Eastern Front, before being transferred in 1917 to the Western Front.
In 1915 Arthur had married Lucy Hopkin and set up home at 2 Crichton Terrace, New Road, Porthcawl, where she gave birth just before Arthur’s death.
Lucy had been too ill with pneumonia, a consequence of the Spanish flu, to attend her husband’s funeral.
The depth of emotion felt at home during November seemed to be at odds with that of many soldiers serving at the front.
The outpouring of elation at the Armistice in Porthcawl was in complete contrast with the diary entry of Major ADG Evans, MC, Royal Horse Artillery, who moved to Porthcawl after the war.
His entries for November were as follows: “November 5th – advancing every day.
“November 11th – Armistice declared. Very dull affair.”