Soldier search leads to memorial addition
THE final name of a fallen soldier has been added to a First and Second World War memorial at Swansea College of Art’s Dynevor Centre after a search by former Dynevor School pupils.
The original plaque commemorated those who lost their lives in the First World War.
It was erected in the then school hall following a subscription appeal, in 1921, which remembered 49 former Dynevor pupils.
Photographs of the casualties were also displayed in the hall. The school hall and memorial were destroyed in the Three Nights Blitz over Swansea in February 1941.
A replacement memorial, remembering losses from both wars was placed outside the rebuilt school hall in 1961, and thanks to the sterling effort of former pupil and teacher George Hounsell, 46 names from the Second World War were included, and one on National Service in 1953.
In 2014, Tudor Price, editor of The Dy’vorian magazine, embarked on producing two books about local boys who served in both wars. During the research the names of four more casualties were discovered, two from each conflict.
On April 7, 2016, a rededication ceremony was held at the university to mark the addition of the four names. In subsequent research a further, final name was uncovered.
John Jenkins, who joined Dynevor School in 1935, served with the North Staffordshire Regiment and was killed in service, aged 20 years, in Italy in August 1944.
Thanks to the support of the dean of Swansea College of Art, Professor Ian Walsh, and staff, his name has now been added and the occasion marked at the university.
The memorial was then returned to the ‘Dynevor Staircase’ for all to see. University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) and the Dy’vorians have forged strong links since Swansea’s former Dynevor School was acquired and developed into UWTSD’S Dynevor Centre for Art, Design and Media.
Professor Walsh said: “The addition of yet another name to the long list of Dynevor fallen is a sobering reminder of the generations who sacrificed their present for our future.”