Llew EDWARDS (ex-boxer)

[Garethboxing]

I am trying to obtain information about Llew (Llewellyn) Edwards, a Welsh boxer who emigrated to Australia in 1915 and became the national lightweight champion there. I have all the info I need about his career, but would appreciate any other available details.
  I believe he died in 1965, probably in Melbourne, where he had settled, but would appreciate an exact date. Any info about his grave would also be welcome.
  He married a Margaret Williams a few months before leaving Wales, but a report of a road accident in 1936 refers to his wife as Ethel. Could anyone tell me if he married again in Australia?
   One key query is over his DoB. In his memoirs he says he was born in Shropshire, near the Welsh border, on October 22, 1894. But the only likely birth in that county was of a Hiram Llewellyn Edwards, registered in Oswestry (right area) in Oct-Dec 1892. Llew refers to losing his father when he was five and the 1901 Census has Hiram Llewellyn living with a widowed mother; among the brothers are two who also appear with him in 1911 in lodgings in Porth, where he moved to work in the coal mines, so it seems probable that this is my man and that at some stage he knocked a couple of years off his age.
  It would confirm that if there were any official references to him in Australia as Hiram Llewellyn, though he seems to have dropped the Hiram as soon as he left the family home (can't say I blame him  Wink
  I'll be keeping my fingers crossed  Smiley
         Gareth

[mum mum]

Hi
There seems to be only one death in Victoria in 1965, Edgar Lewellyn Edwards, parents unknown, Reg No 26359. I couldn't see a marriage that looked likely.
Can't turn up anything in our newspapers either at this stage.

mum mum

Edgar Lewellyn's not him, he was on the electoral roll in 1914 in Richmond, a bread carter.

[Dundee]

I found the article about the accident, and from the details there, this would be him on the electoral roll :


1931
Carlton, Victoria
534 Rathdown Street

EDWARDS
Llewellyn, boiler attendant
Ethel Victoria, home duties

1936/1937
Carlton, Victoria
381 Nicholson Street

EDWARDS
Llewellyn, boiler attendant
Ethel Victoria, home duties

I don't see Ethel again after that, and Llewellyn might be alone living at 18 Crockford Street, Port Melbourne as a labourer up until 1954.

Debra 

[Garethboxing]

Thanks, Debra. Funnily enough I'd just found an article which referred to him training to repair boilers 
  Everything I find has a death year of 1965, but then again they all have him born in 1894 and I'm pretty sure that's wrong. Still, it would be pretty difficult to tell fibs about when you died ....
     Gareth

[krisesjoint]

Hi Gareth,

When Llew travelled to Australia departing London 27 Sep 1915 aboard the ORONTES his age was not listed, country of last permanent residence Wales, however when he travelled from Southampton 25 Jun 1920 - travelling to NY aboard the OLYMPIC Llewelyne EDWARDS was aged 26 a boxer country of last permanent residence British Possessions. He arrived NY 2 Jul 1920, listed as aged 28 married a boxer citizenship Great Brittan last permanent residence England (Oswestry) name and address of nearest relative or friend in UK - White Rock, Llynslys Oswestry Shropshire Final Destination Sydney NSW

possible earlier trip to Australia from London aboard the ORSOVA 15 October 1909 (a Lab ) - Welsh

Cheers Kris 

[Dundee]

Chris I think that might be White Rock near "Lynclys" which just happens to be in the parish of Llanyblodwel and near Porth-y-waen where Hiram Llewellyn was living on the 1891 census.  (Notice how the names just roll off my tongue like I'm a local  )

Debra 

[Garethboxing]

Yes, Debra, it's Llynclys, where he was born according to his memoirs. It's near Llanyblodwel, which is not far from Oswestry in an area of Shropshire that, as you can tell from the names, was a Welsh-speaking area despite being in England.
Thanks, Kris. I had the Orontes details (that was his first trip to Oz; don't know who the 1909 man was, but it wasn't my man). He travelled to the US to box in 1920, suffered facial damage and was allowed to head off to the UK to recuperate and see his family before returning to the US to complete his contract on the way back to Australia, which he clearly now saw as his home - conformed no doubt by a mixed reception in Wales, where some disapproved of the fact that, while other miners and boxers were fighting in France, Llew had headed off Down Under.
It's interesting to see that he apparently aged two years in the week's Atlantic crossing. Perhaps the Americans actually checked his documentation rather than taking his word for his age 
   Gareth

[Dundee]

During the First World War they introduced more stringent identity checks and that continued on to where now we have to take our shoes off!!

I did check for a WW1 enlistment and briefly wondered how he managed to get away with not joining up.

Debra 

[Garethboxing]

Hi Debra,
   There were so many thousands of volunteers (including boxers like Jimmy Wilde) that conscription was not introduced until January 1916, by which time Llew was safely in Oz.
    I don't know if he ever became an Australian citizen. Are there publicly accessible files for such things, as in the US? Maybe that would include his full name.
      Gareth