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General => Armed Forces => World War One => Topic started by: alison300 on Friday 13 January 23 21:07 GMT (UK)
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I'm researching a local memorial and am interested in Capt. Gordon Williams, 8th Bn., Welsh Regt. who died 15 Nov 1918.
He is buried in Lubumbashi Cemetery, Democratic Republic of Congo but when looking for details of the battalion it seems they were in either Sudan or Iraq (nothing about Congo). Can anyone throw some light on this?
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Looks like he had connections with South Africa (born Johannesburg), is this the memorial you are researching:
https://www.roll-of-honour.com/Middlesex/HarrowWealdStreetShrine.html
Tony
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I'm actually researching the names from a panel inside the church but the names are almost identical to those on the street shrine (there is also a WW2 and a Civilian panel inside the church). I'm also trying locate where each man was on the day he died from their Bn. war diary.
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I'm having the same problem as you.
There's no mention of a Capt. G. Williams in the war diary from 1916 on.
At the end of 1917 the list of Officers doesn't include him.
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There are only 2 casualties in Lubumbashi cemetery:
Major Boyd Alexander Cunninghame, Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. Died 16th March 1917.
Captain Gordon Williams, Welsh Regiment, died 15 November 1918.
Maybe some sort of clandestine missions?
ADDED:
From 1910 the city was called Élisabethville, and it was the centre of the mining industry, and was on the border with Zambia (Northern Rhodesia).
Major Cunninghame was on leave when he died.
No notes on CWGC for Captain Williams.
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Reading about the pursuit of Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck in Northern Rhodesia/British East Africa in late 1918 there is mention of both a high turnover in manpower due to disease and the importance of Swahili in dealing with the local forces. If he spoke Swahili and had been seconded/transferred to the King's African Rifles would he retain any connection to the Welsh Regiment?
Seperately, Lubumbashi/Elisabethville had a railway that connected with Northern Rhodesia so possibly a railway/transport connection instead of mining.
Does Gordon's photo of him in uniform on findagrave give any indication of anything other than Regiment/Rank that might be useful?
S_L
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Huge thank you to everyone who has responded. You've all given me an insight into Africa at this time. I had seen that there was only one other burial in Lubumbashi which I thought strange but hadn't realised the importance of Elisabethville.
I realise now that he could have had a mining connection. At the time of the 1911c, he was at university but his father was described as a 'mining engineer'.
Your replies have given me much food for thought - thank you.
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There's a lengthy tribute to Capt. Gordon Williams in the "Aberdeen Press and Journal, 31 Jan 1919".
He was a victim of the Spanish flu epidemic.
He married Jun Qtr, 1916 at Hendon - Phyllis J Mackenzie.
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There's a 2nd article in the Aberdeen Evening Express, 27 Nov 1918, which explains his presence in the Congo on "special work".
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If this is an obituary of his father then there's reference to Gordon as well.
https://pm20.zbw.eu/mirador/?manifestId=https://pm20.zbw.eu/iiif/folder/pe/039809/manifest.json (https://pm20.zbw.eu/mirador/?manifestId=https://pm20.zbw.eu/iiif/folder/pe/039809/manifest.json)
S_L
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A good find.
It mentions "the Granite city" and I had puzzled why both newspaper items previously posted were Aberdeen.