Boer War Memorial | Curious Clwyd

Wrexham

The Froncysyllte Boer War Memorial

Parcher Y Dewr

By the end of 1900, the very last year of the 19th century, the village of Froncysyllte was mourning the loss of two of its own to the war in South Africa. Our modern understanding of the pain of such loss is often mired in the shattering and horrific numbers of casualties that came later during the First World War, just some fourteen years later. So huge were the losses of that conflict that we simply struggle to see past it - we struggle to cast our minds back beyond September 1914.

In contrast to the jagged scar of the Great War, the Second Boer War of 1899-1902 can seem pale and insignificant to our eyes. But this was not the case for those that lived through this conflict. This War fought over 8000 miles from Froncysyllte was not simply another of the many wars of British colonial ambition, it helped to change the way we regarded those that died in the pursuit of those colonial ambitions, not just those that led those wars or the regiments that fought in them. Emerging during the Crimean War of 1853-56 and honed during the Boer War of 1899-1902, the dead of the rank and file increasingly were remembered in memorials, within the communities from which they came.

There can be no doubt that the loss of village boys, John James and William Williams, both of whom died in 1900 was deeply felt by the people of Froncysyllte. The presence in the village of a quite wonderful memorial to the men, in the form of a water fountain is evidence of that. Whether it was intentional or not, the decision to raise a water fountain as opposed to a more traditional cross, perhaps, seems profound - water as a source of life and rebirth, sometimes miracles - seems wholly considered.

There were and indeed are any number of reasons why young men and women decide on a life in the armed forces. Perhaps they wished to leave behind their pasts, a future thought to offer little more than more of the same - the life lived by their friends, their parents and grandparents and so on. Perhaps they fled poverty, perhaps boredom. And in the heady days of the mighty British Empire at the end of the 19th century, perhaps even patriotism fired them, to be part of a perceived cause, a crusade can be a powerful draw - however weary and tarnished such thoughts have become. We have no information as to why John and William left Froncysyllte to join the ranks of the British Army, only that they did.

The regimental badges of the Welch Fusiliers and the Grenadier Guards are represented on the memorial.

William Williams was the son of the lime burner, Edward Williams of the Chirk Castle Lime and Stone Company based in Froncysyllte. They lived at Canalside in the village. Private 1232 William Williams of the Welch Fusiliers was killed on the final day of the five day Siege of Fredrikstad in the North West Province of South Africa whilst defending the railway there against Boer commandos led by General de Wet and Commandant Liebenberg. The Boers had mounted a surprise attack on the 20th October, which was repelled by the outnumbered British forces, made up of the Welch and Scottish Fusiliers, the 78th Royal Artillery, elements of the Imperial Yeomanry, Imperial Bushmen and some cavalry. Eventually, after holding off the Boers for a number of days, on the 25th October the better equipped British troops launched an attack of their own and routed the Boer forces at bayonet point. William was one of the 29 British soldiers that were killed in that final engagement.

John Charles James was born in 1875 to William and Jane Williams of Trevor View in Froncysyllte. While William had joined the Welch Fusiliers, John joined the Grenadier Guards. During the British advance into the South Eastern Free State from February 1900 through to May, many British troops contracted typhoid, once known as enteric fever, some from using the polluted River Modder as a water supply. Private John James was one of them, dying at Thana Nchu near Bloemfontein on May 10th 1900.

The memorial was paid for by public subscription in 1909(1) and originally sited against the large retaining wall supporting Methodist Hill behind it. The position was undoubtedly chosen due to its conspicuousness, central to the village and all those that passed through along the A5. However, time, the dramatic increase in traffic and especially the heavy nature of that traffic led to the memorial beginning to deteriorate. Thanks to the intervention of the Victorian Military Society, the efforts of local councillors and the Chirk branch of the Royal British Legion, sufficient funds had been secured to move the fountain a little distance to the east, into a layby set back from the main road and beneath St David’s Church where it was once more officially unveiled in October 1996. Tablets recovered from the demolished Methodist Church remembering members of the congregation lost in the wars of 1914-18 and 1939-45 were subsequently incorporated into the fountain, flanking the memorial.

While they are remembered here, in Froncysyllte, James and Wiiliams are also remembered on the South African War Memorial in Cathays, Cardiff, while James can also be found named on the panels of Grenadier Guards memorial in Holy Trinity Church, Windsor - the garrison church of the Guards.

John James and William Williams may have died some 8000 miles away under a South African sun, but they are remembered in Froncysyllte, in the village that made them.

Footnote

1. There is possibly some confusion here. The memorial is dated 1909, but evidence would suggest that it was unveiled in its original position on 29th October 1910. It is possible that the date upon the memorial relates to its manufacture rather than its actual unveiling.