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1888 May 19. Born Neath, Glamorganshire His father David was a grocer in Windsor Terrace, Neath.
1891 census at 1 & 2, Queen Street, Neath
1901 census at 120, London Road, Neath (Parish And Town), Neath
1905 Dec 20. 3rd Glamorgan Volunteer Rifle Corps . The undermentioned gentlemen to be Second Lieutenants :— Gordon Llewellyn Griffiths.
At the age of 18, he had a commission (2nd Lieutenant) bought for him by a relative (Aunt?) as his father was, by this time, deceased. During the course of this commission Gordon "passed School of instruction and obtained a satisfactory report for the rank of Lieutenant". What happened next is unclear and confusing. By his own hand, he states that he resigned his commission (2nd Lt) owing to ill health, never having become a Lieutenant. He was advised by his doctor to go abroad. Records show that he resigned with 'neurasthenia'. This technical term could be construed as stress and needs to be considered in context that Gordon was only 20 however, Gordon's daughter clearly remembers him speaking of this after WWI and stating that he left the regiment as he could no longer afford the mess bills. This latter story seems more logical given his humble upbringing .
1908 Apr 1. 6th (Glamorgan) Battalion, Welch Regiment. The undermentioned officers from the 3rd Glamorgan Volunteer Rifle Corps, are appointed to the battalion, with rank and precedence as in the Volunteer Force. Second Lieutenant Gordon Llewellyn Griffiths
1910 Oct 26. 6th (Glamorgan) Battalion, The Welsh Regiment; Second Lieutenant Gordon L. Griffiths is removed from the Territorial Force. Note removed, not resigned. So something untoward took place. An officer who had been removed could not re-join in WW1 as an officer, but if he had resigned then he would have re-entered the army as an officer.
1911 census at Wood Villa, Shurdington Near Cheltenham, where he is a boarder "cowman on farm"
At the time of the war breaking out he was in Fusan (now Pusan, South Korea). What he was doing there is not known nor is it known where he went between 1908 and 1914.
1915 Feb 22. Landed in Glasgow and on the same day, he enlisted as a Private with the 1st Lovat Scouts Yeomanry, a Territorial Army Unit.
1915 Sep 26. Landed in Gallipoli. There he received serious gun and shrapnel wounds to the legs and back requiring him to be hospitalised in Alexandria before returning to the UK. During the course of 1916 he became regular soldier and gained the position of Sergeant and, as a musketry instructor, was appointed as Brigade Instructor to the 3rd line at Galashiels. He did not join the regiment in Egypt and Macedonia but did travel to Belgium in the closing months of the war. At the end of the war he was retired as a result of his injuries.
He was promoted to A/Sgt and renumbered in 1917 125155 (when the Territorial units were all renumbered).
1915 Oct 24. Battalion War Diary says in "List of recommendations sent to B.H.Q". that 2697 Pte G L Griffiths, C Sqdn, When badly wounded by shell in fire trench pulled another wounded man to a place of safety. Griffiths was badly wounded in the back and legs and shipped back to England via Alexandria.
1917 Sep 26 Commissioned 2nd Lt. Cadet Gordon Llewellyn Griffiths to be 2nd Lt. And later attached to the KOSB as a Lieutenant training officer. He finished the war as a full Lieutenant and retired with a disability pension.1919 Mar 26. 2nd Lovat's Scouts.—2nd Lt. G. L. Griffiths to be Lt.
1921 Mar 30 Joined ADRIC with service no. 1867. Posted to P Coy
Fined £3 by Coy Commander
1922 Jan 24. Discharged on demobilisation of ADRIC
1926 Jan/Mar Married in Thanet in Kent to Edith B Goldsack
1939 Register Living at Brinklow Woodchurch Road , West Ashford R.D., Kent,. He is a Poultry Farmer living with wife Edith (she later remarries to a Mr Hubbard)
1943 Feb 16. Died Shadoxhurst, Kent aged 54
WO 339/100132
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