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17721 Private George James Elliott 2nd Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers.

In 1891 the Elliott family are living at Whitelye (Whiteleigh) Trelleck.

        Head of the household is James Elliott (born Trelleck 1856) he is a general labourer and is married to Mary Jane Elliott (Nee Parker), (born Trelleck 1857). They married in the 2nd quarter of 1885 at Monmouth. They have 3 children, Sarah Ann Elliott age 5. Florry Elliott age 3  and Susannah Elliott age 1.  Florry and Susannah were baptised at Trellech Church on 15th February 1891.

George James is not born at Trellech until the 1st quarter of 1895.

        In 1911 George age 16, is a servant at Nex Farm, Devauden the farm of John Campbell James's and his brother William James. farm at Devauden.

His father as died as his mother is now  a widow and living AT Veddow, Devauden. She has Sarah Ann living at home, age 25, and single, but working as a Government Letter Carrier. A son Thomas Elliott is at home aged 14, (born Trelleck 21st January 1897) as is his brother William Elliott, age 12 (born Trelleck 1899). Thomas was baptised at Trellech Church on 22nd February 1897. There is one sister Emily age 8, (born Trelleck 1903). The Elliott family had 9 children by 1911 one of whom had died.

        George leaves servant work to join up. He joined the Infantry Base Depot Royal Welsh Fusiliers, enlisting at Newport. He became 1721 Private George Elliott

He was then transferred to 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers.

The last battle for the 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers in 1917 was on November 18th when the British advance north and south of the Ancre in heavy rain and reach the outskirts of Grandcourt. The operations end and the Battle of the Somme is over.

It is presumed that he was injured at this and lingered on until New Years Day 1917. He died in France and Flanders on New Years Day 1917, age 22, from wounds sustained in action.

He was reburied at Etaples Military Cemetery in August 1918.

His Headstone was inscribed "Thy Will Be Done" at the request of the mother and a central cross on the stone.

His parents were living at The Feddw (Veddow) - (this probably means Birches), Devauden.

He was awarded the British War Medal and the British Victory Medal, these awards are confirmed in the medal roll of the 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh Fusiliers on 2nd October 1920.

 

He is said to have been born at Cwmcarvan but in the census of 1900 and 1911 he is born in Trelleck so I think the SDGW is a mistake although Cwmcarvan is just up on the hill from Trelleck.

We can now reveal that Pte E. Cope was in fact Lt Eric Cope. The War Memorial has been dismantled and rebuilt with grants from the Lottery Heritage Fund, War Memorials Trust, Monmouthshire County Council, Trellech United Community Council, The Royal Naval Association, The Western Front Association and private donations.
During the recover of any archeology at the memorial it was found that the story of the bottle being placed there with a document was true. The bottle was recovered.

http://www.demotix.com/news/5456884/93-year-old-message-first-world-war-found-bottle-wales#media-5456364

The document left in the War Memorial has been recovered and is now with the archives. Conservation processes show it named the 3 officers: Pearce-Brown, Davis and Cope.
It would appear that the Monmouthshire Beacon misprinted it in its report of 12 March 1921 issue by which time the Cope family had left Whitebrook to live in Devauden. The Memorial In Penallt Old Church states "Pte E. Cope" and was placed there much later (1927?) it is my view that when the time came to make that Memorial the inscription at Penallt Old Church was probably based on a press cutting from the Beacon and hence compounded the issue.

The Memorial was rededicated on 20th September 2014.

In place of the document now in the archives we have placed several hundred pages of information inside two time capsules: One made of lead and one made of heavy duty plastic piping. This give considerable detail on the men who died and on others who served from Penallt in both World Wars. Perhaps in another one hundred years other readers of these pages will be discussing the War Memorial.

By the way has Kim edited the remaining Penallt story yet?

Deciphering the smaller marble plaque has been a labour of love. We have found out an incredible amount and now know the plaque was originally at the Chapel at Chapel farm, it is now in Trelech Methodist Chapel.
As regards E. Cope we have come across a Hope family and this does need to be considered. I have come across a number of WWI and WWII plaques where the names were wrong but once engraved or cast these memorials were allowed to remain as they were.
Moulded or cast or engraved memorials were almost impossible to change without spoiling the original aspect to say nothing of the extra cost and the risk of damaging the memorial once again.
Our book is further delayed because we had the good fortune to come across a series of lists of men from the villages that enlisted. This has taken months to unravel. We have also spend considerable time and effort in researching Mitchel Troy, we did try contacting the vicar but had no reponse so it has been a bit uphill.

Ther are a number of other memorials in Mitchel Troy and we are intending to look at these as well while we are on that theme.
The book is taking shape but it is not a simple exercise indeed.