Letter from Private Hugh Owen to his brother and sister, 24 May 1916 [image 1 of 2]

Login to save this item
Download (non-commercial use only)

Content can be downloaded for non-commercial purposes, such as for personal use or in educational resources.
For commercial purposes please contact the copyright holder directly.
Read more about the The Creative Archive Licence.

Download link to the full resolution of image number 1

Image 1 (opens in new window) full resolution of image 1

Download link to the full resolution of image number 2

Image 2 (opens in new window) full resolution of image 2

Description

In this poignant letter Hugh pleads with his brother to avoid being called up by making any excuse possible and lying to the army doctor. Within two months of writing this letter Hugh is killed in action in Delville Wood, Somme, France.

http://www.welshvoices.com/ (link opens in new window)

Do you have information to add to this item? Please leave a comment

Comments (8)

The letter was sent to my grandfather 'John Owen y Bardd o Bodffordd'. I have an equally poigniant poem written by John Owen about the death of Hugh

Thank you for your comment. What happened to your grandfather after he read the letter. Did he take his brothers advice to not join the army? Would you be interested in contributing John Owen's poem to Casgliad Y Werin/ People's Colllection.

My grandfather John Owen to my knowledge never went to war, he must have taken his brother's advice. News of the death of his brother Hugh would have been a shock & maybe influenced his actions. I am afraid we never asked. I am busy at the moment but when I am able to do so I will scan the poem (I Have to remove it from a frame) and send it to you. My wife and I have been to the Somme Twice as we both have great uncles buried there - Hugh Owen & Ben (Bach). Ben came from the Trefriw, Conwy Valley and was in the Cheshire regiment. My wife grandmother (his sister) missed him very much and would talk about it to Sheila, mourning the fact he was buried in a faraway foreign land. Sheila was the first relative to visit his grave, a very moving moment at Hemme Farm Cemetry near to the river somme. We have the Death Pennies for both great uncles.

Thank you. How interesting that you have both Uncles' Death Pennies. If you want to share them you could take a picture on a digital camera and along with your grandfathers poem add them to the site. Creating an account on Casgliad y Werin / People's Collection is really simple. Just click on the 'Sign Up' link on the home page. When you have set up an account on the site you will be able to upload content to to the site.

It would be easier for me to photo the poem rather than sacn it, & the death pennies. I will do that this weekend, sign uo to Casgliad Y Werin & post them.

I have taken photos of Hugh & Ben's Commeration Scrolls and of Ben's death penny and medals, also of John Owen's poem about the loss of his brother Hugh. I have joined 'Casgliad y Werin', but was unable to upload photos. That may be as they are 10Mpixels. Ioan

Dwy pennod gyntef gan John Owen y Bardd ar ol clywed am golliant eu frawd Hugh yn y Somme (Deville Woods) yn1916: Mae'r cymylau yn ddu, a'r nos yn ddiffawd A'r newydd yn chwerw am danat, fy mrawd Mae'r groes yn un arw, a'r ysgwydd yn wan A'r baich am fy nilyn drwy'r byd i bob man. Mae afgof a hiraeth fy llethy yn llwyr A dirif yw'r dagrau o fore hyd hwyr Ar hedd yr hen aelwyd nid oedd on dau A dwy galon ysgafn yn cydlawenhau Mae un-ar- ddeg pennod arall i ddod, Ioan

Ioan, Maybe reduce the size of the image files save them as jpg format and try and upload them again.

You must be logged in to leave a comment