First World War Imperial War Graves Commission Grave Headstone Photograph for a war grave, card mounted, as sent to the next of kin, the headstone reading: ‘16031 PRIVATE J. WILLIAMS SOMERSET LIGHT INFANTRY 3RD SEPTEMBER 1916 AGE 23’. A fresh bouquet is visible on the grave, presumably arranged by the family. This depicting the grave a soldier of the 8th Service Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry, who was killed in action during the Battle of the Somme on 3 September 1916, and who came from Cwmavon, Port Talbot, Glamorganshire.
Condition: photograph top left corner now partly torn, backing born scuffed, overall conducive with age and handling.
John Williams was born in Cwmavon, Glamorganshire, where he lived, being the son of Thomas and Ann Williams, who resided at 23 Miners Row, Cwmavon, Port Talbot, and he then enlisted into the British Army at nearby Aberavon, joining as a Private (No.16031) the 8th (Service) Battalion, Somerset Light Infantry. He was with his battalion, a part of the 63rd Brigade in the 21st Division, when it saw service out on the Western Front from 8 September 1915, and would have fought in the Battle of Loos. Wiliams was with it during its next major engagement, the Battle of the Somme, when he was killed in action on 3 September 1916. Williams lies buried in Lonsdale Cemetery at Authuille, and he is also commemorated by name on the Port Talbot War Memorial.
