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Sgt Rosser Francis Memorial 7643 SWB , St Cadocs, Church Trevethin , Pontypool, Wales, UK

Welcome to the Forum and thanks for posting your photos of this memorial. If you edit your post by clicking on the “Insert” buttons the photos should appear on screen.

The unveiling of the memorial on 18th June 1904 was reported in several newspapers – here is the text on the memorial:



He is also commemorated on the National Welsh Boer War Memorial in Cathays Park, Cardiff and on the SWB Memorial in Brecon Cathedral.

He can be found in the “Register of Soldier’s Effects” which adds the following information – he attested/enlisted on 11 February 1901 at Newport, South Wales and he was a carpenter by trade.

He was posthumously awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with two clasps – Cape Colony & South Africa 1901.

South Wales Gazette, 14th November 1902

Capt. Morris said the Newbridge Company of Volunteers held a unique character as it had contributed a larger number of men than any other particular volunteer company in South Wales. More, our men were the mainstay of the Active Service Company of the South Wales Borderers. The only melancholy note was the lamented death of Sergeant Rosser Francis, who lies in a soldier’s grave ‘neath the African sun. Capt. Morris asked the audience to pass a vote of condolence to Mr Francis, the aged father of deceased, by standing on their feet, which was done amidst deep silence.

Miss Morris now presented Sergeant Rosser Francis's medal to Sergeant-Instructor Phelan, by whom it was to be conveyed to Mr Francis.

Link to Find a Grave.
Primrose cemetery.
Sgt R Francis died of disease (Enteric)

www.findagrave.com/memorial/246090617/a-francis

We have a problem - Peter H of FaG says Rosser went out to SA in January 1900 whereas his entry on the Register of Effects says he did not enlist until February 1901. In my experience Peter H's write-ups on FaG are accurate but in this case he seems to have failed to appreciate that Rosser was a Volunteer rather than a Regular when the AWB started - perhaps not surprising because the Volunteer Service Companies attached to the 2nd Battalion SWB do not have separate Medal Rolls and I suspect the Registers of Effects (held by the National Army Museum) have only been digitised since Peter H did his research.

The more you look into Rosser the more interesting he becomes. His father was married 4 times and Rosser was the result of his last union. His previous wife had started out life as Leah Rosser. The commanding officer of the 2nd Volunteer Service Company which Rosser served in was a Captain Rosser. This might partly explain why the officers of the battalion went to the trouble and expense of erecting this memorial to an NCO who did not suffer a glorious death.

More research needed but afraid I shall be otherwise occupied for a few days. Once again thanks for posting photos of what is turning out to be an interesting memorial. Regards, David.

Correction to my last post – Rosser Francis was a product of his father’s third marriage to Leah Rosser. Rosser already had two older half-brothers but a full sister, Gwendoline, was born a year after him and their mother, Leah, died shortly afterwards. His father’s fourth marriage does not seem to have produced any more children.

I can find no blood connection between Rosser & his mother and Captain H L Rosser who was Rosser’s commanding officer in South Africa and the nature of the letter Captain Rosser wrote to Rosser’s father, Edmund, confirms that - see the following short article which appeared in the Pontypool Free Press of 10 January 1902:

NEWBRIDGE - THE LATE SERGEANT FRANCIS.

Mr Francis of Ty Hir Farm has received the following letter from Capt. Herbert L. Rosser, who is in charge of the local Volunteers in South Africa, expressing sympathy with him on the untimely death of his son, Sergt. Rosser Francis – “Colonel Hickie’s Column, near Klerksdorp, Transvaal. Nov. 23, 1901 – Dear Sir, It is with the deepest regret that I have to write to you confirming the death of your son, Sergt. Rosser Francis. I can assure you, you have the fullest sympathy of myself and brother officers, also the men of this Company. He was most energetic and perfectly reliable; so much so, in fact, that I gave him command of the Depôt post, with 20 men – a post 30 miles from our garrison – which speaks for itself. Again expressing my keenest sympathy with you, I remain. Your faithfully, Herbert L. Rosser, Capt. Vol. Co., S.W.B.”

The letter gives an insight into the contribution Rosser Francis made to the work of the 2nd Volunteer Service Company (VSC) attached to the 2nd Battalion SWB. As my previous post showed he was born on 29 April 1881 making him only 20 years and 6 months when he died and also making it possible he achieved the rank of Sergeant whilst still a teenager.

When the 2nd VSC arrived in South Africa on 16 April 1901 they were sent on railway protection duty, manning sequentially Cape Colony garrisons at Beaufort West, Richmond Road & Richmond. Their first encounter with Boers occurred at Richmond. In September 1901 they were relieved of this duty and moved north into the Transvaal and at Klerksdorp they finally united with the 2nd Battalion SWB. As Rosser Francis was not awarded the Transvaal clasp we can deduce he went down with enteric fever before the move north in September 1901 and instead was transported south to Elandsfontein General Hospital near Cape Town. As a consequence in South Africa he never served alongside the regular members of the 2nd Battalion SWB. Those interested enough to now re-read the FaG description of Rosser Francis’s war (link provided in previous post by Dave F) will realise how inappropriate it is.

For those interested, Captain Rosser’s full name was Herbert Llewellin Rosser – an apparently anglicised version of the Welsh name Llewellyn. At the start of the ABW he was a bank manager and when not banking was Commander of the 3rd Volunteer Battalion of the SWB. He stepped forward to take command of the 2nd VSC in South Africa. After the war he returned to banking and moved to southern England and by the time of the 1911 Census he had been married to a widow for 3 years who brought two ready made children with her. 41 year old Herbert stepped up to the plate again at the start of the Great War and served as a Captain in the Monmouthshire Regiment. By the end of the conflict he was a Major and subsequently received the 1914-15 British Star, the British War Medal and Allied Victory Medal to go with his QSA with 4 clasps (Cape Colony, Transvaal, South Africa 1901 & South Africa 1902). All his overseas service in the Great War appears to have been in Western Europe. By the time of the 1921 Census he was a widower. His probate shows he died on 8 October 1944 in the Cottage Hospital, Abergavenny whilst living in the nearby village of Llanwenarth Citra. The 1939 Register shows he was born on 8 July 1872 making him nearly 9 years older than Rosser Francis and 72 when he died. The probate also shows that he had remarried.

I have found two letters written home by members of the 2nd VSC whilst they were still on railway protection duty in Cape Colony. They both need transcribing but I hope to add them in a day or two.

An Edit: Whoops - Elandsfontein General Hospital was at Germiston near Johannesburg and in the Transvaal. So Rosser did make it to the Transvaal but presumably because he was not fighting fit at the time he did not qualify for the Transvaal clasp.