Doris Genner

Place of birth: Ebbw Vale

Service: Worker, WAAC

Memorial: James Street Wesleyan Church (now at Cenotaph), Ebbw Vale, Glamorgan

Notes: Nothing is known of Doris Genner WAAC.

Sources: http://firstworldwar.gwentheritage.org.uk/content/catalogue_item/james-street-wesleyan-church-memorials-ebbw-vale

Reference: WaW0193

War Memorial

Name of Doris Genner at the bottom of the James Street Wesleyan Chapel memorial.

Elsie Towyn Jones (Taylor)

Place of birth: Cwmaman

Service: Administrator, WAAC, 1917 - 19

Notes: Elsie was the elder daughter of the Rev Josiah Towyn Jones, MP for East Carmarthen. As an MP’s daughter, her name appears quite frequently in Welsh newspapers. She became an ‘Official’ in the WAAC in October 1917. After a spell as transport officer, responsible for the travel arrangements of WAACs, in March 1918 she was promoted ‘quartermistress’ of the WAAC in France, responsible for all uniform supplies. In June she survived a bombing raid, and by August was back at WAAC headquarters in London using her ‘invaluable technical knowledge’ to advise Sir Douglas Haig. She became engaged to Geoffrey Moore in February 1917.

Reference: WaW0236

Newspaper article

Report of Elsie becoming a WAAC ‘Official’’, Carmarthen Journal 19th Oct 1917.

Newspaper report

Report of Elsie’s promotion to Quartermistress. Herald of Wales 23rd March 1918

Newspaper report

Report of bombing raid in France. The Cambria Daily Leader 4th June 1918

Newspaper report

Elsie Towyn Jones at WAAC headquarters. Amman Valley Chronicle 15th August 1918

London Gazette

Elsie Towyn Jones’s promotion to Administrator in August 1918, London Gazette 28th February 1919.

Elsie Towyn Jones

Elsie Towyn Jones, Amman Valley Chronicle 25th October 1917

Jean Roberts

Place of birth: Blaenau Ffestiniog

Service: Worker, WAAC, 1917/11/08 – 1918/01/05

Death: 1918/01/05, Bangor Military Hospital, Spotted fever / Teiffws

Notes: Jean, who was 18 when she died, was the eldest of six children of a widowed mother. In November 1919 her case was raised in Parliament by Haydn Jones, MP for Merioneth. Jean had been the chief support of the family, but her mother was not entitled to any form of compensation and was forced to ask for parochial relief. The matter was ‘considered’ by the Financial Secretary to the War Office, but we do not know the outcome. Jean Roberts’s name appears in the Welsh National Book of Remembrance.

Reference: WaW0260

Grave Register

Details of Jean Roberts in the War Graves Register

Newspaper report

Newspaper report of parliamentary question about Jean Roberts. North Wales Chronicle 14th November 1919.

Welsh Book of Remembrance

Jean Roberts’s name in the Welsh National Book of Remembrance.

War Memorial plaque

Jean Roberts’s name on the War Memorial in St David’s Church, Blaenau Ffestiniog. It was obviously added after WW2, hence the mistake WAAF for QMAAC.rn. rn

G[w]ladys Allet Mathias

Place of birth: Ferndale

Service: Waitress, WAAC, 1918 - 1919

Notes: G[w]ladys joined the WAAC at Newport in May 1918. She was posted to Kinmel Park in north Wales, and then to Chadderton Camp near Oldham. She had previously worked as a barmaid, and her references for the WAAC describe her as a ‘good clean housemaid’, but perhaps army life did not suit her as she was twice fined for being absent without leave.

Sources: National Archives WO-398-146-1

Reference: WaW0313

Telegram

Telegram reporting G A Mathias as absent without leave.

Enid Spedding

Place of birth: Goginan

Service: Clerk ?, WAAC, 1917 -

Notes: Enid seems to have joined the WAAC in Autumn 1917.

Reference: WaW0310

Newspaper photograph and report

Newspaper photograph of Enid Spedding, WAAC. Cambrian News 3rd May 1918.

Annie Lillian Thomas (later McLoughlin)

Place of birth: Cwmyoy

Service: Postwoman, WAAC

Notes: Annie Thomas joined the WAAC in June 1918, aged 21. She had previously worked at the Royal Gwent Hospital as a waitress. She was posted to the Australian Military Hospital, Dartford. By the time she was discharged in July 1919 she was married, though nothing is known of her husband.

Sources: National Archives WO-398-153-8

Reference: WaW0305

Discharge order

Discharge order for Annie Macloughlin on compassionate grounds.

WAAC enrollment form

Enrolment form for Annie Thomas. Her surname and marital status have been changed.rn

Reference

Reference form for Annie Thomas.rnrn

Gwladys Alice Samuel

Place of birth: Aberystwyth

Service: Worker, WAAC, February 1918 -

Notes: Gwladys, an enthusiastic Girl Guide, was posted to Kinmel Camp, North Wales in February 1918. Her father and two brothers were serving in the army.

Reference: WaW0317

Newspaper report and photograph

Brief report of Gwladys Samuel’s joining the WAAC, with photograph. Cambrian News 22nd February 1918.

Newspaper report

Report of Gwladys’s departure from Aberystwyth Station. Cambrian News 15th February 1918.

Maud Jepson

Place of birth: Aberystwyth

Service: Clerk, WAAC, June / Mehefin 1917

Notes: Maud Jepson was ‘the first volunteer from Aberystwyth’ to join the group of WAAC clerks assembled by Lady Mackworth to work in France.

Reference: WaW0326

Newspaper report and photograph

Maud Jepson’ photograph and interview. Cambrian News 22nd June 1917.

Newspaper report (2)

Maud Jepson’s interview (2). Cambrian News 22nd June 1917.

Sarah Ann Rees

Place of birth: Newport

Service: Assistant Cook, WAAC, Ionawr - Mawrth 1918 / January

Notes: Ann Rees applied to the WAAC as a kitchen maid; her current employment was flour packer at Star Mills, Newport. Curiously, though her religion is given as C of E, her references are from Father Hickey, Priest of St Mary’s Church, Stow Hill, and Sister Agnes of St Joseph’s Convent, and she went to Holy Cross school. Apparently she joined the WAAC without her parents’ knowledge or consent early in 1918; following correspondence from her and her mother, Ann was given a compassionate discharge on 14th March 1918.

Reference: WaW0379

Letter

Letter from Sarah Ann Rees asking for discharge from the WAAC. National Archives.

Letter

Letter from Mrs Bridget Rees, Ann’s mother, explaining why she is needed at home [1]. National Archives.

Letter

Letter from Mrs Bridget Rees, Ann’s mother, explaining why she is needed at home [2]. National Archives.

Letter

Letter from Mrs Bridget Rees, Ann’s mother, explaining why she is needed at home [3]. National Archives.

Sarah Jenkins

Place of birth: Pwll y Glaw, Cwmavon

Service: Cook, WAAC, 1918/01/15 – 1919/11/12

Notes: Sarah was 22 when she joined the WAAC. She may at some time have worked as a tin-plate worker though her WAAC records say she was a baker. Sarah spent most of her service as Assistant Cook, later Cook, at the Shirehampton Remount Depot, Bristol. The Depot handled thousands of horses and mules. Each animal was kept for two or three weeks and tested for disease. The aim was to get the animals clean and fit, ready for training and service. Of the 339,601 horses and mules that went through the Depot, only 13,811 came back after the war. Thanks to Bev Gulley.

Sources: National Archives

Reference: WaW0405