SAMUEL DAVIES 

7019 Private Samuel Davies, 3rd King's Royal Rifles, died of wounds on 23rd January 1900. His was the first death of a Crewe man in a war zone. He was fighting on Hussar Hill, at the Battle of Colenso. He is buried at Chieveley Cemetery, uThukela District Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. 

                      


What do we know about Samuel?

Little definite information has been found so far of Private Davies's background, but he is commemorated on the Boer War memorial in Queen's Park, Crewe, so we can assume he had links with that local area, and may perhaps have worked for the London and North Western Railways.




If he was a regular in the KIngs Royal Rifle Corps, his regimental number (7019) might suggest he had first enlisted in early 1892. (Soldiers with numbers 6211 onwards joined on 31st January 1891, and 7056 joined on 2nd February 1892). This would make his date of birth around 1874. Alternatively, it is possible that Samuel Davies was born in the summer of 1878.

Below is the story of a man who MIGHT be the same person as the soldier commemorated in Crewe, but this is a best guess, and cannot yet be confirmed ....

Could this be Samuel's family?

A Samuel Davies, born in the summer of 1878, was the eldest child and only son of Thomas Davies and Martha nee Dodd. His father Thomas came from Clun, in Shropshire, and he was a machinist, and later a carter. 

Samuel was born in Willaston, near Nantwich, and was named after his maternal grandfather Samuel Dodd. He had two younger sisters, Sarah Alice (1880 - 1951) and Florence (1883 - 1954).  The 1881 census shows him living on Crewe Road, Willaston. By 1891, the family had moved to 72 Beech Street, in Crewe. His mother Martha died in 1898 when Samuel was nineteen years old, but his father Thomas continued living in Crewe for the next twenty years. The 1911 census shows him residing at 76 Albert Street, and in June 1921 at 6 Clifton Street.

There is no record of the Samuel Davies born 1878 in Willaston in the UK after 1891, and he does not appear on later censuses, so he might well be the right person.

We do know that Private Samuel Davies 7019 was reported wounded on 23rd January 1900 on Hussar Hill and presumably died shortly afterwards at Chieveley, where he is buried. If he was the person described above, he was 21 years old.

   


The Anglo Boer War forum mentions Samuel as one of the casualties in fierce fighting on Hussar Hill:  Lieutenant J. G. Browne, 14th Hussars, was with the squadrons in Natal, and he kept a sketch book, including maps of an engagement on 23 January 1900 at Hussar Hill, near Chieveley or near Colenso.  

General Barton was guarding the railway and camps south of Colenso, with an armoured train, artillery, and a small number of mounted men from 14th Hussars, South African Light Horse and Bethune’s Mounted Infantry. Private Davies was on the casualties list at Hussar Hill on 23 January 1900.

Royal Army Medical Corps Major Dalton C Wounded Severely
Bethunes Mounted Infantry Trooper Barton Prisoner of War
Bethunes Mounted Infantry Trooper Bridgewater H Prisoner of War
Bethunes Mounted Infantry Trooper Edwards Prisoner of War
Bethunes Mounted Infantry Trooper Freeman Prisoner of War
Bethunes Mounted Infantry RSM Freeman T Prisoner of War
Bethunes Mounted Infantry Trooper Hyams Prisoner of War
Bethunes Mounted Infantry Trooper Kane Prisoner of War
Bethunes Mounted Infantry Trooper McRae Prisoner of War
Bethunes Mounted Infantry Trooper O'Hara Prisoner of War
Bethunes Mounted Infantry Trooper Parry Prisoner of War
Bethunes Mounted Infantry Trooper Rosenthal Prisoner of War
Bethunes Mounted Infantry Trooper Stewart Prisoner of War
Bethunes Mounted Infantry Trooper Thomas Prisoner of War
Bethunes Mounted Infantry Trooper Barton Wounded
King's Royal Rifle Corps Private Davies Samuel Killed
Scottish Rifles Private Kiernan, Frederick J Killed

The Medals Record for Private S Davies 7019 of 3rd Btn King's Royal Rifles shows that he was eligible for the clasps for Cape Colony and Relief of Ladysmith. However, it gives the date he was killed in action as 19th January 1900, rather than 23rd.




Researched by S. Lewington 2025