Captain Frederick John Matthews MC: Royal Naval Division

This is the scanned picture of my Teid (my Welsh maternal grandfather) which I received yesterday morning.  In the beginning of the First World War there were too many volunteers for the Royal Navy. So Winston Churchill created the Royal Naval Division which fought on land but retained Naval ranks and traditions.  

"It was regarded as a highly efficient fighting force and played a prominent part in some of the bloodiest battles of the war".

Teid had volunteered to join the Navy in 1915 and was sent to the RND.  He eventually became a Captain (temporary wartime commission RNVR). He fought in Gallipoli and on the Western front in the First World War. In 1917 he was awarded a Military Cross for attacking and capturing a German Machine Gun post and taking 40 prisoners.

After the War he became a Regular Warrant Officer in the Royal Welch Fusiliers and in the Second World War he was a Warrant officer in the Royal Air Force.  So he served in all three Armed Services.  I was 9 when he died in 1971.

This picture is important to me.  I have waited a long time to get a copy.  It was obviously displayed in pride of place in my grandparents' home in Denbigh, North Wales.  Together with the actual Military Cross and the Certificate of Honour from his hometown of Abercarn.  All my (seven) maternal aunties and uncles also had copies displayed prominently in their homes.  I am sure that many families can relate to this experience.

However, equally important to the Mathews family, Teid, was also known as someone who would stand up for ordinary people in the local community.  Someone who write and send letters to Landlords, employers, the Bank, the Council or whoever - on behalf of those who could not express themselves in this way.

In our family we took pride in him representing ordinary working people as well in his bravery in Battle.

The Last Fighting Tommy - my Taid’s Last Comrade

The recent death of the last surviving British World War One veteran Harry Patch has I think made many of us stop and stare for least a moment or two. There is a real sense that we have witnessed the end of a historical era.

The last living unwilling British participant and witness of trench warfare in the so-called Great War has now died.

Harry was a plumber who was conscripted into the army and fought in the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917. After months of combat he was wounded in a shell explosion which killed 3 of his close friends. More than 70,000 British troops died in this one awful battle. By the time that Harry was fully recovered from his wound the war was over.

My Taid (my welsh grandfather, my mum’s dad) also served in the First World War. Like Harry, he was a machine gunner in the trenches. His division (The Fighting 63rd - Royal Naval Division) also fought at Passchendaele where they lost 2,000 men. I am not sure if my Taid was at this battle since he never talked about this or any of his war experiences (he volunteered in 1915). He had won a Military Cross shortly before the battle. Ironically this award which was for risking his life to capture a German machine gun post and sizing forty prisoners may have actually saved him. Since military records show he was given leave for the investiture at Buckingham Palace at the height of the Battle.

I remember my Taid even though he died when I was 7. My memory is of a very gentle man in a wheelchair reading me aloud childish children’s stories with great relish.

His Military Cross and picture of him as a young confident solider held absolute pride of place in the living room of my Nain’s Council flat in Denbigh. It was next to the “Certificate of Honour” from his home town of Abercarn. A copy of which I stare at now.

Goodbye then Harry Patch, if there is an afterlife, (which sadly of course I doubt) then hopefully my Taid, your comrade at arms, Frederick John Matthews, will be there to welcome you with your long lost mates.

Shall we shed a tear or two at the thought of that meeting?