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I was researching the CAVILLs
of my family in 1981, when a paternal great uncle told me that his aunt Rosena
(CAVILL) married a Charles Pritchard who was a Rugby International player for
Wales and Newport. He said that he remembered him visiting his home in Manchester
in 1910 when he was 14. As he was killed in the First World War, I was intrigued
to find out more.
At that time I wrote to a Newport newspaper and received details of his rugby
career and the year of his death. However, I didn't follow up this information
till the mid 1990s, when I decided to investigate further. Not knowing if he
had a known grave, I contacted the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, who soon
traced his last resting place to a village near Bethune in Northern France.
He had been a Captain in the South Wales Borderers so an enquiry to the Regimental
Nuseum yielded his service career and the account of his fatal wounding.
Fascinating though the life story of this man was, it was now that some of the
details about him began to raise question marks in my mind.
My great uncle Fred's aunt Rosena was born in 1861, yet this Charles Pritchard
was not born till 1882. That made her 21 years older than him, surely unlikely
for Victorian days?
A search through the marriage indexes showed that Rosena had indeed married
a Welsh Charles Pritchard in Cardiff in 1887 - yet this Charles was not only
just a labourer, but was also illiterate. I could not question uncle Fred again
as he had died in the late 80s.
I could therefore only surmise at how or why he thought this man was the great
Charlie Pritchard of Wales and Newport.
Was uncle Fred's memory wrong, or perhaps did Rosena's Charlie spin a few stories
to an impressionable 14 year old boy about being THE Charles Pritchard?!...........We
shall never know.
But for us family historians, the moral of the story is, CHECK THE FACTS and
DON'T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU'RE TOLD!
CHARLES
MEYRICK PRITCHARD 1882-1916
Charles was born on September 20 in Newport, South Wales.
First appeared for Newport at age 18. Between 1901 and 1911 he played 220 games
for the club, captaining them from 1906 to 1909 - a popular captain. Though
badly injured in early 1908, he came back for the 1909/10 season, but retired
at the end of 1911.
He was a gentle, kind and charming man and was popular both as an officer and
as a rugby player. Joining up when war broke out in 1914, the Regimental War
Diaries show he was as much a hero on the battlefield as on the pitch.
From the War Diaries.........
"August 13th: The Battalion is congratulating itself today upon
the accomplishment of a quite successful raid on an enemy trench last night.
The whole object of the raid was the capturing of one or more Huns for the purpose
of discovering what enemy troops are now on our front - a matter of great importance
to the Higher Command. and this object was splendidly achieved by the capture
of a Bavarian. Unfortunately Captain Pritchard, the leader of the raiding party,
was severely wounded during the raid....... "
"August 14th: This morning we heard to our great sorrow that Captain C.M.Pritchard
has died of his wounds. The Battalion thus loses a very gallant officer and
a chivalrous, generous and large minded gentleman."
The Diary of Major E. Whitworth notes him as of "immense physique, over six
feet in height....and one of the most delightful companions in the Officer's
Mess" |
