James Llewellyn Davies VC

Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

 (16 March 1886 – 31 July 1917) was a Welsh

Welsh people

The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...

 recipient of the Victoria Cross

Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and Commonwealth

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...

 forces.

Davies was born in March 1886 in the Ogmore Vale

Ogmore Vale

Ogmore Vale is a village in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales on the River Ogmore.The village's main source of income came from coal mining. Up until the year 1865, the Ogmore valley was a quiet, isolated, rural hill farming community of less than ten farms and a few cottages...

, Glamorgan

Glamorgan

Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...

 to John and Martha Davies. He married Elizabeth Ann Darby, who was originally from Nantymoel

Nantymoel

Nantymoel is a village and includes the formerly separate village of Pricetown in the county borough of Bridgend, Wales on the River Ogmore, and is one of the constituent villages of the Ogmore Valley...

. As a corporal

Corporal

Corporal is a rank in use in some form by most militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations. It is usually equivalent to NATO Rank Code OR-4....

 in the 13th Battalion, The Royal Welch Fusiliers, he performed a deed on 31 July 1917 at Polygon Wood, Pilkem, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 which won him the Victoria Cross. However, he died of wounds received during the attack.

On 20 October 1917, the King presented Corporal Davies’ Victoria Cross to his widow and his eldest son. His VC is now on display at the Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum

Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum

The Royal Welch Fusiliers Museum is a museum dedicated to the history of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, an historic regiment of the British Army.- Location :The museum is located within Caernarfon Castle in Caernarfon, Gwynedd, North Wales.-The museum:...

, Caernarfon Castle

Caernarfon Castle

Caernarfon Castle is a medieval building in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. There was a motte-and-bailey castle in the town of Caernarfon from the late 11th century until 1283 when King Edward I of England began replacing it with the current stone structure...

, Caernarfon

Caernarfon

Caernarfon is a Royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,611. It lies along the A487 road, on the east banks of the Menai Straits, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is to the northeast, while Snowdonia fringes Caernarfon to the east and southeast...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

.

He was buried in Canada Farm Cemetery (Plot II, B.18), Ieper, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

.

Further reading

• Details at the Victoria Cross website
• Monuments to Courage
  Monuments to Courage
  Monuments to Courage: Victoria Cross Monuments and Headstones is a two-volume book by David Harvey on the last resting places of 1,322 of the 1,350 recipients of the Victoria Cross. The 896 page book has over 5,000 illustrations and a large index enabling one to cross reference with ease. There is...
  
   (David Harvey, 1999)
• The Register of the Victoria Cross
  The Register of the Victoria Cross
  The Register of the Victoria Cross is a reference work that provides brief information on every Victoria Cross ever awarded: it provides a summary of the deed, along with a photograph of the awardee and the following details where applicable or available; rank, unit, other decorations, date of...
  
   (This England, 1997)
• VCs of the First World War - Passchendaele 1917 (Stephen Snelling, 1998)