Cricket - like all areas of life was touched greatly by the Great War of 1914-18. Amongst the former Welsh cricketers the following lost their lives during World War I - Dyson Bransby-Williams, Archer Windsor-Clive and Morgan Lindsay.
Archer Windsor-Clive, played for Glamorgan and St. Fagans CC, and was the first cricketer of note, and one of the first officers to die during the Great War, with the talented cricketer losing his life just a fortnight or so after leaving British soil to fight with the British Expeditionary Force in the Battle of Mons.
The experiences of the family of Colonel Morgan Lindsay - one of the most prominent sporting country gentlemen in South Wales in the late 19th century - were further examples of the dreadful effect the Great War had on families throughout the U.K., with the Colonel and his wife losing three of their four sons during the hostilities, including two in the space of a week in March 1918.
Dyson Bransby Williams was one of thousands of souls who were broken either physically or mentally, - or both - by the horrors of War. Born in October 1877, he was the third son of civil engineer Morgan Bransby Williams of Killay House - a comfortable house with spacious grounds to the west of the town of Swansea. Cricket was in the Bransby Williams' blood with country house matches taking place in the grounds of his home, whilst his eldest son George created during the late 1880s a team called the Public School Nondescripts as the Bransby Williams boys, together with their well-heeled friends from other well-to-do families in the area played matches against the leading club sides and other scratch elevens.
To find out more about these three individuals and many other of our fallen heroes, Glamorgan CCC have partnered with British Legion and Cowbridge CC to remember the lives of those that served their country during World War One. For more details click
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