Rugby Player Ferme Olivier Cemetery

Major B R Lewis. Authors image

Wales - Major Brinley Richard Lewis, Mentioned in Despatches, Commanding Officer, ‘B’ Battery, 122nd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery. Killed 2 April 1917, age 26. Grave III.C.1. Son of David and Margaret Lewis, Tanyrallt, Pontardawe, South Wales. His parents owned the Glantawe iron works in Pontardawe. Known as ‘Bryn’ he was educated at Swansea Grammar School and captained the school team and represented the Wales Schoolboy team. He played for the Swansea XV when age seventeen and regularly played for them during his vacations. While studying at Trinity College, Cambridge he gained three 'Blues' when he was selected for three consecutive Varsity games from 1909 to 1911. At various times he also played for the London Welsh and the Barbarians. Lewis gained his first cap for an inexperienced Welsh team against Ireland in 1912, the team was not helped when Lewis's teammate Tom Williams broke his arm and continued playing in the second half of the game. Lewis was back the next year in the 1913 Championship, for his second and last cap, again against Ireland. Lewis scored two tries in the game which saw Wales win narrowly. He was working as an article clerk in Swansea in 1914 when he joined the Glamorgan Yeomanry in October 1914. He then joined the 38th Welsh Division and went with the division to France on Christmas Day 1915. He fought on the Somme and at Ypres. He was appointed Commanding Officer of ‘B’ Battery. While eating breakfast with Second Lieutenant David Alexander Carnegie, they were both killed instantaneously when a shell landed on the dugout. Second Lieutenant David Alexander Carnegie, ‘B’ Battery, 122nd Brigade, Royal Field Artillery.  Killed 2 April 1917, age 20. Grave III.C.II. He was the son of MP Colonel the Hon. Douglas Carnegie. They are buried next to each other.