Laugharne - Notable Natives

Notable Natives

The first Welsh soldier to win the Victoria Cross during the Great War of 1914-1918, Private William Charles Fuller, VC of the 2nd Battalion, Welsh Regiment, was born at Newbridge Road, Laugharne on 13 March 1884.

The Australian pastoralist and politician Arnold Wienholt was born at Laugharne on 22 January 1826. His brother Edward Wienholt, another Australian politician, was also born at Laugharne, on 28 March 1833.

The author and traveller James Augustus St. John was born at Laugharne on 24 September 1795.

The clergyman and one-time Dean of Gloucester Josiah Tucker was born at Laugharne in December 1713.

The one-time director of the Johnson Space Centre George Abbey is the son of Bridget Gibby, of Laugharne. Bridget was working in London when she met George's father, Sam Abbey, and the couple married before moving to Seattle, where George was born on 21 August 1932.

Joseph Arthur Hamilton Beresford, Australian naval commander, and hero of the capture of German New Guinea during the Great War, was born at Laugharne in 1861. His son, Arthur Edward Bathurst Beresford, was killed in France during the Great War.

Gary Pearce was one of the outstanding outside halves in Wales during the early 1980s, playing for Laugharne, Bridgend, Llanelli and Wales, before turning professional with Hull KR. He was born at Laugharne on 11 November 1960.

Bridget Bevan, known as Madam Bevan, was an educator, who was the main benefactor to the work of Griffith Jones, the father of the modern schooling system in Wales. She died at Laugharne in 1779.