LANG, Josiah Pryor
Pte 32669,
16^th (Royal 1^st Devon Yeomanry and Royal North Devon Hussars) Battalion, Devonshire Regiment

Formerly Private 44908, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry

Enlisted - Cardiff, Glam
Residence - Nelson, Glam
Died - 23^rd October 1918 - Western Front - killed in action

Buried at Tournai Military Cemetery Allied Extn., Belgium Grave v.b.3 
Josiah Pryor Lang is also commemorated on the War Memorial at Albaston, Cornwall.

Records show that Josiah Pryor Lang was born at Calstock, Cornwall in about 1884.
The home address was a dwelling near Turnpike Road, Calstock. At the age of 17yrs he was shown as a copper miner.

On 1901 Census records he is shown as living at this address with:

Myrtle Lang who was eight years old, and,
William Lang who was 15 years old.
all the above including Josiah are shown as sons or daughter of the household head who is shown as Phillipa Peters.

There are others listed at the address and their relationship shown could be somewhat misleading.

Almond Peters (aged 16yrs) is shown as the son of the head, and,
Edith Peters (aged 20yrs) is shown as daughter of the head.

Records also show that in relation to Phillipa Peters, her husband is recorded as ‘abroad’.

There are records that show that in the third quarter of 1912, Josiah Pryor Lang married a Dionysia P. Beer.

Census reports for 1861 have shown the following:

A Josiah Lang who was born in 1831 at Chilstock, Calstock, Cornwall was married to a Maria Lang who was born in 1837.

Also in this household were shown:

Mary J Lang aged 7 Years,
Mary A Lang aged 5 years,
James Lang aged 4 years,
John L Lang aged 2 years, and,
Susan Lang who was aged 6 months.

I wonder if this Josiah Lang was the grandfather of Josiah Pryor Lang. If this is so then John or James may be Josiah Pryor’s father.

In 1871, this family is shown to have grown to include:
Thomas aged 7 years and
Rosey aged 5 years, and by 1881 there were three more additions, namely:
Robert, Lueis and Jessie.

By ages, Robert and Lueis could not be (or at least should not be) the father of Josiah Pryor, but Thomas could be.

There is no record of a father figure in the home for either census report.

Unfortunately, Census reports are not precise enough for me to be certain about any of the above details, but they may provide confirmation to an existing relative.

Excerpt from entry in guest book made by Janice Jones, grand-daughter of Josiah Pryor Lang:

He died on 23rd October 1918 five days after my father (Oswald Josiah Pryor Lang) was born and never knew he had a son ( his first son Josiah Pryor Lang ) died in infancy around 2 years of age which was why his wife Dionysia returned to Calstock in Cornwall for the birth of her 2nd son. He also had a daughter Dorcas Lang.

News:

Nov 16^th 1918.

Killed in action.

We regret to record the death in action of Private Josiah Lang, Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry, of Shingrig Road, Nelson. Deceased was a native of Cornwall but had resided at Nelson for a few years. He joined the forces last March and had only been a few weeks in France. The sad news was communicated to his friends at Nelson from Cornwall, where his wife and family have resided since he was called up. Prior to enlisting he worked at Penallta Colliery.

[Source: Merthyr Express]