This month marks 110 years since a woman from the Machynlleth area married a German army officer. When Alison Bonsall married Oberleutnant Eugen von Rieben, her brother Vivian, of the Welsh Regiment, was his best man.

Two years later, the men were on opposing sides in the First World War, and the German officer never returned to his wife.

Alison’s story is now available to anyone who passes Aberdovey golf course and scans the HistoryPoints QR codes there. Alison was a champion golfer and president of the club.

Scanning the QR codes connects people’s mobile phones to this web page:

https://historypoints.org/index.php?page=aberdyfi-golf-course.

The page is also available to anyone browsing the internet at home.

HistoryPoints researcher, Dr Hazel Pierce, used German archives to shed light on the husband’s later life, and when the QR code is scanned, or the page visited online, a picture of Alison appears, along with the following information:

“Club membership has always been made up of local residents and visitors in equal proportions.

“Many families, local and from away, return generation after generation, one such family being the Howells of Plas Penhelig, behind the Penhelig Arms Hotel.

“One of the family’s nieces, Alison Bonsall of Machynlleth (pictured), married Oberleutnant Eugen von Rieben of the German army’s 8th Dragoons in October 1912.

“His best man was her brother, Vivian Bonsall of the Welsh Regiment, standing in for a Dragoons comrade who had been urgently recalled to Germany.

“Germany’s Crown Princess telegraphed her best wishes.

“Two years later, Alison’s husband and brother were fighting on opposing sides in the First World War.

“Eugen took part in Germany’s invasion of Belgium but didn’t return to his young wife. They were divorced by 1939. She died in 1971. Eugen was settled in Germany by 1921, having become a Major, and died in 1955.”

It goes on: “As Alison Rieben, she was a major figure at Aberdovey Golf Club. She won the Welsh ladies’ golf championship in 1929 and 1936, and was the club’s president in 1962. Her daughter Isabella was Welsh champion in 1932, 1949 and 1951.”

To visit the HistoryPoints website, visit https://historypoints.org/index.php?page=aberdyfi-golf-course

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