Nigel Peever Posted 22 February , 2009 Share Posted 22 February , 2009 Hi Annette, I've got a relative, a James Henry Jones, the family story goes that he joined the macclesfield regiment underage and although his mum tried to get him out his father said "he's made his bed and will have to lie in it" he didn't come back apparently lost at the battle of ancre during the Somme november 1916 and commemorated on the thiepval monument. We've got this listed in a book called Dear Mrs Jones "killed in action 13th november 1916 battle of the somme during the battle of the ancre, enlisted macclesfield, commemorated on the thiepval memorial somme france. resided in crewe formerly 3765 regiment. worked as a signal box lad in the lnwr, crewe before enlisting underage. " it's just a coincidence about the jones name, the book is actually far more general but does have a specific photo of James Henry. (attached hopefully) This photo and information placed there by a relative of ours one generation up so I have no great cause to doubt it's accuracy. But here's the complication on the Commonwealth war gaves site we have Name:JONES, JAMES HENRYInitials:J HNationality:United KingdomRank:PrivateRegiment/Service:King's Shropshire Light InfantryUnit Text:7th Bn.Date of Death:13/11/1916Service No:26314Casualty Type:Commonwealth War DeadGrave/Memorial Reference:Pier and Face 12 A and 12 D.Memorial:THIEPVAL MEMORIAL so there seems to be a change in regiment or perhaps the wrong J H jones or something, as you can see fom the photo the cap badge isn't right, do you have any further information? It would be great to put the pieces together but equally useful to know if we're dealing with two different jigsaws. Kind regards and thanks for all you're doing here. Nigel Peever The above is my gran's older brother. Can't work out how to get the picture in so having a go anyway :-) it won't allow dynamic image tags or something in the url bit and the upload box doesn't seem to insert the image in the preview...well I'm new here ! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay dubaya Posted 22 February , 2009 Share Posted 22 February , 2009 Welcome to the forum Nigel The entry on CWGC is correct, James was killed in action whilst serving with the7th Bn. KSLI, on this day the battalion were in action at Serre. He was formerly Pte 3765 of the Cheshire Rgt. (as shown in the photo of James above). His MIC is available at the NA and possibly on ancestry.co.uk. It's worth getting hold of a copy as it may hold further information. SDGW lists James as born and a residenent of Monks Coppenhall, Crewe and enlisted at Macclesfield. There a several forum members who are experts with the KSLI so I'm sure that they'll pick up on this thread and give more precise details than I cheers, Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveE Posted 22 February , 2009 Share Posted 22 February , 2009 Nigel The photo is of James when he was in the Cheshire Regiment (Service No. 3765), he was subsequently transferred to the Shropshire Light Infantry as borne out by his Medal index Card on the NA website.... Medal card of Jones, James H Corps Regiment No Rank Cheshire Regiment 3765 Private King's Shropshire Light Infantry 26314 Private Date 1914-1920 Catalogue reference WO 372/11 Regards Steve edit: what Jon says.... I must learn to type faster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveE Posted 22 February , 2009 Share Posted 22 February , 2009 His Medal Index Card courtesy of Ancestry.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Peever Posted 23 February , 2009 Author Share Posted 23 February , 2009 Many, many thanks for taking the time to answer my query Jon and Steve and especially for pulling up that medal index card. Mum's coming over later to have a look. You're right about monk's coppenhall, in 1911 the census places them at 13 wood street Crewe in the parish of Monks Coppenhall, but james doesn't have his "james" listed just his "henry" he's aged 13 then making him just 18 in 1916, living with his mum and a step father 3 sisters and 3 step brothers. His mum Annie had remarried recently (less than 1 year) I'm not too troubled by the missing "james" as my gran was Ada Emily and there is no "Emily" either. I wonder if that means he was known as henry....who can say. but to explain partly why doubt had crept into my mind, another James Henry Jones aged 12 from monks coppenhall in crewe is also listed on the 1911 census at 46 naylor st crewe the son of an Ada Jones a widow aged 42 and again coincidentally ada was my gran's name, she's our james's brother.(are you following this?) So I'll have to look into whether there is some family connection there. The only other bit of information we have on this story is how my great grandmother Annie went to Crewe railway station every day to meet the troop trains (and we all know Crewe station would have a had a few trains going through) in the hope that James would be sent home, and one day enquiring from one soldier of any news became quite cross when she got no answer only to find out he'd lost his tongue.....nasty. I'm going to try and get a firm Birth date for james that should be easy, but any ideas how I would find out when he enlisted with macclesfield regiment to see precisely how young he was when he enlisted? Many thanks again. Nigel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_Hartley Posted 23 February , 2009 Share Posted 23 February , 2009 but any ideas how I would find out when he enlisted with macclesfield regiment to see precisely how young he was when he enlisted? Either from his own service papers which may have survived the fire in the 1940s (available at the National Archives and, also, through Ancestry.com. You could also search the service and pension papers on Ancestry to look for men in the 7th Battalion with numbers close to his - this would be accurate enough for your purposes. I've no expertise with the 7th Battalion but assuming that its recruitment patterns were similar to the 6th battalion, then I'd suggest his service number, 3765, means he probably joined up in mid to late 1916. I wonder if he's the J H Jones commemorated on Crewe War Memorial. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveE Posted 23 February , 2009 Share Posted 23 February , 2009 As John has suggested, 3763 Harold Hinett has some papers on Ancestry. He enlisted and was embodied into the 7th Battalion Cheshire Regiment on the 1st June 1915, I'd suggest James enlisted on that date or thereabouts as well. Regards Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Peever Posted 23 February , 2009 Author Share Posted 23 February , 2009 I've looked it up in the local paper and several names and numbers all appear together in the casualties december 16th edition 1916 Crewe Chronicle. W Houshin Crewe 26310 Shropshire Light Infantry Missing J H Jones Crewe 26314 S L I Missing G Tunstall Crewe 26321 S L I Missing E E Taylor Crewe 19164 S L I Missing Funny feeling, are they his friends did they all get wiped out together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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