Sargeant John Henry Jones

[Alan Fewtrell]

Hi Guys, researching Sgt John Henry Jones (20092) Welsh Regiment who was killed in Belgium 4th September 1917. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who can offer information on his war service. Kind regards Alan

[Alan Fewtrell]

15th Battalion

[sr97]

Sgt. John Henry Jones enlisted in Llanelly, Wales. The 15th Welsh regiment was raised in Swansea in November 1914, preliminary training was carried out at Rhyl. In 1915, the battalion grouped with the 114th Brigade, 38th Welsh Division and in that Summer moved to Morn Hill Camp where they completed training before leaving from Folkestone to France on 5/12/1915. By the end of 1916, the Battalion moved on to the Somme, fighting in the First Battle on July 1st.

 

By September 1917, they had moved to the Armentieres district in Northern France, right on the border of Belgium, which would coincide with Jones' death month. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Acknown]

The 38th Division had successfully attacked Pilkem Ridge on 31 July 1917. It then fought around St. Julian and Langemark. On 16 August 1917 the Battalion was temporarily attached to the 20th (Light) Division (West Wales War Memorial Project) for the Battle of Langemarck.

The 15th Battalion's War Diary is available at The National Archive (TNA) and at the moment you can download it for free: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7354161. On 04 Sep 17, the Battalion, which had been in reserve, relieved 1/RWF at Langemark, reporting one OR killed and one OR wounded. No names are given nor other details, but I assume the killed soldier was John. Forgive me if you already know all this, but soldiers were frequently killed in the line, even if a major attack was not going on, by the effects of artillery fire, snipers and the like. The 15th Welsh reports similar casualty rates on other days of that month.

If you have Ancestry, you might look at his Soldiers Died in the Great War entry, Register of Soldiers Effects entry, Medal Index Card (MIC) and Medal Roll entry.  I can't find his Service Record, so it probably has not survived.

Acknown

TNA link seems not to work at the moment. If you can't get in, try loading '15 battalion welsh regiment war diary' into your search engine of choice and you should get there.

I assume you have been to his CWGC page, but here's a link: https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1633831/jones,-john-henry/.

Edited 28 June , 2020 by Acknown

[Matlock1418]

18 hours ago, sr97 said:

preliminary training was carried out at Rhyl

I'm presuming that probably was at Kinmel Park

If so - This may be of interest https://rhylhistoryclub.wordpress.com/2016/04/24/kinmel-park-camp or lead you to further reading.

Other books are available!

[I'm going to have look anyway as my GF trained there later in the war and a cousin of his, an ex-pat Briton/Canadian, served there too - I'm somewhat relieved, not at the time of the 1919 trouble]

:-) M

Edited 29 June , 2020 by Matlock1418
tpyo

[Alan Fewtrell]

Guys, as ever the information and assistance you provide is excellent, thank you for taking the trouble to respond.

Alan