Pte 89372 Thomas William Jones

• Age: 22
• From: Rock Ferry, Cheshire
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• Died Tuesday 11th February 1919
• Commemorated at: Huy (la Sarte) Cc
  Panel Ref: I.B.22

Thomas William Whittaker Jones was born in Birkenhead in the September quarter 1895 the son of Edward Jones and his wife Sarah (nee Williams). His parents were both born in Chester and married in 1889.

On the 1891 census the parents were living with one child Ellen, at 24 Faulkner Street in Hoole. 

On the 1901 census Thomas is aged 5 living at 17 Planet Street, Rock Ferry. His father Joseph E. (sic) is a 44 year old labourer, his mother Sarah is 38 and his siblings are Ellen aged 12 and Joseph aged 7. 

The 1911 Census says his mother had six children, and that two had died. The GRO Index suggests that the two children who died may have been Charles (born 1891, died aged 0) and Edward (born 1900, died aged 0). Thomas is a 16 year old butcher boy employed in a butcher's shop. He is living at 45 Livingstone Road, Lower Tranmere. His father, is aged 56, and brother Joseph aged 18 both work as labourers in soap manufacturing,  his sister Annie is aged 6. 

Thomas originally served with the 13th Battalion of the Cheshire Regiment as Private 940. Based on the amount of the War Gratuity, Thomas enlisted soon after the war broke out, in August 1914. He was featured on a group photograph of the No.6 group of Cheshire Scouts that was published in the Birkenhead News on 07th July 1915.

He arrived in France on 25th September 1915.

He did appear in a casualty list of ‘shell shocked’ Wirral Pals that was published in the Birkenhead News on 24th May 1916.

As Thomas William Whittaker Jones, he married Hilda Mary Lloyd on 27th June 1918 at Rock Ferry.

He was subsequently transferred very late in the war, to the 18th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 89372.

After their last engagement of the war at Marbaix, the battalion arrived at Huy at 15:15 hours on 15th December 1918, where the billets were described in the War Diary as "very good". The men were kept busy with educational classes and training. Christmas Day was celebrated with a roast pork dinner, with Christmas pudding and free beer. The battalion marched off from Huy on 10th February, on its way to Antwerp for embarkation to England.

Thomas sadly died of influenza at No.50 Casualty Clearing Station, France on 11th February 1919, aged 23.

He now rests at Huy (La Sarte) Communal Cemetery in Belgium where his headstone bears the epitaph:

"GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN"

The 50th (Northumbrian) Casualty Clearing Station was posted to Huy from January to May 1919. Huy is a town on the river Meuse, between Namur and Liege. The cemetery of La Sarte serves the hamlet of that name. It stands high up the hill on the south side of the town, commanding wide views of the Meuse valley.  The Communal Cemetery contains a plot of 109 Commonwealth burials of the First World War and seven war graves of other nationalities.

His effects were sent to his widow, Hilda, who received a War Gratuity of £26 and was awarded a pension of 13/9d a week, then living at 66 Russell Road, Rock Ferry.

Hilda remarried in 1926. It appears no children were born to the marriage.

In 1939 she was living with her widowed mother, Rebecca Lloyd, and her siblings in Mersey Lane, Birkenhead. Her husband, Charles Stanley Hope, is found in Ellesmere Port, in the same household as a divorced woman he will marry after Hilda's death.

Hilda passed away on 4th May 1970 at the age of 73.

There are three fallen by the name of T. Jones commemorated on the Men of Birkenhead Cenotaph; it is not known if Thomas is one of them.

We currently have no further information on Thomas William Jones. If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.