Pte 30822 John William Jones

• Age: 18
• From: Crewe, Cheshire
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• D.O.W Thursday 12th October 1916
• Commemorated at: Dartmoor Cem, Becordel-becourt
  Panel Ref: II.D.55

John William Jones was born in 1898 in Crewe, Cheshire and was the eldest child of Thomas Jones and his wife Theresa Ellen (nee Thomason) who were married in 1897 at St Michael's Church, Coppenhall, Crewe. He was baptised on the 06th March 1898 at Coppenhall. 

The 1901 Census shows the couple living at 6 Holland Street in Crewe with 3 year old John. Thomas was working as a railway coal lifter, he was 24 and was born in Tarporley, Cheshire. Theresa, known as Ellen, was 23 and was born in Crewe.

The 1911 Census shows the family living at 23 Holland Street, Crewe. His father, Thomas, is now a scrap wheeler on furnace at the railway works. His mother, Ellen, is at home looking after three children. At the time of the Census they had been married for 14 years. John has a brother Thomas Edward aged 7, and a sister Gladys May aged 5. All the children were still at school.

Prior to the outbreak of war John had been employed as a fitter in a steel works.

He was a member of the Men’s Own Brotherhood and the Henry Street Primitive Church,

He enlisted in Crewe and was serving in the 18th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Private No 30822 when he died of wounds on the 12th October 1916, aged 18, during the Battle of the Transloy Ridges which was part of the ongoing Somme Offensive.

His death was reported in the Nantwich Guardian on 27th October 1916 

John William now rests at Dartmoor Cemetery, Becordel-Becourt, France, where his headstone bears the epitaph:

“AT REST IN THE LORD”

Dartmoor Cemetery was begun (as Becordel-Becourt Military Cemetery) in August 1915 and was used by the battalions holding that part of the line; its name was changed in May 1916 at the request of the 8th and 9th Battalions of the Devonshire Regiment. In September 1916, the XV Corps Main Dressing Station was established in the neighbourhood, but throughout 1917, the cemetery was scarcely used. It passed into German hands on 26 March 1918, but was retaken on 24 August by the 12th Division. There are five burials of August 1918, in Plot II, Row E. In adjoining graves in Plot I, Row A, are buried a father and son, who served in the same artillery battery, and were killed in action on the same day. Dartmoor Cemetery contains 768 Commonwealth burials of the First World War. The cemetery was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.

Soldiers Effects and Pension to mother Theresa Ellen, 78 Remer Street, Crewe. 

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