Name
Clifford Jones
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
02/08/1917
25
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Second Lieutenant
Royal Welsh Fusiliers
15th Bn.
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
Not Yet Researched
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL
Panel 22.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Bushey Town Memorial, Royal Masonic School Memorial, Rickmansworth, Whitland, Carmarthenshire
Pre War
Born on 8 Feb 1892, Clifford Jones was the only son of Elizabeth A. and the Reverend Daniel Jones.
At the 1891 Census, his parents were living at Court Villa, Llangan East, Carmarthenshire. Daniel, a Baptist Minister, is aged 30 and Elizabeth is 25 years old. Their birthplaces are given as Llangeler in Carmarthenshire and Lampeter in Pembroke respectively. Also present are two visitors, Evan Jones and William Roberts, who are both Baptist Ministers.
At the 1901 Census, Clifford was nine years old and living with his parents and six-year-old sister, Gwen, at Bodlondeb in the parish of Llangan, Carmarthenshire. The birthplace for both children is Llangan.
Clifford’s father died in the last quarter of 1903; the death being recorded in the registration district of Narberth.
At the 1911 Census, 19-year-old Clifford is an arts student and boarding with three other students at the Ellis family residence in Aberystwyth. His birthplace is given as Whitland, Carmarthenshire. His 46-year-old mother and 16 year old sister, Gwen, were still living at Bodlonbed in Llangan. Also boarding with them is Morgan Jones, a Baptist Minister, and he and Gwen were married in the third quarter of 1915, the wedding being recorded in the Narberth registration district.
Clifford was educated at the County School, Whitland where he passed the Junior and Senior Certificate Examinations of the Central Welsh Board. He also obtained his ‘Honours Senior’, and subsequently won an Entrance Scholarship to Aberystwyth university. During the next two years he completed his BA course and in the third year took Honours in English. In October 1912, he entered Jesus College, Oxford and after two years there, took his BA with English Honours.
He joined the teaching staff at Royal Masonic School, Bushey in September 1915. During the short time he was at the School, he was universally liked by his colleagues and the boys for his unassuming character and his devotion to duty. [Source: Memorials of Masonians who fell in The Great War].
Wartime Service
According to Memorials of Masonians who fell in The Great War:
"Clifford was anxious to join up and it was only consideration for his widowed mother, who was dependent on him, that prevented him from enlisting earlier. However, he joined the Artists’ Rifles in January 1916, obtaining a commission with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers at the end of that year, before proceeding to Belgium where he served near Ypres. He took part in the great attack on July 1917 and was subsequently killed in action on 2 August 1917."
He was initially buried on the battlefield near Ypres and his body was later exhumed and re-interred at Dragoon Camp Cemetery. [Note: there is no record of his re-interment at Dragoon Camp and his name is recorded on the Menin Gate memorial]
His Commanding Officer, Major Edwards, wrote: “His handling of his men in the last attack was so heroic that, had he lived, he would have been recommended for distinction. In the attack on Passchendaele, all the officers in the Brigade had been killed with the exception of Captain Latto and Lieutenant Jones. Their handling of the men, who were marched up to consolidate the position, won the admiration of their superiors.”
His war service is also recorded in the Whitland War Memorial section of the West Wales War Memorial Project website, which states:
"Clifford Jones, Lieutenant, Royal Welsh Fusiliers ....... was commissioned into the 15th (London Welsh) Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers, which formed part of the 113th Brigade, 38th (Welsh) Division. The division embarked for France from Folkestone on 5th December 1915 disembarking at Boulogne the same day. During the winter and spring of 1916 the Battalion held the line in the Armentieres sector, an at the end of May, 1916 moved south with the remainder of the 38th (Welsh) Division to the Somme area, in readiness for the first battle of the Somme. After surviving the Battle of Mametz Wood, Clifford moved with the Battalion to reserve in the Ypres sector, and the Division didn't fight again for almost twelve months, until they were brought into the line north of Ypres, tasked with taking of the village and strongpoint of Pilckem. Clifford was Killed in Action three days into the Battle of Pilckem, on 2nd August, 1917, aged 25. He is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial. Clifford is commemorated in the Memorial Hall."
Clifford is commemorated on the Bushey Memorial.
Additional Information
Additional information provided with kind permission of Bushey First World War Commemoration Project – Please visit www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk. Information on his wartime service also taken from the West Wales Memorial Project - Please visit https://ww1.wales/carmarthenshire-memorials/whitland-war-memorial
Acknowledgments
Andrew Palmer
Dianne Payne - www.busheyworldwarone.org.uk Malcolm Lennox, Old Masonians Association, Jonty Wild
