JONES, HAROLD

Born 05/02/1915, Lincolnshire

Died 02/12/1940, Long Eaton

Buried 09/12/1940

4862123, Private, Leicestershire Regiment, 70th Battalion, Infantry

Son of Harold Jones (b 1892) and Betsy Ann Briggs (b 1893), married 1914 in Cleethorpes

Brother of Florence (b 1923)

1939 register – Harold is living with his parents and sister Florence at 77 Carr Lane. His father is a turf agent, Florence is an assistant dressmaker and Harold is working as a petrol motor van driver.

Address at time of death: 77 Carr Lane, Cleethorpes

Grave ref: Section AA, Grave I14

A report in the Derby Daily Telegraph on 5th December 1940 reveals the tragic details of Harold Jones’ death.

“DON’T GRIEVE’, NOTE

Found on Shot Soldier

A note found on a young soldier who shot himself in a railway compartment of the Lincoln-Derby train on Monday begged his family not to grieve over him, it was stated at a Long Eaton inquest yesterday.

The soldier was Private Harold Jones (25), of 77, Carr Lane, Cleethorpes, and a verdict of “Suicide by shooting himself with a Service rifle while the balance of his mind was disturbed” was recorded by the District Coroner, Mr A.N. Whiston.

The Coroner said that he would not read the note, which was private, but it did say how happy the dead man had been at home, and begged his family not to grieve.

HIGHLY STRUNG

Harold Jones said that his son had been home for several days’ leave, and although he had seemed moody and worried for a day or two, he appeared quite normal when he left on Monday afternoon to return to camp. He was highly strung and inclined to take matters to heart.

John Ernest Linnett, a travelling ticket collector, of Hasland, near Chesterfield, said that he found Jones dead with a Service rifle, the barrel pointing to his head, in his hand. There was a severe wound in the temple.”

Harold was one of many servicemen upon whose mental state the war seems to have inflicted terrible damage. In the first three months of 1940 alone, there are at least two dozen newspaper reports of servicemen committing suicide. The men came from a wide age range and were by no means confined to the newly recruited. There were privates, majors, captains, lieutenant colonels, sergeant majors, warrant officers, quarter masters, flight lieutenants and gunners. 

Reasons given for suicide included suicide pacts with lovers, reports of depression and melancholia, financial difficulties, desertion, disappointment at not being able to continue in a trade in the army, being badly overworked, pain and worry, sleeplessness, mistaken belief that people considered the victim a coward and grief at a loved one’s death.

Other more unusual stories included an apprentice naval officer, a member of the gun crew, who hanged himself because he “did not like to hear the bang of the gun” and the sergeant major who poisoned himself because he could not get on with army rations after having all of his teeth removed.

In some cases, no real reason at all could be given for the person killing themselves, with some being described as a bit out of sorts, but not behaving in a way that would suggest they were likely to take their own lives. 

These stories suggest that nothing much has changed in the last 75 years and that men in the midst of war would have been even more reluctant to seek help for their mental problems than they are today. A letter written by Second-Lieutenant Leonard Dyke (33), a member of the bomb disposal squad, sums up the misplaced feelings of shame and inadequacy that would have been felt by many. Dyke shot himself a few weeks after Harold Jones.

“If I should die it was because I was ashamed of my weak and puny efforts beside those of my gallant comrades in the Army who, under most difficult and trying circumstances performed miracles. I tried too hard, worried, and then completely lost confidence in myself. I seem to be driven on by some inexorable fate to a doom which involved everyone I love.”