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Stanley and Thomas Jones Remembered on Bishopston and Murton Memorials

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Extra Information by Conrad Heath

The Jones Brothers,
Stanley and Thomas
9th Battalion Devonshire Regiment, 1915

Remembered with Honour on

Saint Teilo’s Church, Bishopston
and Murton Methodist Church

Great War Memorials

Thomas and Stanley JONES, Killed in Action [Updated details below]

Extra Information by Conrad Heath

As an amateur historian with an interest in the 8th & 9th Battalions of the Devonshire Regiment in WW1, I was particularly fascinated with the details of the Jones brothers from Bishopston who served in the 9th Devon’s and were killed during the war.

I thought I’d try and shed some light on the slight confusion surrounding the dates that the Jones brothers died. Lance Corporal Stanley Jones and his brother Private Thomas Jones

The 8th & 9th Devon’s were formed shortly after the outbreak of war, in August/September 1914, as part of Kitchener’s New Army of volunteers. Both battalions were eventually placed in the 20th Brigade in the 7th Division and after undergoing intense training in England, they were sent to France at the end of July 1915. Two months later on the 25th September 1915, they went into battle on the first day of the Battle of Loos. At the time it was the largest British offensive of the First World War and witnessed the Army’s first use of poisonous Chlorine gas. The Battle (25th Sept – 16th Oct 1915) involved six British divisions, resulting in over 60,000 casualties, of whom nearly 8,000 were killed.

The 20th Brigade were one of the lead attack Battalions on one sect0ion of the 25-mile-long front, with the 8th Devon’s leading the assault and the 9th Devon’s being in battalion reserve.

There were a number of issues that occurred on the first day of Loos that all worked against the offensive being a success. The four-day, preliminary bombardment did not destroy the barbed wire German defences, as many of the shells did not detonate, forcing the advancing troops to congregate in the narrow gaps that had been made in the wire and allowed the German machine guns to mow the troops down as they attempted to advance.

The plan behind the release of gas was for the wind to blow the gas in front of the advancing British troops and into the German trenches and overcome the Germans before the British reached them. However, the wind was not blowing strong enough, nor was it blowing in the right direction, therefore the gas in some sectors caused British casualties as it hung in the air.

Despite these problems the British made good progress in many sectors, including the area in front of the 20th Brigade advance, however due to the heavy losses, they required the reserve troops to be in close support to enable the gains to be consolidated. The British high command opted to defer sending the reserve troops up until late in the day, which resulted the British being unable to hold off the German counter attacks, forcing the British to give up the gains they had made and, in some cases, retreat to the trenches they had started from.

One consequence of the Devon’s being forced back was that those who had been killed during the initial advance were left out in No Man’s Land, and any attempt to recover the bodies would have resulted in further casualties. That is why, all but a few of those Devon’s that were killed on the day, have no known grave and are commemorated on the Loos Memorial in Dud Corner Cemetery, not far from where they fell.

There was intense fighting on the 25th September and the Official Battalion Diaries record that in the late evening of the 26th September 1915, the 8th & 9th Devon’s were relieved from the front line and spent the next few days in support, and on the 29th September both Devon battalions moved back to billets in Beuvry. The CWGC records the deaths in the 8th Devon’s on the 25th of September , however it records the deaths in the 9th Devon’s on 30th September? The Official War Diary of the 9th Devon’s on 30th September reads: “ 2:30am till 6:00am Companies marched out of trenches independently to Noyelles & thence, by battalion into billets to Beuvry.

I’m unsure why this is, but there is no evidence that the 9th Devon’s were in action on the 30th of September.

Each battalion would have gone into battle with approximately 750- 800 infantry soldiers. The casualties in the 8th Devon’s being 8 officers killed, 10 Wounded, 1 Missing and 149 other ranks killed, 343 wounded, and 128 missing - totalling 639 casualties.

The 9th Devon’s having 3 officers killed, 12 Wounded, 0 Missing - 59 Killed other ranks, 326 Wounded, 76 Missing - totalling 476 casualties.

in summary, it is my understanding that although Lance Corporal Stanley Jones is recorded by CWGC, as having been killed on the 30th September, he would have actually been killed on the 25th September. He has no known grave, and his name appears on the Loos Memorial.

As for Private Thomas Jones, who was reported in the local newspaper as to having “fallen” on 25th September 1915, the GWGC records his date of death as 22nd October 1915, nearly one month after the 25th September and is buried in the Guards Cemetery, Windy Corner, Cuinchy.

My initial thought was that Thomas was badly wounded on the battle field on 25th and died of wounds on the 22nd October as the cemetery was close to a dressing station. However the period between 25th September & 22nd October is too long and if he was badly wounded he would have been sent further back to receive the appropriate treatment.

Local newspaper cutting

The Devonshire Regiment History 1914-18, records Thomas as having been Killed in Action, and not Died of Wounds. By 22nd October the 9th Devon’s were back in the front line at Givenchy, which was a short distance from Cuinchy where Thomas was buried. The 9th Devon’s Diary for 22nd October, simply and briefly records “ 1 man killed by shell fire, 1 man killed by sniper and 3 men wounded by shell fire” CWGC record the three men from the 9th Devon’s died on the 22nd October and all three were buried in the Guards Cemetery, in Cuinchy. They were Private Norman Heal from Kingsbridge in Devon & Private Walter Booth from Rochdale.

So we do not know what happened to Thomas on the 25th September, but it appears that he survived the horrendous first day at Battle Loos , nor do we accurately know how he was killed on 22nd October, but it looks like he was either killed by shell fire or was shot by a sniper.

I noticed that there were also another two men from the 9th Devon’s, that are on the Bishopston, Roll of Honour, Hubert Jones and Samuel Griffiths. All four of these men feature in the terrific photograph reproduced below, showing Bishopston men in training in 1915.

Any further information on the any of those other soldiers that were in the photograph would be welcomed.

Conrad Heath

South Brent

Devon

18 November 2024