William David Jones

Memorial: South Gloucestershire war dead not on a local memorial

Regiment: Worcestershire Regiment

Rank and number: Private 35481

Parents: Charlotte Jones

Marital status: Married

Home address: 37 Church Road, Hanham, Bristol

Pre-war occupation: Bootmaker

Date of birth: c. 1876

Place of birth: Oldland

Date of death: 01/08/1917

Buried/Commemorated at: No known burial site. Commemorated at Ypres Menin Gate Memorial, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium. Not commemorated on a local memorial.

Age: 41

Further information:

William was born in Oldland, the son of Charlotte who was a single parent and a labourer at the paper factory. In 1881 Charlotte and William were living with Charlotte's widowed mother, Elizabeth. William married Mary Elizabeth Harris in 1897 and together they had two sons Stanley and Wilfred born in 1902 and 1907 respectively and a daughter Ivy born in 1913.

William with the 1st Battalion mobilised to France at the end of 1914 and would have fought in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle and the Battles of the Somme in 1916. William was killed in action the following year on the second day of the Battle of Passchendaele (the third battle of Ypres) which lasted from 31st July to 10th November 1917 and resulted in combined casualties estimated to be around 800,000 for both allies and Germans. William’s body was never identified, and The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, where he is remembered, bears the names of more than 54,000 soldiers who died in Belgium and have no known grave.

By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):

This information has been provided by Sarah Hands, Volunteer Researcher for the South Gloucestershire War Memorials Web Site.
By kind permission, this information is based on the following source(s):
https://www.cwgc.org/
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/
https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/