BORN – Llansaintffraid ym Mechain
HOMEFRONT – Place / Occupation – No details known. / St Oswald’s
UNIT – 5 Bn King’s Shropshire Light Infantry.
RANK – Private 23899
THEATRE – Ypres / Third Ypres / Menin Road. Fitzclarence Wood. 5 Bn King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. 16 Oct 1917.
DIED – KIA 16 October 1917. Aged 44.
COMMEMORATED – Tyne Cot Memorial (grave unknown). (CWGC)
David Jones cannot be positively identified in the census; information about him has been drawn only from his military records. He was born in 1873 at Llansaintffraid ym Mechain, Montgomeryshire, the son of John and Mary Ann Jones. It is not known where he was brought up. His only known sibling was a ‘foster’ sister, Miss Emma Jones, to whom his war gratuity was paid. His military records give his name as David Thomas Jones. He most likely enlisted 1915/16 aged 41 (or 42). David was not awarded the 1915 Star and therefore did not serve overseas before 1916. He enlisted in KSLI, joining 8 Battalion and spending time in the UK at the base depot before being posted to 5 Battalion. Given his age and late enlistment he was very likely a conscript – after January 1916 he would have just fallen within the age category.
He was KIA 16 October 1917. The battalion had moved up from Ridge Wood camp on 15 October. They had gone into the support trenches relieving the 8 Bn King’s Royal Rifles to the north of the Menin Road. There was heavy shelling during the relief. David Jones was one of 13 ORs missing or killed. He has no known grave and is commemorated on Tyne Cot Memorial and at St Oswald’s Church, Oswestry.
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