BORN – Oswestry
HOMEFRONT – Place / Occupation / WMCambrianRailway / War Memorials – Gobowen, Selattyn and Whittington
JOB – Warehouse Man
UNIT – 6 Bn King’s Shropshire Light Infantry
RANK – Private 33082.
THEATRE – Ypres / Third Ypres / Battle of Langemark. 6 Bn KSLI. 12 August 1917
DIED – DoW 12 August 1917. Aged 32/33.
BURIED – Canada Farm Cemetery. (CWGC)
Frank Jones was born in 1884 at Oswestry. His father and mother were John and Anne Jones; they would have 7 of 9 surviving children – John, Thomas, William, Mary, Ann, Frank and Sarah. They lived at Plas Wilmot Cottage on Weston Lane – the adjacent property is Plas Wilmot, childhood home of Wilfred Owen (b. 1896) and then home to Edward Shaw, Owen’s maternal grandfather. Frank’s father worked as a gardener (possibly for Edward Shaw?). By 1901 they had moved to live at 74 Upper Church Street: at that time Frank was working as a gardener’s labourer. In 1907 he married Mary Elizabeth Davies and they moved up to Holm Lea, Hengoed where they had 2 children; Harry, born in 1908 and Winifred in 1909. Some time after 1911 Frank quit his job as a gardener and began working as a warehouse man for Cambrian Railways.
It is not known exactly when Frank enlisted. There is a ‘Frank Jones’ who joined up in the Oswestry Pals in August 1914 – however, this Frank did not arrive in France until 1916. His medals cards also indicate that he spent time at the Home Base Depot. It is possible he had joined the Pals in 1914 but had remained in the UK until 1916 when he was posted overseas to 6 Bn KSLI. Frank died of wounds on 12 August 1917 at Canada Farm, a ruined farmhouse used as a dressing station during the 1917 Ypres Offensive and located around midway between Ypres and Poperinghe. It is not known when he was wounded. At the time of his wounding the battalion were employed on working and carrying parties supporting the fighting at Langemark. On the 12 August a working party was attacked and bombed by enemy aircraft; 19 men were wounded and it is most probable that Frank was one of these. He would have been evacuated to Canada Farm where he died. He is buried in Canada Farm Cemetery. His headstone reads ‘Rest in the Lord’ chosen by his widow Mary who had since remarried, she had also lost one of her children. Frank is also commemorated on the Cambrian Railway Memorial in Oswestry and on the war memorials at Gobowen, Selattyn and Whittington.
Acknowledgements.
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