BORN – Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant
HOMEFRONT – Place / Occupation / Llanyblodwel War Memorial
JOB – Bookbinder
UNIT – 1/1 Shropshire Yeomanry (10 Bn King’s Shropshire Light Infantry)
RANK – Private 1748
THEATRE – Middle East / Minia. 1/1 Shropshire Yeomanry. 24 October 1916.
DIED – Died of burns 24 October 1916. Aged 34.
BURIED – Cairo War Memorial Cemetery. (CWGC)
Thomas Lewis Jones was born 1882 at Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant. His parents were named Robert and Ann; his father worked as a general labourer. He was the second eldest of four children with elder brother John and younger siblings Maria and Robert. The family lived at (Mill Bank) Castle Buildings in Llanrhaeadr. By 1901 they had moved to Oswestry and were living at Cannister Cottages on Beatrice Street. His father was now working as a waggoner for Oswestry Corporation; Thomas was working as a bookbinder, possibly serving his apprenticeship at the Advertiser. At this time too he had joined the Shropshire Yeomanry; probably B Squadron based in Oswestry. In 1905 he married Martha Ann Evans; they would have one child, John, born in 1906 at Morton, Martha’s home. By 1911 they were living at Chapel House, Sweeney Mountain, Llynclys where Thomas was now working as a labourer at Whitehaven quarries. By the outbreak of war he had changed jobs again and was now working in Northwich at Messrs Brunner Mond and Co. His work involved supplying soap manufacturing; the company would later became part of ICI.
The 1/1 Shropshire Yeomanry – Thomas’s battalion – was mobilised at the outbreak of war. Originally a mounted unit, in November 1915 it was dismounted and re-designated as infantry men. They served as home defence until March 1916 and then sailed for Egypt. In Egypt they were posted to the Western Desert. Thomas is listed as Died of Burns 24 October 1916; his obituary records that he had been ‘seriously burnt about the arms and legs’ and succumbed to his injuries. He died at Minia about 200kms south of Cairo. The battalion was not in action at this time and it is probable his injuries were accidental. He was buried at Minia until March 1960 when the cemetery was discontinued as being too difficult to maintain. He was re-interred in Cairo War Memorial Cemetery on 30 April 1960.
Thomas, in addition to the British War and Victory Medals, was also awarded the Territorial Forces Medal– his medals were recently discovered at a car boot sale at Llangedwyn. His brother Robert also served: he was wounded in France in 1916 but survived the war.
Acknowledgements.
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