Thomas Granville Jones was born in 1885 in Cwm – a hamlet not far from the village of Dyserth. In 1910 he married Myfanwy Pierce and according to the 1911 census they were living in Carlton Crescent, Rhyl. Both were Welsh speaking and at this time Thomas was employed as a grocer’s vanman. On the night of the census a serving soldier, Robert David Pierce, was staying with them. Was he Myfanwy’s younger brother?
Thomas signed up with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers around October 1914 and was reported missing in March 1918.
There are a couple of sources of information relating to his death. The Flintshire County Archive holds record cards which list the men from Flintshire who fought in WW1 including those who perished. Thomas’s card was filled in by a Lily Jones who gave his address as Chapel House, Cwm. She said he had served three and a half years in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and that he was killed on March 15th 1918.
The Register of Soldier’s Effects states he was reported missing on the 15th of March and that £5/7/4 was paid to his widow, Lily.
Was Myfanwy also known as Lily?
We know from the Medal Roll that Thomas was awarded The British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
His name is inscribed on the Ploegsteert Memorial in Belgium. The memorial commemorates more than 11,000 servicemen of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in this sector during the First World War and have no known grave.