This soldier’s story is told in the order that it unfolded through the research process.
The Register of Soldiers’ Effects in which the army calculated what monies were owed to deceased soldiers and which is accessible on www.ancestry.co.uk includes an entry for Private 3424 William A Jones of the Welsh Guards. It gives us some additional pieces of information which are helpful when researching someone with such a common name as William A Jones. The entry tells us that his middle name was Augustis (their spelling). It says that he died at No 19 Casualty Clearing Station in France. The army made two payments to his widow Anne totalling £11 ..8sh ..1d.
A William Augustis Jones was recorded in the census of 1911 living at James Street Wrexham with a family of siblings. Head of the household was Robert Samuel Jones who was 28, single and who worked at Llay Quarry. He had been born in Ireland. His listed siblings were Albert Henry 23, a Railway Fireman who had been born in Colchester, Emily Mary Jones was 25 and had been born in Dublin, Blanche Isabelle Jones was 21 and had been born in Woolwich (Both of the sisters were the housekeepers), William Augustis was 15 and worked in a leather works. He had been born in Wrexham according to this census. Clearly this was a much travelled family. Some of the locations suggest a military connection. Was this ‘our’ William Augustus’?
We know that William married and his wife was Anne S Jones. Her address on his Commonwealth War Grave Certificate was Nant yr Ogo, Meliden.
UK Soldiers who died in The Great War 1914 -19, accessible on ‘Ancestry’ includes an entry for William, A Jones – Private 3424 in the Welsh Guards. It confirms all the regimental details as at the top of this page and adds that he was born in Cerrig y Drudion Denbighshire and enlisted in Wrexham. This source tells us that he ‘Died’ (as opposed to Died of wounds or killed in action) which generally means illness or an accident.
There is an index card for him in The Flintshire Roll of Honour at the County Record office in Hawarden which says he ‘died of disease’.
The National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administration) includes an entry for one William Augustus Jones of The Lion Hotel Cerrig y Drudion, Denbighshire Farmer and Hotel Proporietor who died on 16th July 1908. Probate was gtanted to his widow Amey Jones – £4,465 ..7sh ..7d. Were these our soldier’s parents? Seems a coincidence – the name Augustus and the place Cerrig y Drudion. I have not been able to prove any connection.
We would welcome any help that anyone can offer with this soldier’s story. There are a number of questions still unanswered and some facts in this account that need to be proved.
