209195 Pte. John Jones British Army 1/6th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers from:Byker, Newcastle upon Tyne, (d.26th Oct 1917) My uncle, John (Jackie) Jones, was killed at Paschendale on the 26th of October 1917; he was about 18 years old. My father told me about his brother when I was growing up and told me that John was “blown up†and had no known grave. This was sadly all the family ever knew about the loss of this young man.
I began to research my family history in 1998 and tried to find out about this young man. I contacted the War Graves Commission and was able to obtain his service number, date of death, place of death and a copy of the war diary for that day. I was then able to tell my elderly father a bit more about John. In 2006 I saw an article in our local newspaper about a family who had found a letter from World War 1 when they were clearing a relative’s home. The letter was from a young man named Joseph Lawrence informing his family that his brother Sammie Lawrence had been killed. There was also a photograph of Sammie in uniform in the newspaper. The family who found the letter were contacted by someone doing research about the Northumberland Fusiliers; her name is Katie Carr of Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne. Katie informed them that Sammie was killed on 26 October 1917 at Paschendale!! The same day as John Jones. I contacted Katie and she was able to give me a lot of information. She sent me a copy photograph of the Tynecot memorial showing John’s inscription. She also gave me a copy of the medal card for John showing the Victory Medal.
John was killed on 26th October and the war diary says “during the 26th the Batt. suffered about 20 casualties from shell fireâ€, we presume John to have been one of these men. Kate was then able to tell me about Sammie Lawrence and that he was buried with two or three others near a place now called Tranquil House, but was then Pascal Farm. The war diary mentions Pacal Farm saying on 27 October the 6th Batt. “Remained in shell holes in the neighbourhood of Pascal Farmâ€. The battalion suffered about 30 further casualties from shell fire. Kate gave me copies of trench maps too. So we now know more or less where John lies and Kate did say that some of the men had graves but the graves were often lost. For comfort I like to think that John had a grave and may have been with Sammie Lawrence. Of course we will never know.
Lastly I have been able to have John’s name added to the Roll of Honour in the church where he was baptised. I was helped in this by a wonderful man called Thomas Webster who looked after the clock of the church, St. Ann’s on City Road, Newcastle upon Tyne. I was taking photographs of the church one day for my family history research when Tommy asked me if I wanted to look inside. We discovered he was born in the same street as my dad’s family and he showed me the Roll of Honour, without John’s name. He then helped me to have the name added and a service of dedication was held for John. They read out his name now every year on the Sunday nearest to the date he died. John was never forgotten by his family and now there is a living memory of this very young man who never came home to his family.
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