Pte 17028 John Arthur Jones

• Age: 22
• From: St Asaph
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• K.I.A Saturday 1st July 1916
• Commemorated at: Danzig Alley Cem, Mametz
  Panel Ref: IV.T.6

17028 Private John Arthur JONES, 18^th Battalion KLR.

John Arthur Jones was born on 03rd January 1894 in St Asaph,  Flintshire, he was the youngest of five children born to Arthur Jones  and his wife Mary Ellen (nee Williams). Parents are listed as married on the 1881 census at Post Office Lane, Denbigh but no marriage record has been found. 

The 1891 Census shows the family are living at Green Gates, St Asaph. His father, Arthur, is a 34 year old, general labourer born in Llannefydd, Denbigh, whilst his mother is 33 and was born in Denbigh. Children listed as; David 9 b.Denbigh, Henry 7 b.St Asaph, Mary 5 b.St Asaph, and Robert aged 6mths b.St Asaph. 

The 1901 Census shows the family are living at 43 Willard Street, Bootle.  John Arthur is 7 years old and lives with his parents and four siblings. His father, Arthur, is a 44 year old, general labourer born in Llannefydd, whilst his mother is 43 and was born in Henllan, Denbigh. John's siblings are listed as; David an 18 year old bricklayer's carter, Henry a 16 year old machinist, Mary a 14 year old domestic servant and Robert aged 10. 

His father, Arthur, died aged 45 just after the census in the June quarter of 1901. 

The 1911 Census finds the family are now living at 113 Thornton Road, Bootle. John is now 17 years of age and is employed as a junior commercial clerk. He lives with his 52 year old widowed mother and three siblings who are listed as; Henry a 27 year old hunter for the London & N.W.Railway, Mary a 24 year old tailoress working in a dye works and Albert a 20 year old tonnage clerk for London & N. W. Railway.

John enlisted in Liverpool on 31st August 1914 joining the 18th Battalion as Private 17028. Prior to the war he was employed as a clerk.

From the 23^rd September 1914 he was billeted at Hooton Park Race Course and remained there until 03^rd December 1914 when they moved into the hutted accommodation at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 18th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

He sailed to France with his Battalion on board the SS Invicta on 07th November 1915.

He was killed in action at Montauban on the 01^st July 1916 aged 22 years.

18^th Battalion Diary

At 6.30am the artillery commenced an intensive bombardment of the enemy’s trenches. Zero Hour – 7.30 am – the battalion commenced to leave their trenches and the attack commenced. The attack was pressed with great spirit and determination in spite of heavy shelling and machine gun enfilade fire which caused casualties amounting to 2/3rds of the strength of the Battalion in action. The whole system of German trenches including the Glatz Redoubt was captured without any deviation from the scheduled programme. Consolidated positions and made strong points for defence against possible counter attacks.

Graham Maddocks provides more detail concerning the events of the day:

As the first three waves began to move forward towards the German reserve line, known as Alt Trench and then on to the Glatz Redoubt itself, they suddenly came under enfilading fire from the left. This was from a machine gun which the Germans had sited at a strong point in Alt Trench. The gun itself was protected by a party of snipers and bombers, who, hidden in a rough hedge, were dug into a position in Alt Trench, at its junction with a communication trench known as Alt Alley. These bombers and snipers were themselves protected by rifle fire from another communication trench, Train Alley which snaked back up the high ground and into Montauban itself. The machine gun fire was devastating and it is certain that nearly of the Battalion’s casualties that day were caused by that one gun.  

Lieutenant Colonel Edward Henry Trotter  wrote in the conclusion of his account of the days action:

I cannot speak to highly of the gallantry of the Officers and men. The men amply repaid the care and kindness of their Company Officers, who have always tried to lead and not to drive. As laid down in my first lecture to the Battalion when formed, in the words of Prince Kraft:

“Men follow their Officers not from fear, but from love of the Regiment where everything had always and at all times gone well with them”.    

Joe Devereux in his book A Singular Day on the Somme gives the Casualty Breakdown for the 18^th Battalion as Killed in Action 7 Officers and 165 men and of those who died in consequence of the wounds 3 Officers and 19 men a total of 194 out of a total loss for the four Liverpool Pals Battalions of 257.

He now rests at in Dantzig Alley Cemetery, Grave IV T 6. 

The village of Mametz was carried by the 7th Division on 1 July 1916, the first day of the Battle of the Somme, after very hard fighting at Dantzig Alley (a German trench) and other points. The cemetery was begun later in the same month and was used by field ambulances and fighting units until the following November. The ground was lost during the great German advance in March 1918 but regained in August, and a few graves were added to the cemetery in August and September 1918. At the Armistice, the cemetery consisted of 183 graves, now in Plot I, but it was then very greatly increased by graves (almost all of 1916) brought in from the battlefields north and east of Mametz and from certain smaller burial grounds including:

VERNON STREET CEMETERY, CARNOY, in the valley between Carnoy and Maricourt, at a place called "Squeak Forward Position". 110 soldiers who died in July-October 1916 were buried here by the 21st Infantry Brigade and other units.

Dantzig Alley British Cemetery now contains 2,053 burials and commemorations of the First World War. 518 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to 17 casualties known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of 71 casualties buried in other cemeteries, whose graves were destroyed by shell fire.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker.

John Arthur is also remembered on the following Memorials;

Bootle Civic Memorial

St Matthew's Parish Church, situated on Stanley Road, Bootle.

Soldiers Effects and Pension to mother Mary E., 1 Rufford Road, Bootle.

His mother died ,aged 59, in 1920 leaving just children Mary and Robert on the 1921 Census at Rufford Road.  

We currently have no further information on John Arthur Jones, if you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.