Wilfred Raymond Jones
1896 - 1917
Wilfred Jones ('Fred') was born in 1896 in Yarrawonga, Victoria, Australia. He was the tenth child of John and Agnes Jones.
Wilfred became a farmer, living with his parents on a wheat-growing property called 'Erindale' at Berrigan, NSW. Australia was calling for volunteers to fight in World War I; so Wilfred enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 8 May 1916 at the age of 20.
Wilfred was about 5' 8" tall with blue eyes and light brown hair. He was sent to northern France into the terrible trench warfare of World War 1.
He became a Lance Corporal, number 2698 in the 46th Battalion, B company. Private D Wm Lowe reported that Wilfred was awarded 'his stripe' on the boat called 'Port Lincoln', whilst coming over from Australia.
Wilfred was 'attached for duty' to the 45th Battalion on 6 June 1917. Then he suffered a gun shot wound to the left thigh during the attack on Messines at about 10 am on 7 June 1917.
A report in the Australian Red Cross Society Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau Files said Wilfred was admitted to an aid station on 9 June in a 'very low condition'. Despite treatment by the surgeons he gradually became unconscious and died in the 1st Australian Casualty Clearing Station in Bailleul on 10 June 1917 aged 21 years.
He was buried in the Bailleul Military Cemetery on 11 June with Chaplain the Reverend Henry Vine conducting the service at the graveside.
Wilfred's father was forwarded his personal effects that included a letter and photo, a pipe, cigarette case, fountain pen and wrist watch.
Wilfred's mother wrote a letter to AIF Base Records at Melbourne, Victoria, on 19 October 1917 asking for further details about her son's death. She wrote:
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'... The papers(1) say the enemy bombed the dressing station and a doctor was killed and the nurses were trying to protect their patients by placing basins on their heads. ... my son, Lance Corporal Wilfred R Jones, reported died of wounds on the 10th June, left the firing line on the 8th June with a bullet in his hip and his mates state that they last saw him at the dressing station in good spirits and they said his wound was not at all serious but I received a letter from Sister Helen Tait in France saying "He was brought here (First Aus. Cas. Clearing Station) with such wounds and so collapsed from loss of blood that he did not live long, dying at 3.30 on the 10th June." As it is inconceivable that he could have returned to the firing line with a bullet in his hip, I fear he was fatally injured at the dressing station.... If you can tell me anything which will help to set my mind at rest on this matter, you will confer a great favour on his sorrowing mother. Agnes Jones' |
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The following death notice was inserted in The Argus, a Melbourne newspaper, on 29 June 1917: 'JONES. Died of wounds, on 10th June, at field dressing station, somewhere in France, Lance Corporal Wilfred Raymond Jones, dearly loved youngest son of John and Agnes Jones of "Erindale", Berrigan, NSW, aged 21 years 3 months. Duty nobly done.' Right: The grave of Wilfred Raymond Jones in the Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension, Nord. |
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On the grave of his father, John Jones, in the Berrigan Cemetery, there is a prominent inscription in memory of Wilfred Jones, saying:
'Also our beloved son, Wilfred, killed in France, 10th June 1917, aged 21 years.'
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Above: The memorial to Wilfred Jones in the Berrigan Cemetery, NSW.
Photograph kindly supplied by Tony Jones. |
(1) The newspaper report mentioned by Agnes Jones in her letter (shown above in the yellow box) was written by CEW Bean, official correspondent with AIF in France, on 30 August 1917. It was published in various newpapers including the Mildura Cultivator (5 Sep 1917) and the Sydney Morning Herald (1 Sep 1917).
It describes how the Australian Clearing Hospital came under shellfire at Messines and also bombing by aeroplanes. It states that five nurses were given military medals for their utmost gallantry -- "staying in the wards and even placing basins on patients' heads instead of steel helmets." Full copies of these reports can be accessed through the National Library of Australia's Trove website.
Two of Wilfred Jones' cousins also paid the supreme sacrifice in World War I:
-- Sydney Victor Jones died at Gallipoli on 10 June 1915, aged 18
-- Norman Percy Jones died in the Somme on 23 October 1916, aged 29
Sydney and Norman were the sons of Evan and Mary Ann Jones of Finley, NSW.
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