In memory of John Hugh Jones
John Hugh Jones was the eldest son of Robert and Catherine (Kate) Jones. He had three brothers: Cecil Maurice, Thomas Rupert and David Trevor. Robert farmed at Cyffdy in the parish of Llanycil, near Bala. The farm was large enough to employ five servants in 1911, including a waggoner and cowman.
In 1901 John, aged 7, was a boarder at Bala’s National School, living with Llewelyn (a teacher) and Margaret Jones. He was absent from home again when the 1911 census was taken, being a 16-year-old boarder at Denstone College in Staffordshire.
John was working for Parr’s Bank (later absorbed into the NatWest Bank) in Crewe, Cheshire, when he enlisted in the army. He joined the Royal Fusiliers, which was the regiment of the City of London and had many bankers in its ranks.
Kate took the news of his enlisting badly and her health worsened. She died unexpectedly at Cynfal, Barmouth, in on 22 March 1917, aged 44.
Shortly after his wife’s death, Robert received news that John had died of wounds sustained in fighting on the Western Front in France on 29 May 1917. John was 23 years old. He is buried at Sunken Road Cemetery at Boisleux-St Marc, in the Pas de Calais region. A brass plaque in his memory was installed in St Beuno’s Church in Llanycil, now the Bible Society's centre promoting the story of Mary Jones.
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