TOPIC:

4110 COLOUR-SERGEANT HERBERT WYNNE JONES

Possible tag lines for Herbert are:

(a) Militarily served in four continents – Europe, Asia, Africa & North America.
(b) Schooled with a Jameson Raider.
(c) A man born to privilege who in his 40’s had to face up to the realities of life.

The evidence for the last is that his father was a London based solicitor who in 1881, when Herbert was seven, could afford to send him to a boarding preparatory school, employ 2 domestic servants in London and more at a farm he owned in north Wales. Here, to prove my point are Herbert’s recorded occupations in chronological order – “Scholar” (1881), “Army Student” (1891), “None” (1895) , “Gentleman” (1900), “Living on own means” (1901), “Gentleman” (1904), “Gent” (1908), “Rancher” (1914), “Fruit & Poultry Farmer” (1921), “Retired” (1939).

Herbert was born in Streatham, London on 24th February 1873 and attested in Tenby on 29th January 1900. So at first sight, despite his surname, he appeared to be one of the Londoners sent by the Imperial Yeomanry HQ to bolster numbers when recruitment for the first contingent of the Pembrokeshire Imperial Yeomanry (PIY) ran into trouble. As already stated the family did have a connection to Wales and the South Wales Daily News of 14th March 1900, in reviewing the men of the PIY as they were setting sail for South Africa, claimed Herbert had ties to South Wales and Pembrokeshire in particular.

“Among the Carmarthenshire men in the squadron Colour-Sergeant Wynne-Jones is one of the best known. He was formerly in the Cape Mounted Police. He is a nephew of Sir Pryce Jones, of Newtown, and only a week or so ago he married Miss Edith James, a daughter of Mr James, of the Brewery, Haverfordwest.”

Actually I think the reporter got rather carried away and Herbert was not the nephew of South Wales born Sir Pryce Jones, a self-made entrepreneur who founded the first mail order business in the world and was knighted because Queen Victoria was one of his customers. Additionally the African military connection is not accurate. The wedding information is entirely correct and there is no doubt that Herbert brought military experience to the Company when two-thirds of its other members had none.

At the time of the 1881 Census, Herbert was a boarder at a small private preparatory school known as Wyndersham House in Amesbury, Wiltshire. It might have been small but things were done properly and the scholars wore Eton jackets and top hats. The 1881 Census shows Herbert as the youngest of 17 boarders. The name of one of the other pupils may be familiar to some members of the Forum – Charles Edward Slocock who was to take part in the Jameson Raid. You can visit the school today as it is now the Antrobus Arms.

The 1891 Census found Herbert boarding again but this time with a mathematical tutor and his family who lived a stone’s throw from the River Thames in Barnes. His occupation was given as “Army Student”.

His first experience as a serving soldier was as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. The only date I can put to this is that he attested in Wrexham on 25th May 1892. As he was born on 24th February 1873 he was 19 years and 3 months old at the time. His 1900 attestation papers say he resigned his commission.

On 2nd October 1895 he attested again at Wrexham for service in the Royal (Duke of Edinburgh’s) Wiltshire Regiment and this time the full set of paperwork has survived. He measured 5 ft 10½ inches tall and a lean 10 stone 3 lbs. He enlisted as Private 4294, which makes me wonder whether he resigned his previous commission in disgrace or whether he did not feel he was up to the role of leadership. He was posted five days later to Devizes to join the 2nd Battalion and subsequently made a Lance-Corporal. Whilst stationed in Devizes he spent a month in hospital suffering from a severe chill causing a sore throat and infected ear which all seemed to develop into bronchitis.

On 28th February 1896 he was transferred to the 1st Battalion and left the UK with them bound for the East Indies. They travelled on the troopship HMS Malabar. Seven months after they arrived and he was stationed at, what looks like, Karachi he spent nearly three weeks in hospital suffering from a severe cold and three months later another month was spent receiving medical attention for an ulcer on his leg.


HMS Malabar negotiating the Suez Canal – the photo is undated but Herbert could well have been aboard when it was taken. The Malabar and the Suez Canal were both commissioned a few years before Herbert was born. The Malabar was one the Euphrates Class of Troopships used for transporting British troops back and forth to India. By the time of the ABW she was being used as a depot ship in Bermuda.

On 30th March 1897 Herbert purchased his discharge in the East Indies. Quite what happened next is unclear but at his 1900 attestation he also claimed service in the Bechuanaland Border Police which he left by again resigning his commission. I guess to a geographically challenged South Wales local reporter the Cape Mounted Police was near enough.

That’s brings us to his fourth period in uniform but before going to South Africa with the PIY two things happened. The first was his marriage as reported by the South Wales Daily News – this took place in St Martin’s Church in Haverfordwest a fortnight after he attested. Edith’s full name was Kathleen Edith Maria James. That he had time to build a relationship with Edith that warranted marriage suggests he had been in the Haverfordwest area for some time when he attested but then again perhaps a courtship of a prudent length did not occur as the marriage was not to prove a success.

The second event before the Company sailed to South Africa was Herbert’s promotion to Colour Sergeant – not a surprise in view of his previous military experience. Which of the four sections he served in is not currently known so describing his war in any detail is not possible.

What we do know is that Herbert did not last the course and arrived home on 5th December 1900, some 8 months ahead of the rump and having completed only 269 days of overseas service which included the journey there and back. The medal roll shows he was awarded just two clasps – Cape Colony & Orange Free State and contains the following comment in the right hand column - “invalided November 1900” but a question mark has been added. He was discharged a month after he arrived back in England on 13th January 1901 at Shorncliffe Barracks in Kent. Most of the fit and healthy were discharged in Tenby about a week after they returned home, so his extra three weeks may have represented some medical attention at Shorncliffe where there was a military hospital.

The 1901 Census shows Herbert and Edith staying at the Cambrian Hotel in coastal Solva about 12 miles NW of Haverfordwest. (The Cambrian Hotel has reverted to its original name of Cambrian Inn but still has rooms available.) Their only child Kathleen Florence Gatty (a family name her paternal grandfather also bore) was born on 10th February 1904 and her birth was registered in Haverfordwest. On 14th March 1904 she was baptised in St Martin’s Church, where her parents had married in 1900.

The next we learn of Herbert is that he is aboard the S. S. Canada on his way alone to Canada arriving there on 2nd February 1908. On 9th November 1914 he attested for service in the Canadian Expeditionary Force and gave his occupation as “Rancher”. He gave his birthplace as Barmouth, North Wales for reasons best known to himself and his father as his next of kin with the farm he owned at Dolgelly (now Dolgellau) as his address. Dolgellau lies 9 miles inland from coastal Barmouth. I have attached the top halves of his attestation form and his Separation Allowance Form.




From these documents we can deduce Herbert served in the 102nd Regiment of the R.M.R. and attained the rank of Captain. The two forms are in conflict as he attested that he was not married but obviously later owned up to the truth. As you can see during WW1 a second wife appeared on the scene. The bottom half of the SA form shows his CEF paymasters became confused about which one of the two ladies they should be paying.



My own investigations of “102nd Regt R.M.R.” led to this postcard found on a Facebook Page entitled “Kamloops History” with the following explanation “Here is an undated photo of the 102 Regiment - Rocky Mountain Rangers and the BC Horse Militia marching east on Victoria St. While the photo is undated I think it would be fair to date it to September of 1915 as the Rocky Mountain Rangers embarked from Canada in October of 1915 to enter World War I.” The post receives the following comment “My great uncle Will Barker was a member of the 102nd RMR. He enlisted Nov 9, 1914 and became a part of the 30th British Columbia battalion. He left Canada for England in Feb 1915 and arrived in France in early May.” So Herbert attested on the same day as Will Barker and has “30th Battalion” written in red across his attestation paper.

I cannot find any CEF service records for Herbert and anybody who could help on that or advise on the doings of the Rocky Mountain Rangers during WW1, I would be very pleased to hear from.

Sorting out Herbert’s matrimonial affairs: On 20th March 1916 Edith served divorce papers on Herbert and the decree nisi was granted on 7th June 1916. It was a formulaic divorce of the time – Edith wrote Herbert a letter requesting he return home and restore her conjugal rights, Herbert wrote a letter back saying he would not. During the following year Herbert married Elizabeth A Evans who was born in Aberdare, South Wales. The marriage was registered in the third quarter of 1917 in the St Martin’s registration district of London. I can tell you little about Elizabeth’s previous life except she was born on 8th December 1878 making her 5½ years younger than Herbert and that Aberdare was a coal mining town. Quite how all this happened whilst Herbert was probably serving in France during the war is difficult to imagine and a short courtship is again indicated but the marriage was to last until Herbert’s death.

The 1921 Census found Herbert & Elizabeth living in Devoran at the head of the Fal Estuary in Cornwall. Herbert gave his occupation as “Fruit & Poultry Farmer” and “on his own account”.

The 1939 Register found them living at 209 St Margaret’s Road, Twickenham. Elizabeth’s occupation is given as the standard “Unpaid Domestic Duties” whilst Herbert’s is “Retired Toc H Incorporated”. Toc H were, and still are I believe, a Christian Movement with military associations. I presume the incorporated means Herbert was a member and actively involved in the good works of the organisation.

Edith did not remarry and passed away in 1948 living in Exmouth in Devon.

Herbert passed away on 8th March 1955 aged 82 whilst still living at 209 St Margaret’s Road but at the time of his death he was in a nursing home.

Elizabeth Wynne Jones seems to have been a not uncommon combination of names especially in Wales. As a result I cannot be certain where or when Elizabeth died.

Herbert’s daughter married a Nottingham coal miner and had two children. Date of death unknown.

PUBLIC FAMILY TREES ON ANCESTRY can be very productive places to search but they do have to be treated with caution as I have found sons born before their fathers.

This is part of my treasure trove to date:



As you can see there are three ready for war in early 1900 - one even taken in a studio in Tenby where he was recruited.

Three are sporting their Great War uniforms - one became the recipient of the Victoria Cross and the other two are wearing their QSA medals.

The photos of the two moustachioed gents top left were taken about the time of the Boer War.

My next quest is to work out why "Uncle Dai" was photographed sitting in a flying contraption.

To the right of "Uncle Dai" we have a gent who was an officer in WW1 and killed in action. His death was reported in every newspaper in the land - he was one of them, a journalist who had started WW1 as a war correspondent. I am surprised he does not have a Wikipedia page as he was also famous for travelling to New Zealand to interview Robert Falcon Scott before he didn't come back.

As you can see I have had to call on family members to stand in for four absentees. Daisy, the daughter, worked in a dairy and I suspect, a local photographer visited the dairy with an offer Daisy could not refuse, especially as she was very fond of her father. The outcome was duly posted to northern France. I am delighted to report her father came home and brought the cherished card with him.

The chess player and the gents to the left & right of the VC winner I have already posted about - just to remind you the one showing off his medals was 100 when the photograph was taken.

The family man at the top is my next post when I have managed to contact his great grand-daughter to check some facts. The photograph was taken on Brighton Beach about 1919 and the family was to grow by three more. Sadly the youngest boy in the photo was to give his life in WW2 when he was killed in a training accident in Canada.

One of my best finds has been an artefact nearly in the Neville class - a copy of the certificate they all received when they were granted the Freedom of the Borough of Tenby on 22nd February 1900.



Owing to holidays there will be a 3 week gap in updates on the men of the Pembrokeshire Imperial Yeomanry. They were brave men, each with a story to tell if you look hard enough, and I will not have a word said against them.

4111 Trooper William FORD

Below is the programme for the 1900 Deelfontein Christmas Play "The Prude's Progress", which lists 4111 Trooper William FORD as one of the players ("Alphonse", an Italian waiter).





The Players:

Sister Florence Isobel Audrey COATES, Princess Christian's Army Nursing Service (Reserve)
Sister Ellen Elizabeth VINCENT, Princess Christian's Army Nursing Service (Reserve)
Sister ROGERS
Sister Hilda ROOKE, Princess Christian's Army Nursing Service (Reserve)
Sister Florence Barraclough “BARRIE” LAMBERT, Princess Christian's Army Nursing Service (Reserve)
13208 Trooper A. HAWKINS, 52nd (Paget’s Horse) Company, 19th Bn. Imperial Yeomanry
13130 Trooper Arthur HARE, 52nd & 73rd (Paget’s Horse) Companies, 19th Bn. Imperial Yeomanry
8344 Trooper D. DEANE, 49th (Montgomeryshire) Company, 9th Bn. Imperial Yeomanry
13024 Trooper William Storrs FRY, 51st (Paget’s Horse) Company, 19th Bn. Imperial Yeomanry
4111 Trooper William FORD, 30th (Pembrokeshire) Company, 9th Bn. Imperial Yeomanry
3316 Trooper William Hornsby PUTNAM, 15th (Northumberland) Company, 5th Bn. Imperial Yeomanry


..

William would not have been over-taxed by his part and he only appeared in Act 1 -

TED MORRIS. (Who has been talking to Primrose.) Come in.
(Enter a waiter carrying a tray on which are two champagne bottles and some glasses.)
WAITER. (At door.) Meester Sherry?
TED MORRIS. Yes, he's here—but this is not his room.
ADAM CHERRY. Oh, it's all right, my dear Ted. (To waiter.) Yes, yes, put them down. I'll explain—I'll explain.
WAITER. (Putting down tray on table.) Shall I open zem, zir?
ADAM CHERRY. Yes. And have you a few more glasses, Ted? I—I didn't know your friends would be here. They are all friends, aren't they?
TED MORRIS. Some of them—the others are relations.
ADAM CHERRY. Ah, yes, that will be all right then. All the better—all the better. Where's Nelly?
TED MORRIS. Nelly? Oh——
MR. BEN DIXON. Oh, she's just gone to fetch an atlas. I'm explaining a mission route to her. She'll be back in an instant.
ADAM CHERRY. Ah! (Aside to Ted.) Has—has she told you anything?
TED MORRIS. What about?
ADAM CHERRY. (With a chuckle.) Ah, evidently not. Never mind, never mind. (Waves Ted away. Ted goes to cupboard to get glasses. The first cork goes "pop.")
JACK MEDBURY. (Who has been talking to Theodore.) What's up? Another birthday?
TED MORRIS. Mr. Cherry has a birthday about once a month, and we help him to celebrate it.
ADAM CHERRY. No, no; now you are exaggerating, my dear boy. The last occasion was the anniversary of my poor aunt's death. (The second bottle pops.) You know I told you so.
JACK MED BURY. We had a very jolly dinner over it.
(The Waiter goes out.)

I presume he was involved in the opening of the champagne bottles and the "pops" were played for laughs. As you can see the playwright did not give him a name or a nationality.

Barrie had a far more challenging time but was obviously very good at dealing with life's challenges -

Neville – one of the interesting things about your programme is the inclusion of the nurses to play the female roles. My maternal Grandfather served in the RAMC in Salonika in WW1 and as a result I am a member of the Salonika Campaign Society and receive their twice yearly magazine. The latest issue has just arrived and contains an article about the theatrical entertainment provided for the troops. Owing to the distance the Salonika troops did not receive annual home leave and my grandparents did not see each other for over 3 years. For the same reason they did not receive visits from professional entertainers like they did on the western front. So the CO instructed a member of the RAMC with theatrical experience to do something about it. He arranged the building of a theatre, called the Gaiety Theatre. They had to use corrugated tin for the roof which gave an overheating problem which they solved by covering the corrugated tin with rush matting. Although there were female nurses out there they were not permitted to take to the stage – the official reason given was that they were short of them and they could not be spared. So they took the Shakespearean route and the female roles were played by soldiers. So, here we have my grandfather fraternising with one of the “actresses” outside the Gaiety Theatre – note the rush matting on the roof. I found the photo amongst the family memorabilia I inherited.

Firstly an almost aerial via of the IY Hospital Deelfontein which appeared The Sphere of 29th January 1902. Although the IYH had become the No 21 General Hospital by then I think it was still the IYH when the photo was taken judging by the whitewash I.Y.H. letters on the hillside in bottom right hand corner of the photo.




Next the tail end of two letters home expressing appreciation of the "Prude's Progress". The first by Trooper Fred Brownrigg, 23rd Company IY - the extract tells you why he saw the play.



The second from a letter by Private G Kelly who served in an un-named company of the IY. He had suffered enteric, pneumonia & dysentery at the same time but the care he received at the IYH pulled him through. Even so the Doctor's would not sanction his return to his Company and he stayed on at the IYH as an orderly.



Why was Alphonse the waiter at the IYH and able to play a part in the Prude's Progress? Actually I don't know the answer but here is some speculation. 4111 Trooper William Ernest Ford should not really have been in South Africa - when he stepped on South African soil he was 16 days shy of his 20th birthday and his unexpanded chest measurement was only 32 inches. Referring to the start of this post, to serve in the IY you were supposed to be at least 20 years old and have a unexpanded chest measurement of 34 inches. I know from his service records he was at Ventersburg on 25th August 1900 - Ventersburg is just over 300 miles away from Deelfontein - and for the rest of the year the 30th Company were even further away from Deelfontein. So, I suspect the William was either a convalescing patient at the hospital or physically, being a broomstick, he struggled out on the veldt and was sent to the IYH as an orderly.

I have now sorted out William's full life story as far as I am able:

William Ernest Ford was born on 27th April 1881 in the village of Carew where his father was the miller at Carew Tidal Mill alongside Carew Castle. He returned home from the Boer War three months before the Company officially returned but there is no evidence that he was invalided home and he had served 1 year & 37 days overseas.

He cannot be found on the 1911 Census although his widowed father & siblings can. Presumably this was because by then he had returned to South Africa as during October 1914 he entered a theatre of war, presumably South West Africa, as a Corporal in the Natal Carbineers. He was then selected for officer training and commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 12th Lancers who spent the whole of WW1 on the western front. But in November 1917 he set sail for the Bahamas which required him changing ship at New York. As soon as he set foot in the USA a lot of paperwork ensued which tells us he had grown 2 inches since 1901, indicating he was not physically mature during his service in the IY. The paperwork also shows he was still a soldier (rank not given) and his abode in The Bahamas was to be "c/o The Governor of the Bahamas". In June 1919 he sailed back to Blighty as an Army Officer (again rank not given) and his future abode was "c/o War Office".

The 1921 Census found him staying at the Junior Army & Navy Club in Whitehall. He answered the questions as uninformatively as possible - Personal Occupation = a dash, Nature of Employment = "Own Account", Place of Work = "No Fixed Place" - was he a secret agent? He was issued the British War & Victory Medals on 14th March 1922 and requested they be sent to Marven House, Pembroke. The British Army seem to have been of the opinion it was up to somebody in South Africa to issue him with a British Star. Marven House was exactly 10 miles from Tenby, the three storeyed town house still stands on Main Street, Pembroke and the glass over the front door has etched into it "Marven House" - in front of the house is a small drinking fountain (no longer functional) with a milestone on top telling you it is 10 miles to Tenby. Back in 1922 Marven House was the home of William's eldest brother, Thomas Ford junior.

Regarding his final army rank - he definitely was promoted to a full Lieutenant and on some of the ship's manifests mentioned below he titled himself "Captain".

We next sight William in March 1928 sailing back to England from South Africa aboard the Arundel Castle - the ship's manifest tells us he is a Civil Servant working in Northern Rhodesia. During the same month Agnes Mary Worthington sails back from India, she appears to have spent some time in India presumably because her father was a wealthy London based Tea Merchant. Three months later no less than the Tatler tells us that Mr William Ernest Ford of Chilanga, Northern Rhodesia is to marry Miss Agnes Mary Worthington in a grand Roman Catholic Church in Wimbledon - her parents lived in Wimbledon. They duly marry on 21st July and six days later set sail aboard the Saxon (also a Union Castle liner) for Northern Rhodesia via Cape Town. The phrase "whirlwind romance" comes to mind and at the time of their marriage William was 47 and Agnes 33.

On 29th January 1929 Agnes sailed back to England. In the third quarter of 1929 the birth of Anne Mary Ford was registered in Wimbledon. There are several more sea journeys to and fro with Anne Mary included and William remaining a Civil Servant and their final destination in Africa still being Northern Rhodesia.

The manifest for a journey home made in January 1935 shows that William was now an "ex Civil Servant". The next record for William & Agnes is the September 1939 Register which found them living in Minehead, Somerset. We now learn what sort of Civil Servant William was as he told the enumerator he was a “Stock Inspector, Department of Agriculture, Government of North Rhodesia. (Retired)”. There are two redacted entries under Agnes indicating that Anne Mary is still alive or has died fairly recently and waits to be unredacted and that they possibly had a second child. In 1939 they could also afford to employ a live-in servant who was only a few months younger than 44 year old Agnes.

However, William & Agnes were not done with Africa. During December 1943 Williams sailed out alone and the manifest tells us he was now a "Ranch Manager" and was finally headed for Northern Rhodesia. The manifest for his return journey has gone missing because during January 1952 William & Agnes sailed to Capetown together with an intended final destination of Northern Rhodesia. They returned home together 2 months later. During November 1954 they returned again to Northern Rhodesia but only spend a month there. On all four trips William gave his occupation as "Retired". On what appears to be their last sea voyage William was 73 and Agnes was 60 and they gave their future address as "Tone Cottage, Bradford-on-Tone, Somerset". I have been unable to establish when and where they both passed away.