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William Bannister Jones

Private, 21st Company (Cheshire), 2nd Battalion, Imperial Yeomanry
Lance Corporal, Cape Police District II – Anglo Boer War
Lieutenant, 3rd S.A.M.R. (South African Mounted Rifles) – WWI
Captain, South African Police

- Queens South Africa Medal with clasp Cape Colony (additionally entitled to Orange Free State and Transvaal) to 1807 PTE W.B. JONES, 21ST COY. IMPL: YEO.
- Kings South Africa Medal with clasps South Africa 1901 & 1902 to 895 L. CPL W.B. JONES, C.P. DIST2.
- 1914/15 Star to Lt. W. BANISTER-JONES, S.A.M.R.
- British War Medal to LT. W. BANISTER-JONES
- Victory Medal to LT. W. BANISTER-JONES

William Bannister Jones was born in Chester, Cheshire on 30 July 1878 the son of William Henry Jones, a Cashier and Manager for a Tile and Cement Merchant by occupation, and his wife Jane. He was baptised in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Chester on 22 September 1878.

We first encounter William at the age of 2 where, according to the 1881 England census, he was at home in 4 Abbey Street in the Cathedral Precincts of Chester along with his parents and Jessie Bithell, a 14 year Domestic Servant who administered to the small family’s needs.

Ten years later, at the time of the 1891 England census, the family were still living in the same house. William was now a schoolboy of 12. His father, now a Manager of a building concern, and mother had not been idle in the intervening years since the last census. William did not now lack for playmates – he was joined by siblings Florence (9); Gertrude (7); Constance (5); Arnold (2) and Charles (18 months). 16 year old Harriet Roberts was the General Servant in attendance.

As has been seen, the Bannister Jones family were reasonably prosperous and it wasn’t the lot of a labourer that befell a young William on leaving school. Instead he joined the firm of Cheers & Hopley of 6 Northgate Street, Chester as an apprentice Chemist. This business had been taken over in 1891 by Samuel Cheers in partnership with John Henry Hopley and William set about learning the trade under their wing.

Late 19th century Victorian England was an exciting place to find oneself in. The Empire was at its Zenith and the sun did not look as though it was ever going to set on the Queen and her Dominions but, trouble was on the horizon – long simmering tensions between the United Kingdom and two obscure Boer Republics on the southern tip of far away Africa were coming to a head. Paul Kruger of the Transvaal and his ally, the Orange Free State, were severely discombobulated by what they perceived to be British plans to unseat them in their quest for colonial expansion.

Things came to a head in October 1899 when, on the 11th of that month, an ultimatum to withdraw all Imperial troops from the borders of the two Republics was met with the expected silence. War followed and, the next morning, Boer Commandos crossed the borders on the British colonies of the Cape and Natal. Initially the Imperial effort stuttered, indeed faltered, and the Boers swept through with almost no military presence to check their progress. This culminated in what became known as Black Week – a series of military reverses suffered by the Imperial forces – clearly something had to be done and urgently!

Troops stationed in various parts of the Empire were routed to Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Durban to bolster the number of men on the ground. Aside from this, the call went out for the establishment of an Imperial Yeomanry to assist the efforts of the Regular Army. Men from all walks of life came forward to enrol. Officers who was were on the reserve list or on half-pay enlisted as Private soldiers in order to get in on the action. All told, three drafts of Imperial Yeomanry were sent out to South Africa at varying times – by far the better stamp of man was to be found with the first draft. Gentlemen from the clubs in London, professionals and members of the nobility and landed gentry all flocked to the banner and it was to this corps that a 21 year old Bannister Jones gravitated, attesting for service with the 21stCompany of the 2nd Battalion (Cheshire Yeomanry) at Chester on 12 January 1900.

Confirming that he was a Chemist by occupation, Bannister Jones was 5 feet 7 ½ inches in height, weighed 130 lbs and had a dark complexion, brown eyes and dark brown hair. Having been passed as Fit by the Doctors he was assigned no. 1807 and the rank of Private. His next of kin was his father and his address, unchanged after all these years, was 4 Abbey Street, Chester. After a very brief period of 18 days on home soil, Bannister Jones and his Company set sail for South Africa and the front.


Bannister Jones in his Imperial Yeomanry uniform prior to embarkation

Arriving in South Africa they took to the field in the Cape Colony. In order to gain a glimpse of where they were deployed and what action they saw it is prudent to consult “The Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser” of Wednesday, 27 June 1900 which carried an article under the banner “Cheshire Yeoman’s Experiences – Letter from Lord Arthur Grosvenor” which read as follows:

“The Mayor of Chester yesterday received a letter from Major Lord Arthur Grosvenor, giving a graphic description of the experiences of the 21st Company of the Imperial Yeomanry. The letter is dated Upington, Orange River, May 26th. Lord Arthur states that they had been at Upington seven weeks, and would very much like to move again, as the men were always in better spirits when marching. They had been very busy fortifying Upington, and although the men had to work in the hottest sun, they were always most cheerful over it.

The officers occupied an hotel free of charge, as it had been packed with rebels. They thought it a perfect palace after sleeping out on the veldt. There had been a strong commando of rebels about 50 miles away, and once they came nearer, so much so that the Yeomanry were saddled up all one night and slept fully armed with their boots on, but the rebels did not attack them. They had one false alarm but were all ready. The guns were out in a moment but no enemy appeared.

It was real bad luck not getting to the front. It was entirely a misfortune which they had to put up with like many other regiments. Fighting was really expected on that side, and Lord Kitchener came up to Prieska with 3000 men, but the rebels bolted. The only fun they had had on the march there was to chase the rebel horses, and take rifles from the farms, and bring in a prisoner or two. The gaol at Upington was full of rebels.

The men in the 21st Company were keeping very well. They had about 10 ill there mostly from malarial fever. Three men had died, and 17 had been left behind sick at Orange River Station, but most of them were well except two Chester men. The Yeomanry were a rough looking lot in the clothes they were wearing. They had got no others and no tents. It was a long time to keep the troops without tents, but no one grumbled and they took the rough as if it was smooth.”

As can be gleaned from the above letter, Bannister Jones’ 21stCompany was hardly in the thick of things and, as time wore on and no orders came to move anywhere near where the action was perceived to be, the more adventurous among the men looked for the first opportunity to transfer out into a unit that, while not guaranteeing them action against the Boers, would at least place them in the vicinity of the enemy. They had been marooned in Upington since April 8th.

The opportunity, when it came, was in the form of the Cape Police. This well-known unit would have been familiar to the men of the 21stas it operated within their orbit. On 23 August 1900, after 231 days with the Yeomanry, Bannister Jones and 38 men and non-commissioned officers took their discharge, having been marched to Kimberley and enrolled in the ranks of the Cape Police. A full list of these men was published in the Cheshire Observer of 6 October 1900.

On attesting with the Cape Police District II (based in Kimberley), Bannister Jones was assigned the rank of 3rd Class Private and no. 895 (this later changed to no. 234) on a rate of pay of 4 shillings per day. His career with this august body was not without blemish – on 28 January 1901 he was fined 10/- for “Hesitating to obey an order”. That he served in the Orange Free State and Transvaal subsequent to joining the CP is confirmed by the award of these two state clasps to add to that of the Cape Colony.

The Cape Police was such a ubiquitous unit with so many men in the field that it is difficult to determine exactly where and when each man was. Suffice it to say that they were often mentioned in the dispatches of the day for the sterling work they did in the guerrilla period of the war where the Boers, now broken up into small “hit and run” style commandos, were doing their best to break through the cordons and block house lines that were employed to hem them in and force their surrender.

The new recruits to their ranks from the Imperial Yeomanry were, according to a letter that George Powell (no. 1886, 21st Coy, I.Y./899 Cape Police) wrote which was published in the Cheshire Observer of December 29, 1900, split up into a contingent destined for Mafeking and a contingent destined for Vryburg. Fortunately, we know that Bannister Jones was assigned to the Vryburg contingent and we are thus able to track his movements through the content provided by his colleague Powell who wrote wholesomely on their actions thus:

“We joined the police as we wanted to see a bit more life than is to be found at Upington, and it looked like another six months for us there. We rode to Kimberley (a 300 mile ride) and landed there in almost rags and tatters; it was not long before we were visiting the tailor’s and the bootmaker’s shops.

After staying there a week we moved off to Vryburg from where a column was going out under General Little, and we went to relieve a place called Schweizer Reineke, which had been besieged for several weeks. On our way the burning of houses was a great thing. The Boers moved their positions each day in front of us. At last we landed in Schweizer Reineke and stayed the night. Next morning we went back half-way to escort a convoy which had been sent on after us. At last the convoy came along, so we went on with our marching. The next place was Commandant Pretorius’ farm, a fine house but this had to come down with the rest.

The next place we came to was De la Rey, and this came down in quick time, as we wanted to get into Schweizer Reineke at night. Next day we left for Christiana with the column. We had no hurry this trip, and we found Christiana well garrisoned, and stayed there a week while the convoy went to Fourteen Streams for provisions. Here they found us patrol work to do. At last our convoy came in and we started to march on Bloemhof, which was occupied by the Boers. As we were nearing the place they “spotted” us coming over the hills and bolted in quick time. Here we burnt a few houses in the afternoon.

We had a fine chase after them for some miles, but their horses were better than ours so they managed to keep well out of our way. From there we went to Hoopstad which we found well under our own garrison so we stopped for a day to fill ourselves up with rations. From there we went to Bothaville, and leaving there in the early morning we came into line with the Vaal River by noon. There we camped for dinner and in the afternoon sniping started and continued until we got to our camping ground for the night. Here, about two o’ clock in the morning, they opened fire on us from the other side of the river, when they put a few volleys into us, doing little or no harm.

We held tight to the ground while they were buzzing past our heads, but we did not answer their fire to let them know where we lay. Next day we advanced up the river, sniping going on all the time until we came to Commando Drift. Here we communicated with General Hunter. Next day we made a move back – still firing continued all along the river. At noon we made a camp for dinner, intending to get to Hoopstadt that night.”

Powell went on to recount how we was part of a small patrol who was detached from the main force and who then got captured by the Boers. I haven’t included this as there is no evidence to suggest that Bannister Jones was part of this patrol.

Bannister Jones’s war in the service of the Cape Police seems to have been much more interesting than the time he spent with the Imperial Yeomanry. The war over on 31 May 1902, he elected to stay in South Africa, in the employ of the Cape Police. He had been promoted to 1stClass Private on 4 February 1902 – this was followed by promotion to Lance Corporal on 24 October 1902 and to Corporal on 15 March 1903. By this time he was on a daily rate of pay of 8/- but this was increased to 8/6 per day on 15 March 1905 after he was able to evidence his mastery of the Dutch language.

Disappearing from the scene for a number of years, Bannister Jones surfaced again in Kimberley where, on 22 December 1913, he accepted promotion to Lieutenant with the 3rd South African Mounted Rifles, from the rank of Corporal. Soon after he was transferred to Dundee in Natal. His next appearance was at Dordrecht in the Eastern Cape where, on 13 April 1914 at the age of 35, at St. Augustine’s Church, he wed Sarah Harding, a 22 year old young lady whose family farmed “Pilgrim’s Rest” at nearby Wodehouse. He was still stationed at Dundee in Natal at the time.

1914 was to be a momentous year in his life, and in the lives of millions of people all over the world, for another entirely different reason. On 4 August 1914 the world woke up the Great War – only 12 years after the cessation of hostilities in South Africa, the British Empire was to take up arms again – on this occasion against the German aggressor, Kaiser Wilhelm II.

South Africa was prevailed upon to assist with an “urgent Imperial service” – the conquest of neighbouring German South West Africa and the decommissioning of a powerful radio transmitter the Germans had erected there. But first there was the matter of internal rebellion to suppress – not everyone was happy with South Africa siding with Britain. There were a number of Boer leaders and men within whose bosom rankled a sustained hatred of the British foe they had fought so recently.

General Botha and his Minister of Defence, General Smuts, having navigated the bill through parliament which saw South Africa allied to Britain now had to quell the internal uprising. This was done with ruthless efficiency and, by the end of December 1914, the country was ready to invade German South West Africa. Bannister Jones, already in uniform with the S.A.M.R., was deployed with effect from 23 August 1914, entering the theatre of war at some point. On 4 March 1915 he was sent back to Tempe (Bloemfontein) suffering with a Not Yet Determined (N.Y.D.) condition which required hospitalisation until his discharge to Light Duty on 7 March. He remained at Tempe until the conclusion of the campaign on 9 July 1915 and saw no further service outside the borders of South Africa for the remainder of the war.


Just prior to his death in 1930 - with his youngest child

Bannister Jones’ next move was to Pietermaritzburg where he found himself in 1917. From there he was posted to Port Shepstone, on the South Coast of Natal – it was here that at least two of his three children were born. The Government Gazette of 1 April 1920 carried the order that, “The following officers of the South African Mounted Rifles have voluntarily transferred to the South African Police and have been appointed in the following ranks.” – in the case of Bannister Jones it was from Lieutenant to Sub-Inspector.

By 1925 he was an Inspector of Police stationed at a place well known to him – Vryburg in the Northern Cape. It was here that his last child, Eric Raymond was born on 25 May. The family were living at the Police Camp at the time.

Unbeknown to either himself or his family, he didn’t have many more years left in him. On Sunday, 19 January 1930 at the age of 51 years 6 months, he passed away at the Potchefstroom Hospital. He had undergone an operation for acute appendicitis on 15 January which failed to drain correctly, leading to septicaemia and heart failure. He left behind a grieving widow and three children.

The Chronicle of Saturday, February 22nd, 1930 carried the following article: -

‘Death of Capt. Bannister Jones – An Old Cheshire Yeoman

The Cheshire friends of Captain Bannister Jones will be sorry to hear of his death at Potchefstroom, Transvaal, South Africa after an operation for appendicitis. When war broke out in South Africa, Capt. Jones joined the 21st Battalion, Earl of Chester’s Yeomanry, and proceeded to South Africa and served until the end of the war, when he joined the Cape Mounted Police and obtained his commission. He served for many years as Commandant at Vryburg, and was recently transferred to Potchefstroom.

Full military honours were accorded at the funeral, at which his police sergeants acted as pall bearers. The police band preceded the cortege, while a detachment of men of the Mounted section of Police drawn from town and out-stations in the district paraded with rifles at the reverse. The mourners were the widow and children, Major Cullinan of Vryburg and Mrs Burt of Pretoria, a sister of Mrs Jones. A detachment of foot police followed, after which came the local staff of the Prison Service, headed by the Chief Warder. A detachment of 24 cadets of the School of Industries under command of Captain H. Buttery, attended, and the rear was brought up by a number of native constables.’

William Bannister Jones, had departed this life early – he had much more to give.