Royal Berkshire Regiment
Researching Lance Corporal Ernest George Jones has proved particularly difficult, as no documentary evidence of his service and non-service life appears to exist or be identifiable.
The CWGC ‘Debt of Honour’ register states that he served with the Royal Berkshire Regiment as a Lance Corporal (number 24606) before transferring to 641st Employment Company, Labour Corps. It gives his age as twenty-four years, which would indicate he was born in or about 1894. It also states that he was the son of Mathew Jones, 34 Alma Street, Gloucester and the husband of Ellen Maude Jones, 2 Ladysmith Road, Gloucester.
It has not proved possible to confirm the names of Ernest George’s parents, other than the above, or to locate any record of his marriage. A recently released Pension Record Card (PRC), in respect of his wife’s widow’s pension does state that she was born on 28 November 1882 and her address as being that shown in the CWGC records. Probate records indicate that she never re-married and died in Cheltenham in 1966.
As to his military service, the Register of Soldiers’ Effects, held at the National Army Museum, states that Ernest died at Kepple Place Hospital, Devonport from (unspecified) illness. The location of death is that stated in a notice of death placed in the Cheltenham Chronicle of 26 October 1918. The above-mentioned PRC states that he served with ‘HSE Coy., Labour Corps’. Other than these records, none appear to exist. The absence of a Medal Index Card is a strong indicator that he did not see any service abroad.
An Army Service Record would have answered many questions but it would appear that Ernest’s was one of the 65% lost to enemy action in 1940. Drawing together what there is and taking into account that there is no Army Pension Record (other than that relating to his widow’s entitlement) and no record of a Silver War Badge (to indicate discharge due to wounds or sickness), it is possible to make an educated guess as to Ernest’s service record.
He was most likely conscripted in 1916, when aged 22 and was sent for basic training with the Royal Berkshire Regiment. Possibly, for reasons of fitness, or due to a medical problem, he was downgraded from the category denoting fitness for front line service and was posted to the Labour Corps. It is not known when he was promoted from Private to Lance Corporal. The ‘HSE Coy’ stated on the PRC indicates that he was sent to a Home Service Employment Company of the Labour Corps. Those serving in such companies were located in military establishments or hospitals and carried out a wide variety of basic support roles, some manual, some administrative or related to catering. The 641 Company would have been located in Southern Command. As Ernest died in a hospital in Devonport, this is an indicator that he was serving in the Plymouth area and maybe even at that hospital.
Ernest George Jones died on 18 October 1918, aged 24: in the absence of sight of a death certificate the cause of death is unknown. He was buried in Gloucester Old Cemetery, where a standard CWGC headstone (bearing the badge of the Royal Berkshire Regiment and the number
24006) mark his grave. He is also commemorated on the Gloucester War Memorial.
Researched by Graham Adams 7 January 2020