Private 9036 Thomas Jones, served as Private 9036 Thomas Babbs

Killed in Action on Saturday, 7th November 1914, age 35.
Commemorated on Panel 35 and 37 of Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

1st Bn., South Staffordshire Regiment. 22nd Brigade of 7th Division.

Husband of Annie Elizabeth Jones, of 1 Court, 1 House, Eagle Street, Toll End, Tipton, Staffs.
Born: Bilston, Enlisted: Wednesbury, Resident: Tipton.

First landed France & Flanders, 4th October 1914.
Medal entitlement: 1914 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Soldier's Papers at National Archives did not survive.

Commemorated here because he appears on a Tipton memorial but served under an Alias.
Commemorated here because he appears on a Tipton memorial.

Link to Commonwealth War Graves Site: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/925985/

Genealogical Data

Thomas Jones, born 17th May 1879 in Bilston, the eldest son of Thomas and Elizabeth Jones.

1881 Census
68 Temple Street, Bilston, Staffs.
Thomas Jones (39, Boat Builder, born Frankton, Shropshire), his wife Elizabeth (34 - age incorrect, born Gnossal), and their 3 children Annie L. (12, born Welshpool), Thomas (2, born Bilston), and Sarah J. (2 months, born Bilston).

1891 Census
3 Dale End, Darlaston, Staffs.
Thomas Jones (49, Boat Builder, born Welshpool), his wife Elizabeth (32, born Gnosall), and their 4 children: Thomas (11, born Bilston), Sarah (9, born Bilston), Elizabeth (4, born Walsall) and John (2, born Great Bridge).

1901 Census. Cannot trace Thomas Jones, but his parents were at:
Toll End Road, Tipton, Staffs.
Thomas Jones (59, Boat Builder, born North Wales), his wife Elizabeth (44, now born Tipton!), and their son John (12, born Tipton).

Thomas Jones (31, Miner, Bachelor) and Annie Elizabeth Jones (22, Spinster), were married on 1st October 1910 at St Martin's Church, Tipton. Their residence at the time of marriage was given as 55 Bridge Road, Tipton. Annie already had a son, James Albert Jones, born on 13th February 1909. It is not known if this was Thomas's son, but James was later recorded as "adopted son", so possibly not.

1911 Census
1 Court 4 House, Harrold Street, Toll End, Tipton, Staffs.
Boarding with Roseanna (46, Charwoman, born Tipton) and Rhoda Cartwright were Thomas Jones (31, Miner - Loader-up underground, born Bilston), his wife Annie (22, born Worcester), and her son James Jones (2, born Wednesbury).

The first child of Thomas and Annie was Marian Annie, born 23rd August 1914. Thomas's occupation is given as Private in the 3rd South Staffs.

Thomas's widow, Annie, moved in as a lodger with her brother-in-law, John Jones. Obviously their relationship flourished as they had two children, John William (born 4th September 1917) and Lilian Florence (born 6th August 1920). The couple eventually married in September 1921, and had a further 4 children.

Personal Data

Thomas Jones is commemorated on the Tipton Library Memorial, but for many years it proved difficult to identify his military service. The Pension Cards released onto Ancesty.co.uk (Fold3) provided the necessary clue.

The Pension Card says Thomas Babbs, alias Thomas Jones. This is a clue, but in fact Thomas Jones used an alias (for unknown reason) and served as Thomas Babbs. The Pension Card shows his widow as Annie Elizabeth Jones (born 17 June 1889), an adopted son James Albert Jones (born 13 February 1909), and a daughter Marian Annie Jones (born 23 August 1914). This ties in perfectly with the genealogical detail above.

Thomas landed at Zeebrugge, Belgium, on 4th October 1914, the date the 1st South Staffs first joined the British Expeditionary Force; this would mean that he was a full-time soldier or a Reservist. His Medal Roll shows his number as 3/9036 meaning that he was in the 3rd Battalion, the Reserve battalion.

After Thomas's death, his outstanding army pay and allowances amounted to £7/6/2d (7 pounds, 6 shillings and 2 pence); this was paid to his widow, Annie Elizabeth, in May 1916. His War Gratuity was £3/0/0d (3 pounds exactly), this was also paid to Annie in August 1919. The value of the War Gratuity suggests that Thomas had enlisted in the previous year.

Thomas’s widow, Annie Elizabeth, was granted a Widow’s Pension of 15/0d (15 shillings) per week effective from 20th September 1915. This pension also covered Thomas’s daughter, Marian, but not his adopted son, James. A miserly temporary allowance was made for James with the following proviso “3/6d temporary continuation of Separation Allowance for adopted child not to extend beyond 31/12/1915.” Beyond 1915, he was not the government’s problem.


IS THE FOLLOWING POSSIBLY THOMAS??
In 1899, a Thomas Babbs (stated born 1879 in Bilston) enlisted in Bilston with the Yorkshire Light Infantry for a period of 7 years and a further 5 years with the Reserves. There was no Thomas Babbs born in the area within 5 years of 1879, so again Babbs looks like an alias. It is a distinct possibility that this man was Thomas Jones. This would also explain why he cannot be traced on the 1901 Census. It would seem that Thomas extended his time as a Reservist as his initial 12 years expired in May 1911, and joined the South Staffs as a Reservist.

The major flaw in this theory is that Babbs stated his mother was Maria Huskisson. She was a multi-married woman with a habit of marrying significantly older men. On the 1891 Census she was married to James Babb and living in Green Lane, Walsall; Thomas would have been 11/12 years old, but there is no trace of him. The wedding certificate of Thomas and Annie Jones in 1910 shows his father as Thomas Jones, a boat builder who was deceased, and this is the genealogy shown above.

There are either 2 men born in Bilston around 1879 who decided to serve in the army under an alias of Thomas Babbs, or there is something we do not understand about Thomas's birth circumstances - an unofficial adoption? This is unlikley to be resolved..

On 10th May 1899, Thomas Babbs enlisted at Walsall with the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, for a period of 7 years with the Colours, and a further 5 years with the Reserves; he had no previous military experience. Thomas was 20 years of age, had been born in Bilston, was 5 feet 4 inches tall with a 33-inch chest, weighed 119 pounds and was employed as a Labourer. He had fresh complexion, brown eyes and brown hair, and had a scar on his right hand. He described himself as a Wesleyan.

Thomas saw service in the England, Ireland, South Africa - during the Boer War, Malta, Crete, Gibraltar, before returning to England on 1907. In October 1907, Thomas left the regular army, and began his period in the Reserves which expired in May 1911.

The list of 'UK Military Desertions' shows that Private 6075 Thomas Babbs of the 1st Yorkshire Light Infantry (born Bilston in 1879) had deserted on 11th December 1900 whilst serving in Limerick, Ireland. During his time in Crete, he extended his period of service from 7 to 8 years, but in December 1904 was jailed for 10 days for an unspecified offence. In 1906 he was tried by District Court Martial, convicted and imprisoned for 21 days for "quitting his post", this was commuted to 11 days when he embarked on the journey back to England.

Thomas’s service with the Regular Army ended on 10th May 1907 when he transferred to the Army Reserve for a period of 4 years, ending on 9th May 1911.

Action resulting in his death

The 1st Bn. South Staffs returned to England from South Africa on 19th September 1914, and were attached to the 22nd Brigade of 7th Division. In early October 1914 they landed at Zeebrugge, Belgium and were almost immediately in the thick of the 1st Battle of Ypres.

The 1st South Staffords War Diary stops on 26th October 1914 as officer casualties had been so heavy. The remnants of the 1st South Staffords and 2nd Royal Welsh were temporarily merged on 31 October to create a composite battalion under Capt Vallentin.

Vicious fighting continued through the early days of November. Major-General T. Capper of the 7th Division, later wrote that "On November 7th, the 1st Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment, although very weak after three weeks' fighting, made a gallant counter-attack in support of the First Corps, which was hard pressed, driving the enemy from his trenches and assisting in the capture of three machine guns. This effort at the end of three weeks' continual fighting - and with hardly any officers left, speaks eloquently for the bearing of this Battalion."

It was in this attack that Captain J. F. Vallentin was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross "for conspicuous bravery". Previously he had been wounded slightly and was in hospital at Ypres when on 6 November he heard that his Regiment was going into action that night. Determined to be with his comrades Captain Vallentin obtained permission to rejoin them. During the subsequent assault on the German trenches he was twice wounded, but pressed on until he was killed by five or six machine gun shots. The capture of the trenches owed much to the confidence held in his valiant leadership by his men. This was the first V.C. won by the South Staffordshire Regiment in the war, and the first one ever awarded to the 1st Battalion.

The diary of the 2nd Queen's, also of 22nd Brigade, gives some details of the action.
6th November 1914 Ypres
Brigade moved to Dickebusch, into Corps reserve. During the evening a message arrived from Lord Cavan, commanding 4th (Guards) Brigade, in need of assistance. The Brigade marched to Zillebeke, arriving at 2200, and lay in a field around Cavan's HQ.

7th November 1914
About 0500, the Brigade left the field, and went down the path through the woods. Overnight, a gun had been positioned to enfilade the German trench. However, the assistance it gave was slight. The Brigade was deployed, screened from the Germans by a slight rise in the ground. The attack was timed for 0615. There was a heavy mist, and it was only just becoming daylight. The Brigade advanced over the rise. German machine guns opened. The second wave came up, and advanced with the first. It was completely successful, and the enemy ran away. There was much shelling, but the Brigade line held on. The Brigade withdrew that night to the level crossing, where it bivouaced.

The 1st South Staffords were withdrawn just days before the end of the 1st Battle of Ypres. When it had landed in Belgium just a few weeks before it had been a force of 1,100 officers and men, now only 78 remained. Almost every officer had either been killed or wounded, and only one N.C.O., Company Sergeant Major F. Bytheway, was left to bring the men out of action.

After the action, like many of his comrades, Thomas was "Missing, presumed dead." Again like many of his comrades, Thomas has no known grave and he is commemorated on the Menin Gate in Ypres.

Newspaper Cuttings

None.