William John Jones, known as Gwyn Jones, was born in Blaina, Monmouthshire, South Wales, on the 14th February 1891, the son of John Rees and Mary Jones (née Parry). The family home was in Blaina, where his father was a tailor, a fervent supporter of Liberal politics, and also passionately interested in singing and sport.
He was educated at a college in Cardiff, Glamorgan, and at this time, joined one or two local choirs and took part in various Eisteddfods, but did not initially think of a career in singing. By this time, he, like many of his peers, had become a coal miner because his parents could not afford to support him.
However, in 1913, he managed to gain a place at The Royal College of Music in London, and it was whilst there, that he was offered the opportunity to join The Royal Gwent Glee Singers - sometimes known as The Royal Gwent Male Voice Choir - on a tour of the United States of America and Canada. This troupe of musicians and singers toured all (then) 48 states in America, Canada and Alaska, and it was whilst in New York that Gwyn Jones secured a number of small parts at the Metropolitan Opera House, where he met many famous people of the day in the world of classical music, including Toscanini, Richard Strauss, and the great Italian tenor Enrico Caruso.
The fourteen members of the choir had completed their tour at the end of April 1915 and for their return home to South Wales, they had booked passage on the Anchor Liner S.S.
Transylvania, which was due to sail out of New York in the first week of May. When they arrived in that city, however, they discovered that there was room available on the
Lusitania, which was a faster ship and would therefore get them home quicker. Nine of them thus transferred to this liner, believing, mistakenly, as it turned out, that she would also be safer from U-Boat attacks!
Gwyn Jones was one of these nine, the others being, G.F. Davies, S. Hill, D.T. Hopkins, I.T. Jones, G.B. Lane, D. Michael, J.P. Smith and T. Williams.
Just after mid-day on 1st May 1915, the Lusitania left her moorings at the Cunard Berth in New York harbour and the nine members left from the choir lined up on deck and sang the American national anthem
The Star Spangled Banner as she sailed out into the North River. Each night thereafter on the Atlantic crossing, the choristers had given a concert in each of the saloons on board in aid of seafarers‘ charities in England. When the liner was torpedoed and sunk, six days later and only hours away from Liverpool, three members of the choir perished, with six surviving.
One of the survivors was Gwyn Jones and having been rescued from the sea and landed at Queenstown, he eventually made it back to Blaina, where he told his story to a reporter of
The Western Mail. This account was published in the edition of Monday 10th May 1915 and stated: -
Mr. Gwyn Jones, Blaina, a member of the Royal Gwent Glee singers stated when what he described as an explosion occurred, he rushed to the top deck, got hold of some lifebelts and distributed them among the women. Very shortly it became evident that the vessel was about to topple over and in the excitement of subsequent events, he hardly knew what had happened until he found himself in the water.
An account of the sinking published in The Last Voyage of the Lusitania
by Adolph and Mary Hoehling, states that Gwyn Jones was on the very stern of the ship when she took her final plunge and must have been flung into the sea then!
The Western Mail account continued: -
He was underneath for some time and how he got to the surface again, he was unable to say. He swam to an upturned boat and whilst gripping this, he could see that there were hundreds of people in the water, screaming and gripping at anything in a desperate struggle for life.
Getting on top of the capsized boat, he observed Mr. Dewi Michael and Mr. Spencer Hill, and managing to get near them, he pulled them up alongside of him. They were continually picking up people from the water, and by lashing boats together and making a raft, they were able to accommodate about 40 people.
For two hours they drifted about, when they came upon another boatload of people which was sinking because it was half full of water. Fortunately, however, they were able to accommodate all those people on the raft and 3½ hours after the sinking, they were picked up by the Empress of India.
Mr. Jones emphatically controverted the suggestion that there had been any panic on board. “I did not see it,” he said. “There were, however, heartbreaking scenes, but I don’t want to speak of them.
The ship that rescued the occupants of the raft was in fact the Royal Naval trawler H.M.S.
Indian Empire, not the Empress of India but it is easy to see how Gwyn Jones confused the names after such an ordeal. Furthermore, there was a fourth member of the choir perched on top of the upturned lifeboat - Tom Williams, whom Gwyn Jones must have forgotten about.
Another account of Gwyn Jones’ experiences is related by W.G. Lloyd, in Roll of Honour, which further states: -
Climbing on top of the capsized boat, he observed choir members Dewi Michael, Tom Williams, and Spencer Hill, and managing to get near them, he pulled them up alongside him. Tom Williams of Pontymister, gave up hope and gripping Hill by the hand, he said “Goodbye, Spencer; its all over.”
They continued to pick up people from the water and by lashing boats together and making a raft they were able to save around forty people. After they had been floating around for some time, the members of the choir starred singing ‘Praise God from Whom all blessings flow,’ and Spencer Hill, of Aberbeeg, thought that he had never before heard singing with more feeling. Perhaps because of the choice of hymn, the emotion with which it was sung, or the predicament they were in, the women began to cry. As this would not do they enthusiastically struck up ‘Tipperary,’ and the ladies began to smile and then laughed. The song seemed to cheer everyone up and the tune was soon taken up by the people in the other boats which were floating about nearby.
Other accounts of the sinking state that the choir members also sang Abide With Me
and Pull For The Shore, Sailor, as well.
Out of the nine members of the choir who had joined the Lusitania at New York, G.F. Davies, D.T. Hopkins and I.T. Jones died. The rest survived.
At the end of May 1915, undaunted by the effects of the sinking, Gwyn Jones became the open champion of the first Welch national eisteddfod held under the auspices of the Varteg Wesleyan Church, and by September of the same year, he became a member of the newly constituted Gwent Glee Singers who went back to America to tour again. Another member of the new choir was Tom Williams who had also survived the
Lusitania's sinking, despite his conviction at the time.
On his return, he sang with The D’Oyly Carte Opera Company. Then, in 1918, he was called up for active service and fulfilling his patriotic duty, he served in the Royal Garrison Artillery for the rest of the war, being discharged in 1919. He did not serve overseas, however.
On the 7th September 1918, he had married Hilda Dorothy Morris in Derby, Derbyshire. She was a fellow student at The Royal College of Music - he had returned there to complete his studies - and they later had one son, Alfred Gwynne Parry Jones, who became a film director.
From 1919 until 1922, he performed with the Carl Rosa Company, which was a touring opera company, and in 1922, moved to the British National Opera Company, which he later declared was the finest opera company he had ever known! He remained with this company until its dissolution in 1942, in the middle of another war!
By this time, he was internationally famous, singing under the name of Parry Jones - Parry being his mother's maiden name - and in the 1920s and 1930s he made many public appearances, both on the stage and on radio, and he also cut many gramophone records. He not only sang opera but gave many concerts as well, singing for every choral society of worth in the land. In the early 1960’s, he was the subject of a
This Is Your Life B.B.C. television programme, in which other survivors from the
Lusitania sinking were also featured, to help tell his story. In 1963, also, he featured in a short documentary on the sinking, also made by the B.B.C., and called
Lusitania: 50 Fathoms Deep. In this, he recalled: -
"The war was on and we didn't know that it was going to be the great war that it was and we decided that we might come back to look at this war. I don't think anybody took much notice about this, because I thought no nation would dare go to the point of sinking a passenger liner, especially a liner so famous as the Lusitania. A great ship like this, we were told, wouldn't sink for 5 or 6 hours, so there would be time to get anybody off if this dreadful thing did happen.
Most of the people seemed to have lost their heads, and I saw one of the boats being lowered and one side of the boats catching the other side going down and tipping out the occupants of the boat into the water, and suddenly, the other side would loosen up and the boat would drop down into the water onto the bodies. I thought, ‘Well that's not quite the place for me.’
Well I think public opinion in all civilised countries was terribly shocked. I mean - at that time there was a lot of trouble between this country and Ireland - the Irish Rebellion and one thing or another, but the reception we got when we were landed in Southern Ireland was marvellous. They couldn't do enough for us. They were really most touching, and of course, when I got back to South Wales, that is a bit of a rebellious country too, you know, always anti-government, but it suddenly appeared to me that they were the most patriotic nation in the world out of this Lusitania sinking. It did shake people up terribly."
William Gwyn Jones died in London on 26th December 1963, aged 72 years, not long after the programme was broadcast. His residence at the time of his death was Flat 4, 185. Old Brompton Road, London, and administration of his estate was granted to his widow and their son, and his estate amounted to £15,836.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1891 Census of England & Wales, 1901 Census of England & Wales, 1911 Census of England & Wales, New York Passenger Lists 1820 – 1957, Cunard Records, Singers of Today, Roll of Honour, Last Voyage of the Lusitania, Lusitania 50 Fathoms Deep, Seven Days to Disaster, Western Mail, Probate Records, PRO BT 100/345, Graham Maddocks, Kate Wills, Peter Patrick, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.