William Edward Jones was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in early 1914, the son of James Alfred and Ellen Jones (née Rostron). His parents had both emigrated from England, and his father worked as a shipper. He was an only child, and in 1915, he resided with his family at 302. Bain Avenue, Toronto.
In 1915, his mother decided to take a holiday to England, taking him with her, to introduce him to her own, and her husband’s families. Consequently, she booked second cabin passage for them both on the May sailing of the
Lusitania from New York to Liverpool.
Having left Toronto at the end of April, they travelled by rail to New York City and boarded the vessel at her berth at Pier 54 in New York harbour on the morning of 1st May.
Six days later, the vessel was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine
U-20 off the coast of southern Ireland and only hours away from her destination. Both William Edward and his mother lost their lives when the liner sank, and as neither of their bodies was recovered, they have no known graves. William Edward Jones was aged just 15 months.
At the end of August 1915, his father enlisted in the Canadian Army. As 300547 Private James Alfred Jones, he was originally posted to the Canadian Field Artillery, but was later transferred to the Royal Canadian Dragoons. On the 23rd March 1918, he was reported as missing after an action, and then, in August 1918, it was reported that he had died while being held as a prisoner-of-war at Guise, France. Apparently he had suffered a gunshot wound to the head whilst in action on the 23rd March, and recovered from the battlefield by German soldiers who presumably brought him to one of their field hospitals where he succumbed to his wounds. He is buried in Grave 1141, Allied Section, Guise (La Desolation) French National Cemetery, Flavigny-Le-Petit, Aisne, France.
Cunard Records, Canada CEF World War I Personnel Files 1914 – 1918, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, PRO BT 100/345, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.