Ernest Albert Jones was born in the spring of 1878. The sixth of seven children, he wad the youngest son to Thomas and Maria Jones. Thomas was an agricultural labourer, and the family lived in a cottage on The Rank in the Wiltshire village of Holt.

Ernest found work as a gardener’s assistant when he completed his schooling, but, by the time of the 1911 census, he was employed as a leather dresser for a local fellmonger. According to the document, he was the only one of the Jones children to still be living at home, bringing in money to support his parents.

Maria died in the spring of 1911, and it is likely that Ernest remained at home to support his father. When war broke out, he stepped up to serve his country and, although his service papers have been lost to time, the documents that have survived suggest he joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. His time there was not lengthy, however, and he soon transferred to the Wiltshire Regiment.

It is unclear where or how Private Jones served. He was attached to the 6th (Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry) Battalion, who served on the Western Front from 1915 onwards, but nothing in Ernest’s remaining records suggest he spent any time overseas.

Ernest survived the war, and returned to the family home. He passed away on 27th June 1920, through causes unknown, at the age of 42.

The body of Ernest Albert Jones was laid to rest in Hold Old Cemetery, not far from the home in which his family had lived for more than four decades.

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Thomas passed away nearly two years after his son, at the age of 87 years old. By this point, his granddaughter, Nellie, had moved in to look after him: it was she who Ernest had nominated as his next of kin.

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