Thomas Jones was born on the 16th of February, 1895 in Plumley, Cheshire, England1, a son of Samuel Jones and Elizabeth Kent. He had two brothers; George and Harold, and a sister Sarah Ellen (Nellie). Following their mother’s death in 1899 the children were separated and in the 1911 Census of England2 Tom can be found living in the household of William and Mary Carter as a border, his occupation given as “farm worker (cow man)”.
Tom joined the “Cheshire Regiment” and saw action in the First World War beginning in February, 1915 as a machine gunner with the 14th Brigade, 5th Division. He fought in the second and third Battles of Ypres (Passchendaele), and the Battles of Arras and Vimy Ridge.
Tom was hospitalized in England with a leg wound in September, 1917 after having fought on the front lines with little relief for two and a half years. Throughout that time he kept a diary that survives today. Three excerpts are reproduced and transcribed below.
Feb. 14th, 1915 A Few Notes
On the way to France nothing happened.
Landing at Plug Street was not very cheerfull. [Note: Ploegsteert is a Belgian village and adjacent wood located just across the French border] Plug St. is near the firing line. I suppose we shall soon know what’s what. (Later) Yes we have seen some of what’s what, we have had five wounded 2nd day in France, it seemed quite a new thing for us to see shells bursting and we had to run and see what damage they had done, that was the regret of having our wounded. We shall learn sense soon.
(Two days later) February, 1915. We have had a taste of the trenches, such as they are. One has to keep bent all day long as the trenches are not more than 3 feet 6 inches in height and a foot of mud under foot does not make things very comfy pour nous. We have had a few hit today mostly through looking over top to what No Mans Land is like.
July (1916) Gommecourt. I have heard hell spoken of and I am just wondering if it is any worse than the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of July, 1916. If it is, then I’m not having any. Such slaughter. God alone knows what these poor chaps have to go through. Perhaps I have no right to pen it down here but as no one will see it, only me, it does not matter. We went in, I mean the Div. 56th, about 11000 strong and came out at the end of three days with about 4000 strong, and to put the top hat on it all, we were just where we started. The General told us a few days later that we did all that was expected of us. We were only there to bluff Fritz which I call a damn shame, to think that all those lives should be given to bluff them. He told us we had been the cause of a great success on our right wing. I thought I should have gone mad but I didn’t.
Somme Sept 1917 (Bapume) [Bapaume]
We are on the Somme again but what a change. I am very lame and expect to go in hospital any day. I have no wish to as I want to stay with my comrades who have gone through the Mill as much as I have. I’m sure it’s worse than leaving home, leaving one’s pals, but it must be done. so goodbye to hell for awhile with the hope that it will cool down ere long.
1917 Hospital Oct 29th Blighty (Little Brook) [Note: Blighty was a term for England and during wartime was also used when referring to a non-fatal wound or injury that got one evacuated home for recovery.]
I suppose people will think I am a madman to write such things as these, but I’m afraid if we put all in they would not think at all. But be quite sure, however, I must say that this is only a very mild part of our experiences as we are only naming one day or night in each month which isn’t much out of 33 months when you come to think of it. Well, I don’t wish to have the honour of writing anymore in you, little Book – I mean of my little adventure. So, cheer Oh ____ Tom Jones
After being discharged in 1919 Tom Jones married Frances Davies, a daughter of William Davies and Catherine Williams of Salford, Manchester and worked as a groundskeeper at the historic Tabley House Estate. They lived near Tabley, Cheshire and had two children; a daughter Hazel born in 1920 and a son Thomas Merville born in 1923. Merville is a town in France mentioned several times in the WW1 diary.
On the 27th of April, 1926 Thomas Jones, his wife Frances, and their two children; Hazel age 5 and Tom Merville age 2, arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia aboard the S.S. Arabic from Southampton, England3.
The Passenger List and Immigration record lists Tom’s occupation as “Farm Labourer” and his destination as “Employer, B. H. Gregg, Hantsport N.S.”
The family lived first on Lockhartville Road according to the 1931 Census of Canada4, adjacent to Bernard Gregg and his sister Dorothy. In 1937 Bernard Gregg purchased a 130 acre farm on the Bluff Road from brothers Norman and Terence Savage-Cooper5 where Tom Jones and family subsequently lived. Mr. Gregg sold the property6 to them in 1946. It was called “Seacroft Farm” and extended from the Bluff Road to the Avon River, across the Dominion Atlantic Railway Co. right-of-way.
 |  “Seacroft Farm”, Bluff Road, Hants Border |  The cows on view of southern slope |
Three generations of the Jones family lived on “Seacroft Farm” 7 following the marriage of Tom Merville Jones and the birth of his first two children.
Tom Jones, age 54, dairy farmer of Hants Border, died at Payzant Memorial Hospital in Windsor8 of coronary thrombosis on the 16th of December, 1950. He is buried in Section A-13-4 of Riverbank Cemetery in Hantsport. He was a member of the Canadian Legion and the Church of England.
His widow, Frances (Davies) Jones, sold the Bluff Road property9 in 1954. At the time she was living with her daughter Hazel in Riverside, Albert Co., New Brunswick.
Like many students from Hants Border, Hazel Jones completed high school in Hantsport10; attending Grade 10 in 1934/5 and Grade 11 in 1935/6. She served in the Second World War but was not deployed overseas.
Following the war she attended Dalhousie University Medical School11 from 1949 to 1954 and graduated with a M.D., C.M. in 1954. Hazel Jones married a fellow medical student, Raymond Murphy from Placentia Newfoundland, and together they opened a practice in Riverside, New Brunswick.
  Hazel (Jones) Murphy and her mother Frances (Davies) Jones – Halifax NS 1953 |  The Moncton Transcript; Tue, May 18, 1954 ·Page 3 |
She was made a Life Member of the New Brunswick Medical Society12 at their 132nd annual meeting in Moncton N.B., December 1999.
Dr. Hazel (Jones) Murphy died on Tuesday, June 10th, 2003 at the age of 82 years13. She was a family physician with over 45 years service, Hazel and her husband, Dr. Raymond Murphy, who passed away in 1998, practiced together dedicating many years of care to their patients. She was survived by their four children and five grandchildren.
Tom Merville Jones also attending High School in Hantsport10; Grade 9 in 1936/7, Grade 10 in 1937/8, and Grade 11 in 1938/9.
After lying about his age he enlisted in the RCAF at 17 during the Second World War and was trained as a Typhoon pilot. He was shot down over Germany near the end of the war and reported mission in action.
Tom Merville Jones was briefly held as a prisoner but escaped to France and returned safely to England where he married his fiancée, Joan Mary Sigsworth, on the 24th of May, 1945.
Joan was born February 21st, 1925 in Manchester, England, the eldest daughter of Alfred and May (Bevan) Sigsworth.
Joan grew up in the city of Leeds and at the age of 17 joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in Sopley in south of England manning radar stations to detect German warplanes. On their downtime, the women would travel to nearby Bournemouth to a dance hall called the Pavilion. In 1944, Bournemouth also happened to be the holding depot for Canadian troops, in particular one RCAF Flying Officer, Thomas M. Jones14.
Following the war Tom Merville returned to the farm and was soon joined by his new bride. He attended Acadia University, often hitchhiking between the farm and Wolfville to attend classes. He graduated in 1949 with a Bachelor of Science Degree with Honors (Mathematics). A Master of Science followed and a Bachelor of Education Degree in 1951.15 Tom Merville enjoyed a long and illustrious career as an educator serving in various capacities such as Principal of a secondary school in Quebec, Lecturer in Acadia University’s School of Education, Executive Director of an experimental entity called Nova Scotia New Start which had a profound impact on both federal and provincial approaches to adult education and finally as Senior Executive Director, including a stint as Acting Deputy Minister, of Nova Scotia’s vocational and technical training system.
Tom Merville Jones died in Hants Community Hospital on June 15th, 2014 at the age of 90 years. He was survived by his wife, seven children and fourteen grandchildren16. Joan (Sigsworth) Jones died at the former Haliburton Place in Windsor on October 16th, 2017. A private family memorial was later held and the cremated remains of both Joan and Tom scattered over the Bay of Fundy as requested by them.
Sources:
- Cheshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1923; Lower Peover, St. Oswald
- The National Archives of the UK; Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911, Chester, Lostock-Graham, Enumeration District 19
- Library and Archives Canada; Passenger Lists, 1865-1935
- 1931 Census of Canada, Nova Scotia, Hants-Kings, Sub District 44 Lockhartville, Page 5, Family No. 41
- Kings County, Nova Scotia, Registry of Deeds, Book 158, Page 174
- Kings County, Nova Scotia, Registry of Deeds, Book 170, Page 126
- Photos courtesy of Heather (Jones) Tupper, Kentville NS
- Nova Scotia Archives, Historic Vital Statistics, Male Death Registration: Year: 1950 number: 6892
- Kings County, Nova Scotia, Registry of Deeds, Book 185, Page 542
- Hantsport & Area Historical Society: Hantsport School Registers 1886-1953
- Dalhousie University Archives, Reference and Research Services, Halifax NS
- Saint John Times Globe, Tue, Dec 28, 1999 ·Page 27 (includes photo)
- Moncton Times & Transcript, 11 June 2003
- The Chronicle Herald, 18 Oct 2017
- Acadia University Archives, Digital Collections.
- The Chronicle Herald, 19 June 2014
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