Jones Brothers

Proud Record of Seven Rushden Brothers

Mr. Frank A. Jones, a Rushden master butcher, was nearly a soldier in the last war – but not quite. He was about to get into khaki when the Armistice intervened.

It was, however, a case of service deferred on the part of the Jones family, for the present war finds Mr. and Mrs. Jones with seven sons – there are no daughters – and this is what the boys are doing :-

Two serve in the Army,

One is in the marines,

One is a Home Guard,

Two are factory fire watchers

One, unfit for military service, is on the Rushden Hospital Week Committee.

Just to help the national effort a little more, the Jones household at 65 Harborough-road, is caring for two bright-eyed schoolgirl evacuees from Dulwich.

One of the boys in uniform is John (known, of course, as Jack), aged 28. Jack is a lance-corporal in the Northamptonshires and does special work as the battalion butcher. He is married and was a pre-war Territorial.

Gunner Leonard Arthur Jones, aged 25, joined the Royal Artillery in June. He was a butcher in civilian life, though brother Jack, curiously enough, was not.

The family derives a musical strain from the maternal side, and Musician Edward Cecil Jones, of the Royal Marines, is an obvious example of this. One of twins now aged 18, he joined the Marines’ Band when 15 and is making a career of it. He plays the flute, the pianoforte and other instruments.

Richard, the other twin, is in the Home Guard, and assists in his father’s business.

Harry, the eldest son, helps in the nightly fire-watching at Messrs. John Cave and Sons’ boot works. Charles, the second son, does similar war work for Messrs. John White Ltd. These two are married, and Charles is well-known in the town as a singer and humorist. Frank is the third boy – the one who works for the hospital.

As for the parents, it may well be assumed that Father, in his meat shop, knows “there’s a war on.” Mother, of course, is very busy in the home, but one afternoon in the summer she found time to sit down and write a few verses in praise of Britain’s air-men.

And that – present – is the war story of one Rushden family.