Theophilus Jones - Old School House - Thringstone, Leicestershire
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SMacB
N 52° 45.132 W 001° 22.187
30U E 610025 N 5845950
A blue plaque on a post outside the old school house, Thringstone. A former headmaster here was the first british soldier to die on home soil during WWI.
Waymark Code: WMVXE9
Location: East Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/07/2017
Views: 1
A blue plaque outside the school tells us that a former headmaster here, Theophilus Jones, was the first british soldier to die on Home Soil in WWI.
"Theophilus Jones:
Born in Darlington in 1885, the son of John and Lettie Jones, he had three brothers and a sister and was brought up in the village of Newsham before moving to West Hartlepool after his father’s death.
Theophilus Jones did his training near Durham and was an elementary teacher in his home area before he took over as headmaster at Thringstone Church School, Main Street, in 1913. He had known the vicar of Thringstone, and was recommended for the post. He was very popular, a good sportsman and played for Coalville Rugby Club. Within a few months in Thringstone, he was making changes. His records are still available and tell tales of immediate alterations.
Theophilus Jones declared on 2 October 1914 that he was leaving the school in the charge of Mr Woodward BS., and was presented by children, upon leaving the school to join the Durham Light Infantry, with a prayer book. He kept in touch with Reverend Shrewsbury, the vicar of St Andrews, often writing from his training base in Durham.
Sadly, Mr Jones had been gone for little more than two months when a telegram message arrived at Thringstone Vicarage. The news was terrible – whilst on duty in his home town of West Hartlepool, Mr Jones had been hit and killed by fragments of shell fired from a German warship whilst guarding a gun. On the same day, Wednesday 16 December 1914, more than 119 people were killed in this terrible attack, and another 600 injured, many of whom were children. This was known as the Bombardment of the Hartlepools, and these casualties were the first casualties of the First World War on British soil. Mr Jones has the unfortunate distinction of having been the first soldier to die in action on home soil for nearly two centuries.
His funeral, with military honours, was at St. Aiden’s Church, West Hartlepool and was attended by a huge crowd and about 500 members of his battalion, some of whom fired over the grave.
In the breast pocket of his tunic, Mr Jones had been carrying the prayer book that he had been given before leaving Thringstone. A fragment of iron shell was found to have pierced the book almost all the way through, and also pinned firmly to the book was a piece of cloth torn from the tunic. The book was brought to Thringstone and shown to a packed congregation at Thringstone Church by the vicar at a special memorial service held in his honour on Sunday, 20 December 1914. The book was then sent back to Mr Jones’ mother in West Hartlepool.
Today the name of Theophilus Jones can still be found in Thringstone, on the war memorial tablet in Saint Andrews Church and also on a framed Roll of Honour which hangs in Thringstone Community Centre."
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