Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

At the entrance to the Rosedale Memorial Hall in Queensland is a marble honour board with the names of the men who served their country in World War I. Six of the names have a crown next to them indicating that they lost their lives as a result of their service. The first name is Thomas Lloyd-Jones and there is a crown beside his name. In fact the first three names are Lloyd-Jones and at least two are brothers but most likely the three of them were brothers. Thomas enlisted as Thomas Jones dropping the hyphenated ‘Lloyd’. He listed his father, Robert Lloyd-Jones as his next of kin, as “R.L. Jones”.

Thomas Lloyd-Jones was only 18 years old and needed a letter from his father when he enlisted on 16 June 1915. He was the first of the family to join the AIF and went to Gallipoli with the 26th Battalion in 1915. In 1916 the 26th Battalion was in France and its first major action there was an attack of 5 August on the Old German Lines at Pozieres. Thomas Lloyd-Jones went missing during this attack and a Court of Enquiry later found that he’d been killed in action that night. He has no known grave and is listed among the missing on the panels of the Australian National Memorial at Villers-Bretonneux as Thomas Jones.

Robert Lloyd-Jones enlisted in January 1916 as a 22-year-old and was allocated to the 4th Pioneer Battalion. He went to France and arrived in time for the fighting at Pozieres like his brother Thomas. The 4th Pioneer Battalion was busy widening and deepening Copse Avenue through Pozieres so that infantry soldiers like his brother Thomas could use it for their attack against the German lines. Robert received a severe gunshot wound to the thigh and a light wound to the shoulder on 3 August and was sent to England for treatment before being sent back to Australia in October 1916. The 3rd of August was a tough day for the 4th Pioneers as they sustained over 40 casualties. Robert Lloyd-Jones was a timber cutter on enlistment so it’s likely that his wounds impacted his ability to carry on that trade after the war. Robert lived to 68 years of age and is buried in the Bundaberg Cemetery.

William Lloyd-Jones was 21 when he enlisted in June 1916 and followed Robert to the 4th Pioneer Battalion arriving in England in January 1917. By this time Robert has returned to Australia as a result of his wounds. It seems that William spent 1917 in England training and on construction tasks and proceeded to France in January 1918. He was wounded in the fighting on 6 August 1918 and evacuated to England for treatment. William was one of three men in the 4th Pioneer Battalion wounded that day but the unit diary gives us no information about the activities that they were doing that day. 6 August was 2 days before the major Battle of Amiens, so it’s likely that they were doing road or trench preparation for that attack. William went back to France after the Armistice and eventually returned to Australia in May 1919. William died at the ripe old age of 94 in April 1989 outliving the majority of his comrades from the AIF.

Brothers or Cousins?
Thomas, William and Robert Lloyd-Jones all gave their address as Rosedale in Queensland. All have their religion as Roman Catholic . Robert and William were born in Gin Gin, while Thomas was born in nearby Bundaberg. William gave his next-of-kin his father Robert Lloyd-Jones, while Thomas listed his next of kin as his father Robert L. Jones, almost certainly the same person. Robert listed his next-of-kin as his mother, Alice Lloyd-Jones, presumably the wife of Robert senior. William enlisted after Robert, so we can assume that Robert senior was still living when Robert junior enlisted so his reason for listing his mother and not his father as next-of-kin is not clear. While the evidence isn’t 100% conclusive, it’s fair to assume that they were brothers and worst case that Robert might be a cousin to brothers Thomas and William.