R. E. Jones Wartime diary

Submitted by Admin on Fri, 12/23/2011 - 14:48

Notes from Alison McEwan:

I've recently started transcribing a diary in my family's possession [...]

How my father Colin McEwan came by it we don't know, but it turned up as we slowly went through my parents' books.

It is a hardbacked notebook written in pencil from 28th Dec 1940 thro' to 27th Oct 1945. The diarist is an RE Jones who Tony [Banham] has identified as a Prison Officer, it is already clear he was the prison hangman too! His wife Marj had already been sent to Australia, and they had a baby daughter born 22nd Jan 1940 called Rae.

I have only reached early September 1942 but already I have references to a tiger and just today, $5 from the Pope.

I would be very happy to post this online somewhere as I transcribe it (he's learning German so has the odd phrase I don't recognise!) - and also many in this group may recognise names or events that mean nothing to me yet - but really I would dearly love to locate Rae Jones or her family so they could recover this piece of history.

Originally posted in the Stanley Camp Discussion Group, 21 April, 2010.

Abbreviations used in this diary:

  • I.R.C. - International Red Cross
  • I.Q. - Indian Quarters, one of the blocks internees lived in at Stanley Camp, previously the quarters for Indians working at the prison.
  • R.E. - Royal Engineer

People mentioned in this diary:

  • "Bob" : The brother of Jones' wife, Marj.
  • Jones mentions "Steve" most days. We believe that's Mr E J Stevens, as explained here: https://gwulo.com/node/10853#comment-20882
  • Tony Banham has details of the men in Jones' platoon. Tony writes: "Jones was in the Stanley Platoon of the HKVDC, as your site states. However, unusually the surviving members of this platoon were generally interned rather than taken POW (a bit like the police). On my website at the moment I only list the POWs, but my 'working file' has the complete unit documented. [...]  I reproduce it here for the interest of this group. That way we'll understand all the names referred to (apologies for the cut-and-paste formatting):" Click here to see the list.
Author
Raymond Eric JONES [1905-1957]
Book type
Diary / Memoir
Dates of events covered by this document
-

Sample pages

20 Nov 1941, R. E. Jones Wartime diary

To Grindleys for dinner


21 Nov 1941, R. E. Jones Wartime diary

Rec. 1st Nov from M


24 Nov 1941, R. E. Jones Wartime diary

Rec. 10th Nov & Rae’s photo. Posted No89. 10.35 AM Prison box.


See full text and more pages ...

Comments

I am new to this site and I'm not sure if this is the right place to post the following.

Today I've been involved in a search following the post of a query on RootsChat family history forum about R E Jones and who was he?.

As a result, I've found the family of R E Jones after WW2. The search and most of the information can be seen here..... https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,580072.0.html  but I have additional information I couldn't post as the two daughters may still be living.

I can also be contacted through the RootsChat thread or the Personal Message system there.

Hi Dee,

Thanks very much for tracking this down, and letting us know the results.

Here is a summary of results from Dee and Sue over on RootsChat:

  • 1939, a marriage in Spilsby,Lincolnshire: Raymond E Jones & Dorothy M Cumming
  • 15th December 1950 on board the Corfu bound for Hong Kong:
    Raymonr Eric JONES aged 45 and married, a H K Govt Servant
    Dorothy Marjorie JONES aged 39 and married (wife)
    Daughter JONES aged 9
    Their last address in the UK was 23 Rutland Rd, Skegness.
    They were intending to stay in Hong Kong.
    (I think the name should be Raymond, but the image is not clear.  )
  • 20 August 1954 on board the Corfu, left Southampton bound for Hong Kong:
    Raymond Eric JONES aged 48 Govt Servant
    Dorothy Marjorie JONES aged 42 Housewife
    Daughter JONES aged 13
    Daughter JONES aged 2
    Again their last address in the UK was 23 Rutland Rd, Skegness.

Regards, David

PS You may already know of all these sources, but just in case there are any new ones: How to research people who lived in Hong Kong

Thankyou, David. I'm glad to have been able to throw some light on who R E Jones was, and I appreciate the link on researching people in Hong Kong.

I have the names of his children, but I am not permitted to post them on Rootschat, and would prefer not to do so on here.

I tried to email Alison but get a not available notice when I click on her email link.

Dee