Sergeant Leonard Stanley Trevor Jones

Sergeant Leonard Stanley Trevor Jones, 1st/7th ( Territorial ) Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers, He was killed in action on 26th April, 1915, aged 25 at the Battle of St. Julien. This was a British counter-offensive following a successful German gas attack a few days earlier which had captured the village. The 1st/7th Battalion were part of the 149th Northumbrian Brigade which lost nearly 2000 men that day including their commanding officer Brigadier General James Riddell. Sergeant Jones was a keen sportsmen and played 2/3 seasons for Berwick Rangers F.C and was also a keen member of Berwick Amateur Rowing Club. He had been born in Kings Lynn, Norfolk and  was the nephew of Mrs. E. M. Memmott of 55 Meersbrook Road, Sheffield who brought him up and he enlisted in Berwick. He is commemorated on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium. The Battalion had only landed in France on 21st April to be rushed North into Belgium to take part in the attack in support of the Canadians. Their baptism of fire cost over 400 casualties. The photograph shows the Memorial raised to the 50th ( Northumbrian ) Division of which the Battalion was part until February 1918 when it was transferred to the 42nd ( East Lancashire ) Division as the Pioneer Battalion. It was erected near the village of Wieltje in the Ypres Salient where the Division fought their first Battle of the War on 26th April 1915.