Stephen Percy Douglas Jones (1893-1974)

1916

Wyndham City Libraries

text

eng

Stephen Percy Douglas Jones

3102

Stephen Jones,
Father

Mons 
Elster Avenue,
Garden Vale, Victoria

Single

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

No.3102  Private Stephen Percy Douglas Jones
Stephen Percy Douglas Jones was born in 1893 in Preston, Victoria, the son of Emily Abberley and Stephen Alma Jones.  He had one brother:

• Herbert 

and three sisters:

• Alma,
• Stella and
• Ethel.

Stephen was a Postal Assistant at the Werribee Post Office.  He obtained permission from Acting Post Master General to join the Australian Imperial Expeditionary Force.  Permission was granted on 24 August 1916 and leave without pay was approved until his return.

War Service
He enlisted at Melbourne Victoria on 9 October 1916 when he was 23 years old and was in 60th Battalion 8th Reinforcements.

Stephen attended Signal School Seymour from 9 to 11 October and again on 24 November.  He embarked for active service aboard HMAT Medic A7 on 16 December 1916.

He disembarked at Plymouth and marched into the 15th Training Battalion Hurdcott on 21 March 1917.
[The camp located at Compton Chamberlayne and close to Fovant became known as Hurdcott Camp as it was on land that was part of two farms, one of which bore that name. Australian battalions moved to Hurdcott in 1916, and in March 1917, Hurdcott House became the headquarters of No.3 Command Depot for the AIF.  At the camp practice trenches were dug, together with a bayonet fighting assault course close to a bombing ground, and five huts were transformed into a camp hospital.  In November 1917 Number 4 Command Depot moved from Codford to Hurdcott.  By January 1919 the command depots had all but ceased to function in their primary use and were now receiving men from France on their way back home.]

Stephen was admitted to Parkhouse Hospital sick on 21 March 1917.  He was admitted to Fovant Military Hospital on 12 May 1917, suffering from Pneumonia.

On 9 July 1917, he proceeded overseas to France via Southhampton.

On 1 August 1917, he was Taken On Strength at the 60th Battalion Australian Infantry Force from 8th Reinforcements 5th Australian Divisional Base Depot.

He was wounded in action on 17 October 1917 (gunshot wound abdomen, penetrating both legs) and admitted to hospital.

He was transferred on 8 November 1917 to England on Pieter de Conick which was a Hospital Ship or Ambulance Transport Service during WW1.  He was then transferred to the County of London Military Hospital, Clapton on 9 November 1917.

He was then transferred to 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital at Harefield, Middlesex, England on 11 January 1918.

Stephen was discharged from hospital to Weymouth on 16 January 1918.  Weymouth was the Australian Imperial Forces Command Depot No.2 which accommodated those men not expected to be fit for duty within six months, therefore, most of the Diggers repatriated as a result of wounds or sickness passed through Weymouth.  During the years 1915-1919 over 120,000 Australian and New Zealand troops passed through Weymouth.

He returned to Australia per RMS Orontes  on 10 March 1918 which reached Melbourne on 10 May 1918, his illness being specified as Shell Wound Penetrating Abdomen, chest, fractured rib.

Stephen was discharged from AIF as Medically Unfit on 19 June 1918, at 25 years of age.

Post War
Stephen married Doris Marion Sprague in 1933.

Stephen died on 11 May 1974 in East Burwood, Victoria, Australia, at the age of 81.

Medals and Entitlements:

• British War Medal
  
• Victory Medal

http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/NameSearch/Interface/NameSearchForm.aspx

Service History
http://www.naa.gov.au/

Embarkation List
https://www.awm.gov.au/

British War Medal

Victory Medal