This post may be in the wrong forum board The above-named was born 6 September 1881 and prior to the outbreak of WW1 he was living in Swansea, Wales and was married with 4 children. He was a Mechanical Engineer at Swansea Docks. Would he have been exempt from serving in the Military due to his Trade? After his 4th child was born - 1 August 1912 - I can find no trace of him until his 5th child was born 31 August 1919. I cannot find any service records for him in the UK and if he was exempt, could he have been working in another Country? Colin
Oh dear just because you can't find a record, does not meant that he was not in the army, unfortunately a lot of WW1 records in Britain were destroyed in the WW2 during the blitz.
Also, if he did serve he may have been recorded as Thomas Jones rather than Thomas Frederick Jones. Ancestry medal index cards records three Thomas Frederick Jones by the way.
Looked into the Medal Cards on Ancestry and found one that is a 'possible' as Thomas Frederick was a Mechanical Engineer when W.W.1 started. As he was in his early 30's when war broke out, I concentrated on those men with that name and occupation and felt that possibly he could have joined the Royal Engineers. There was a Thomas F. Jones, Regimental #96547 serving in the R.E. Well, it's a start. What's next?
The medal card for Thomas F. Jones, Regimental #96547 serving in the R.E says 'Died'. I have not checked yet but can you find him on www .cwgc.org/
Thomas Frank Jones, born Newcastle, Staffs Lived: Stoke-on-trent, Staffs Died: 2 Apr 1916 At: France & Flanders Enlisted: London Rank: SPR. Regiment: Corps of Royal Engineers Number: 96547 Theatre of War: Western European Theatre Comments: 171St Tunn. Coy., R.E.
It's not easy Colin. So many records are missing. I cannot even find my own granddad. Like your Thomas he was Welsh man named Davies. They are like needles in a haystack. We just plod on.... but every so often we get a eureka moment and it makes all the searching worthwhile.
