George Ernest Raymond Jones

Bombardier George Ernest Raymond Jones — The Last Soldier Buried at St. Hilary

The first burial at St. Hilary’s Churchyard, Killay, in 1945 was that of Bombardier George Ernest Raymond Jones. His funeral also marked a turning point: he would be the last soldier to be laid to rest at St. Hilary. In the years that followed, there would be four more burials, all of them men of the Royal Air Force, but George’s grave closed the chapter of Army interments in this quiet Welsh churchyard.

Early Life

Thomas Jones and Jane Elizabeth Baldry
marriage certificate
St. Andrew and St. Philip’s Church, Kensal Green, Kensington and Chelsea

George was born in Swansea in 1912, the youngest son of Thomas Jones and Jane Elizabeth Baldry, who had married in 1891 at St. Andrew and St. Philip’s Church, Kensal Green, Kensington and Chelsea.

Metropolitan Police
Police Pension Register

Thomas had served with the London Metropolitan Police Force, where he rose to the rank of Station Sergeant before retiring in 1905. 

1921 Census

By the 1921 Census, the Jones family were living at 11 The Grove, Uplands, Swansea. Thomas, then 62, was employed as a Port Consultant for the Shipping Federation Ltd., while Jane, aged 50, kept the household. Two children were recorded at home: Edwin Richard (14) and George Ernest (10).

Marriage and Family Life

In 1931, George married Mary Winifred Morgan in Swansea. Together, they settled at 42 Hazel Road, building their life in the city in the years leading up to the outbreak of the Second World War.

Military Service

With the war, George answered the call to arms and enlisted in the Royal Artillery, where he achieved the rank of Bombardier. While the details of his service remain scarce, his role placed him among the ranks of Britain’s gunners, men whose skill and endurance were vital both in home defence and on the front lines.

Death and Burial

George Ernest Raymond Jones
St. Hilary’s Church, Killay
credit - findagrave

George’s life was cut short on 17^th February 1945, when he died at the Swansea General and Eye Hospital, aged just 32. His cause of death is not recorded in detail, but it came during the closing months of the war, when so many families were beginning to hope for peace.

Following his death, George was laid to rest with honour at St. Hilary’s Churchyard, Killay. His headstone bears the words chosen by those who loved him:

“AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN AND IN THE MORNING WE WILL REMEMBER HIM.”

Legacy and Reflection

The burial of Bombardier George Ernest Raymond Jones brought the story of Army interments at St. Hilary full circle. The first soldier to be buried there was Second Lieutenant Alistair Ewen Patrick Cameron of the Welsh Regiment, who died in June 1940 in the earliest year of the war. George’s burial in February 1945, nearly five years later, stands as the other bookend to that story.

Between Cameron’s grave and George’s lie the resting places of servicemen from Britain, the Commonwealth, and even America—young men cut down in flying accidents, training, and combat. Unlike many of them, George was not an airman but a soldier, and his burial closed the chapter of Army sacrifice within this small Welsh churchyard.

For his widow, Mary Winifred, his loss was devastating. For the community, his grave symbolises both personal tragedy and a larger transition: from the desperate early years of 1940, when Britain stood alone, to the final months of 1945, when victory was at last in sight.

Together, the graves of Cameron and Jones mark the span of St. Hilary’s wartime story for the British Army—its beginning and its end—while the RAF burials that followed would carry the narrative of sacrifice into the final days of the conflict.