David Rees Wyndham Jones – Rifle Brigade, 3rd Battalion

Private David Rees Wyndham Jones – Rifle Brigade, 3^rd Battalion

Family Background

David Rees Wyndham Jones 

David Rees Wyndham Jones was born in 1893 in Penclawdd, the son of Lewis Jones and Sarah Anne Jones.

1911 Census

The only census in which David appears is the 1911 Census, which records the family living at 1 Beaufort Terrace, Blackpill.
Lewis Jones (41), born in Neath, was employed as a Postman, while Sarah Anne Jones (39) kept the home. Their two children present were Mary Annie (19), a Shop Assistant, and Wyndham (18)—David—who worked as a Sampler’s Assistant.

Military Service and Death

South Wales Daily Post

The South Wales Daily Post reported on David’s death, referring to him by the name he was commonly known as—Wyndham Jones. He served as a Private in the Rifle Brigade, 3^rd Battalion, which in December 1916 was holding positions on the Western Front in the Loos sector, one of the most hazardous stretches of the British line. Between 26^th and 28^th December 1916, the battalion was engaged in routine but dangerous duties, including front-line and support trench rotations, repairing damaged trench systems, carrying out night patrols into No Man’s Land, and enduring frequent German artillery and trench-mortar bombardments. Although no major offensive was underway, the front was subject to constant shellfire, collapsing trench walls, severe winter weather, and continual attrition. It was during these unpredictable and perilous conditions that Private David Rees Wyndham Jones was killed in action on 28^th December 1916. He is buried at Philosophe British Cemetery, Mazingarbe, France.

Philosophe British Cemetery

David Rees Wyndham Jones
Philosophe British Cemetery, Mazingarbe, France
credit - findagrave

Philosophe British Cemetery was used extensively from 1915 onward by units serving in the Loos sector. Located near Mazingarbe, it served front-line battalions, field ambulances, and soldiers evacuated from the trenches with wounds or illnesses. The cemetery contains graves of men who died from immediate battlefield casualties and those who succumbed to wounds treated in nearby medical posts. Its rows of headstones stand as a testament to the heavy loss of life in this region, where daily attrition claimed countless soldiers, including Private David Rees Wyndham Jones.