John Ivor Jones – Merchant Navy, M.V. Upwey Grange

Assistant Steward John Ivor Jones – Merchant Navy, M.V. Upwey Grange

A Merchant Seaman of the Second World War

John Ivor Jones, born in 1909 in Swansea, is a figure about whom only limited surviving records remain. Like many merchant seafarers of the period, his life is preserved chiefly through wartime documentation, yet even these brief traces reveal a man who served during one of the most dangerous phases of the Second World War.

Merchant Navy Service

Merchant Seamen Deaths

John served as an Assistant Steward with the Merchant Navy, a role essential to the daily running of the ship, supporting the crew’s welfare, meals, and accommodation. According to Merchant Seamen Deaths, John Ivor Jones, of 46 Beechwood Road, Uplands, lost his life following the sinking of the M.V. Upwey Grange on 8 August 1940. His death occurred during the early and perilous months of the Battle of the Atlantic, when merchant ships were suffering heavy losses from U‑boats, mines, and air attack.

The M.V. Upwey Grange

M.V. Upwey Grange 
credit - wrecksite 

The M.V. Upwey Grange was a British cargo motor vessel of 9,130 tons, built in 1925 by Fairfield, Govan. On 8 August 1940, while on passage from Buenos Aires to London, she was carrying a cargo of 5,380 tons of frozen meat and 51 cases of tinned meat, part of the vital food supplies needed to sustain Britain during wartime rationing. During this voyage she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U‑37. The attack resulted in the loss of 36 crew members from a total complement of 86, a stark reminder of the dangers faced by merchant ships operating far from home in hostile waters. Among those lost was Assistant Steward John Ivor Jones, whose service ended in the South Atlantic.

John Ivor Jones
Tower Hill Memorial
credit - Benjidog Histroical Research Resources.
The Merchant Navy Memorial

Commemoration

With no known grave but the sea, Assistant Steward John Ivor Jones is commemorated on the Tower Hill Memorial, London, where his name stands among those of thousands of Merchant Navy personnel who gave their lives while keeping Britain supplied during the war. Though the surviving details of his life are few, his service and sacrifice remain part of Swansea’s enduring maritime heritage.