Sex
Male
Status
Deceased
"R. E. Jones" appears on the List of Prison Officers for 1940, which shows he started work there on 2nd March, 1935.
He fought as a Private in the Stanley Platoon of the HKVDC.
Timeline:
- 1905: Born
- 1921: Joined Royal Navy, serving on submarines. (See http://gwulo.com/node/23544, https://gwulo.com/atom/16473, and https://gwulo.com/atom/16560)
- 1935: Started work as a Prison officer in Hong Kong.
- 1957: Died
Comments
R.E. Jones and the submarine HMS Oswald
Leading Seaman R.E. Jones served aboard the submarine HMS Oswald prewar. A contemporary newspaper article places the submarine in Singapore and says it was heading on to Hong Kong. I am particularly interested in determining the dates for this voyage since, alas, the newspaper article is a clipping with no date! If anyone has more information about the Oswald and her service in Asiatic waters, I'd be most grateful if you would be willing to share.
24th September 1936
Hi ssuni86
This is just to help you. The submarine existed from 1928-1940 before being sunk. I'll leave it to you to scour the Singapore newspapers for the depth of detail you require but as a starting point, for example, on this link she arrived in Singapore in early October 1935. More precisely, the 11th October 1935.
But this clip is probably what you are looking for stating HMS Oswald arrived in Singapore on 24th September 1936 and staying for a day before sailing on to to Hong Kong.
1930 Voyage from Home to the China Station
Suggest to search for the parent ship H.M.S. Medway in the Singapore and Hong Kong newspapers as Medway accompanied the O-class submarines to Hong Kong. Medway and submarines, Osiris, Otus, Oswald and Odin were in Singapore between 30 July and 3 August 1930 and arrived in Hong Kong on 9 August.
August 1930 port call in Hong Kong HMS Oswald
Thanks to you both!
I believe that R.E. Jones joined the Royal Navy in 1921 and served 14 years, so he would have left the service around 1934 or 35. I do not have the exact date. We do know that he started working as a warden at Stanley Prison in March 1935, so my guess is that he would have visited Hong Kong aboard the Oswald during the 1930 port call. He would already have been working in Hong Kong when the Oswald arrived in 1935 and 1936. One wonders what his thoughts were when he saw the familiar lines of his old ship in Victoria Harbor!
Hello.
Hello.
I've just received an e-mail from Rae Shaw, (Raymond Jones' daughter who was with her mother in Australia throughout the war), and she has confirmed that to the best of her knowledge her father joined the then Prisons Dept. in HK in 1935.
Admiral Harcourt's subsequent ROP
According to Admiral Harcourt's subsequent ROP, he was impressed by R E Jones' actions.
Source : "The British Pacific Fleet: The Royal Navy's Most Powerful Strike Force," and the author is David Hobbs.