Orders, Decorations and Medals

Five: Hon. Lieutenant & Quartermaster A. H. Jones, King’s Royal Rifle Corps, who was mentioned in Special Army Orders for gallantry at the wreck of the Warren Hastings in January 1897

India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Hazara 1891 (4862 Corpl. A. H. Jones, 1st Bn. K.R. Rif. C.); 1914-15 Star (R-2814 Q.M. Sjt., K.R. Rif. C.); British War and Victory Medals (2814 W.O.Cl.II, K.R.R.C.); Army L.S. & G.C., E.VII.R. (4862 Sjt., K.R.R.C.) contact marks, otherwise nearly very fine or better (5) £400-500

Alfred Harry Jones was born at Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, and elisted into the King’s Royal Rifle Corps at Nottingham on 28 November 1888, aged 21 years. Posted to the 1st Battalion, he embarked for India in November 1890 and took part in the operations of the Hazara Field Force the following year. Jones was promoted to Sergeant in November 1891, and to Colour-Sergeant in January 1896. In August of that year he was awarded a Second Prize and 200 Rupees for his development of a new patented arms rack for use in the barracks room. The battalion’s tour in India now complete, Jones and his comrades embarked for the Cape from Bombay on the R.I.M.S. Warren Hastings on 11 December 1896, arriving at Cape Town on the 28th of the same month.

On 6 January 1897, the Warren Hastings, commanded by Commander G.E. Holland, D.S.O., Royal Indian Marine, sailed from Cape Town for Mauritius. The passengers principally consisted of a half battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps, half a battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment and detachments of the Middlesex Regiment. A good passage was had until the morning of the 13th, when the glass fell and the wind shifted to the south. Despite reduced visibility there was no cause for concern and that night the troops went untroubled to bed. At about 2.20 am on the 14th, a violent shudder was felt throughout the ship. Orders were given for the K.R.R.C. to fall in on the port side and the York and Lancasters on the starboard side. Through the torrential rain tropical ship's officers perceived that the vessel was aground and that it was possible to disembark by ropes on to the rocky coast of what later turned out to be the island of Reunion. At 4.15am the ship began to heel to starboard. Twenty minutes later the electric lights went out. Thus by 5.00 am those men on the starboard side, some in total darkness, were standing knee deep in water. The list gradually increased until the captain himself thought the ship would turn over.

Nevertheless the discipline for which the British soldier is famed prevailed, and the disembarkation was accomplished without a single fatality. The only lives lost during the whole episode were those of two natives who ran amok and jumped overboard. One officer present later wrote 'Personally I look upon the whole business as one of the most creditable things to the British Army which has ever occurred, and without invidious comparison quite as creditable as the Birkenhead, for in the latter, if we are to believe the pictures, the men were at least all on deck, whilst on the Warren Hastings they were between decks, and...quite unable to see what was going on.'

Officers and men in various states of undress were subsequently conveyed to Mauritius, 120 miles away, in a British India ship, the Lalpoora. Upon arrival on the 18th all the officers were received by the Governor, Sir Charles King Harman. The dinner given that night at his residence, Reduit, was by all accounts 'a curious sight.'

Mr Tyler, Bandmaster, 1st Bn. King's Royal Rifles, was in the water, on the starboard side, and unable to make any headway against the backwash of the waves, or to get near the shore. Lieutenant Gosling, 1st Bn. King's Royal Rifles,endeavoured to reach him, but after going some 20 yards was washed back, thrown on the rock and injured. 2nd Lieutenant Forman, Royal Artillery, at once went in with a rope and a life buoy, and swimming out to Mr. Tyler, gave him the buoy. When, however, the men on the shore began to haul on the rope, it parted. 2nd Lieutenant Forman stayed with Mr. Tyler, and Lieutenant Gosling then made a second attempt to reach him, failed and was brought ashore. 2nd Lieutenant Bayley, York and Lancaster Regiment, then swam out with a rope, and the whole three were then brought close in to the shore, when 2nd Lieutenants Forman and Bayley were hauled up onto the rocks, over which the sea was washing.

In endeavouring to pull Mr Tyler in the buoy slipped, and the backwash carried him out at once. Just at the time one of the boats belonging to the ship, which had washed loose, was drifted sufficiently near the rocks to be got hold of, but was all the time being dashed against them, and actually, being broken up. It was caught and manned by Colour-Sergeant Jones, who was at the time a hospital patient, Serjeants H. R. Howarth and R. G. Down, Corporals 4949 R. Hodgson and 4657 C. J. Young, and Privates Nos. 6206 W. Parkinson, 6040 G. D. Kaley, 6064 T. Jones, 5756 J. Connell, 7441 T. Steel, 8094 P. Pickersgill, all King’s Royal Rifles, and attempted to be rowed out to where Mr Tyler, who was much exhausted, was. Not being able to get the boat out, Sergeant Down dived from the stern and swam to him supporting him till he could be got on board; but the sea afterwards swept him out of the boat and he was pulled in again by Corporal C. J. Young and No. 6231 Private C. B. Jones, and eventually landed in safety, though insensible, together with the crew of the boat (Lieut.-Colonel M. Forestier-Walker, Mauritius, 28th January 1897).

For his part in the drama related above, Colour-Sergeant Jones was mentioned in Special Army Order No. 40 of 13 March 1897, as having performed outstanding services during the wreck. He remained in Mauritius until April 1899, when he went out again to India, returning Home in March 1903. He was then posted to the 5th (Militia) Battalion of the K.R.R.C. (The Huntingdon Rifles) as a permanent instructor. Awarded his L.S. & G.C. medal in 1907, with a gratuity of £5, he was discharged at Woolwich on 27 November 1909. Recalled for service in 1914, Jones was posted as Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant to the 10th Battalion K.R.R.C. and served in France and Belgium from July 1915 until May 1916,. when he was commissioned Hon. Lieutenant & Quartermaster in the Royal Defence Corps, and posted back to England for duty. He resigned his commission on 3 May 1918. Sold with detailed research including copy service papers.