Loftus Jones

Template:Short description Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox military person Commander Loftus William Jones VC (13 November 1879 – 31 May 1916) was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.

Naval career

Born 13 November 1879 in Southsea to Admiral Loftus Francis Jones and Gertrude (née Gray), of Petersfield, Hampshire,<ref name=cwgc>Jones, Loftus William, Commonwealth War Graves Commission</ref> Jones was educated at Eastman's Royal Naval Academy.<ref name=RNM>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He was appointed as a sub-lieutenant to HMS Spiteful in 1901.<ref name=RNM /> Promoted to lieutenant on 1 April 1902,<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> he was appointed later that year to Template:HMS, shore station at Hong Kong, for service on destroyers in reserve at the China Station.<ref>Template:Cite newspaper The Times</ref> He rose to become a commander in the Royal Navy aboard Template:HMS during the First World War.

Jones was 36 years old, on 31 May 1916, at the Battle of Jutland when he performed an act of bravery for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. Jones went down with his ship.

Citation

Commander Jones' body was washed ashore in Western Sweden some days after the battle. He was originally buried at Fiskebäckskil, Västra Götaland, Sweden. His body was transferred to the British War Graves plot in Kviberg Cemetery, Gothenburg in 1961.<ref name=cwgc/>

HMS Shark

The medal

His medal was purchased by Lord Ashcroft in 2012 and is on display at the Imperial War Museum's Victoria Cross and George Cross gallery in London.<ref name="Telegraph">Template:Cite news</ref>

Home town memorial

There is a memorial to him outside St Peter's Church, Petersfield.<ref>Petersfield Post</ref>

See also

• Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
• The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
• VCs of the First World War - The Naval VCs (Stephen Snelling, 2002)

External links

• Royal Naval Museum
• See Your History – Loftus William Jones
• Template:Find a Grave