William Henry Jones

  General Notes:

From 1930 until at least 1942 he was living with his parents at 108 Taylor Street, Armidale and working as apprentice. William trained as cabinet maker and later worked in his brother Ken's furniture business in Armidale.
William first tried to enlist in the Australian Military Forces on 12 January 1942. He was given the service number N297288, but it appears that he was exempted from service for some unknown reason. He was recorded as 38 years old, a single carpenter and joiner, and working at the time as a furniture repairer. He was still living at home with his parents when he signed up. He listed his father as his next of kin, and his religion as Church of England.
In his enlistment papers William was described as 5 feet 7inches tall, with brown eyes, a fair complexion and brown hair. Among his skills he listed that he could drive a car and a motor lorry, make running repairs, keep accounts and undertake clerical duties. He could not drive a motorcycle, use a typewriter, had no experience as a signaller and did not know Morse code, he could not write shorthand, nor could he play a band instrument, and he had no experience in nursing or butchering! Such are the insights given to us by the innocuous documents of history.
As that application didn't seem to go anywhere he applied again, this time successfully, on 22 April 1942. He was given a new service number, NX126315, and assigned to C Company of the 31st Garrison Battalion. Garrison Battalions were generally made up of older enlistees and typically tasked with homeland security functions such as guarding important infrastructure assets and POWs in camps around Australia. William's service record indicates that he served as a Private, and that he was classified as a Group II Carpenter, so clearly his trade skills were put to use. Initially he was based in Sydney but in December 1943 he was sent to Queensland where he continued to serve until he was returned to Sydney at the conclusion of the war. He was discharged from the army on 26 February 1946 as part of the postwar demobilisation of the army.
William married in Queensland in 1948, and by 1949 was back home in Armidale with his new bride, Joyce nee Fowles, where he resumed his trade as a cabinet maker, working for his brother's furniture business. They were living at 86 Beardy Street, Armidale where they were still living in 1963 according to the electoral rolls.

  Noted events in his life were:

• He had a residence in 1930 in 108 Taylor St, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.

• He had a residence in 1949 in 86 Beardy St, Armidale, , New South Wales, Australia.

• He resided at the time of his father's death on 20 Oct 1952 in 86 Beardy St, Armidale, , New South Wales, Australia.

• He worked as an Apprentice in 1930 in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.

• He worked as a Cabinetmaker in 1949 in Armidale, New South Wales, Australia.

William married Joyce Lillian Fowles on 10 Aug 1948 in St Barnabas Church, Ithica, Brisbane, Queensland. (Joyce Lillian Fowles was born in 1916 and died in Mar 2008 in Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia.)