Source: Leicestershire War Memorials Project.
Born in Darlington in 1885, son of John and Lettie Jones. Headmaster of Thringstone Church School in 1913. He left to join the Durham Light Infantry on 2nd October 1914. Whilst on duty in West Hartlepool, he was hit and killed by fragments of shell fired from a German warship. More than 119 people were killed in this attack. Mr Jones was the first soldier to die in action on home soil in WW1.
(Taken from https://www.historypin.org/en/person/68808/explore/geo/52.138725,-0.825688,8/bounds/50.800912,-2.49561,53.43753,0.844234/paging/1/pin/1009776, 06/09/22)

Coalville Times article - Friday December 18th, 1914
THRINGSTONE SCHOOLMASTER KILLED
The sad news was received at Thringstone yesterday afternoon that during the German bombardment of Hartlepool, the Thringstone Church schoolmaster, Mr T. Jones, was killed. A telegram to this effect was received by the Vicar, the Rev. C. Shrewsbury, from his old Vicar, of St. Aidans, West Hartlepool. It stated that Mr Jones was killed at his post.
Mr Jones came to Thringstone about a year ago. He volunteered for service in connection with the war leaving Thringstone early in October, and he joined as a private in the County Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry. The men had been training near Durham and were recently moved to West Hartlepool.
The deceased wrote several letters to the Rev. C. Shrewsbury, all of a very cheery nature. He was a good sportsman and last season played with the Coalville Rugby Club. In the short time he had been at Thringstone he had made many friends and was very popular. His death will be much deplored. It is rather a coincidence that his military duties should have taken him to West Hartlepool, the same town where he was following his scholastic profession before coming to Thringstone. He has a brother at the front, in the Grenadier Guards. Mr Jones was 28 years of age and single.

Coalville Times article - Friday December 25th, 1914
THRINGSTONE SCHOOLMASTER’S DEATH
PIECE OF SHELL EMBEDDED IN HIS PRAYER BOOK
MEMORIAL SERVICES AT THE PARISH CHURCH
The death of their schoolmaster, Pte. T. Jones, has brought home to Thringstone people more forcibly than anything else, the horrors of the war now raging, and that the village has sustained a great loss is keenly felt by all the residents.
As reported in our last issue, Mr Jones, soon after the outbreak of war, volunteered for service in the Durham County Battalion of Light Infantry and he was on duty guarding a gun at West Hartlepool when he was killed by a piece of shell fired from a German cruiser last Wednesday. A remarkable circumstance connected with the event is the fact that a prayer book given to the late schoolmaster on leaving Thringstone, was found pierced by a piece of shell. The deceased was carrying the book in the breast pocket of his tunic and but for the other wounds the book would have saved his life. The iron fragment of the shell penetrated about half through the book, which is of fair thickness, and also firmly adhered to the cover of the book was a piece of khaki cloth from the tunic, held by the shell.
The funeral took place, with military honours, at St. Aidan’s Church, West Hartlepool, on Saturday morning, being attended by a huge crowd and about 500 members of the Durham County Battalion, some of whom fired over the grave. The body was placed in St. Aidan’s Church on Friday and remained there throughout the night. On Saturday morning there was a celebration of holy communion at 7.15, at which the celebrant was the Vicar, the Rev. W. J. Knowlden, assisted by the Vicar of Thringstone, the Rev. C. Shrewsbury. The funeral service commenced at eleven o’clock and while people were taking their places – there was a large congregation – the organist played the Dead March. The deceased’s favourite hymn, “There is a land of pure delight” and “On the resurrection morning” were sung. The Rev. C. Shrewsbury gave a short address, after which the body was removed to the cemetery and committed to the grave in the presence of a huge crowd.
In reply to a question as to what he saw of the damage at West Hartlepool, the Thringstone vicar informed our representative that it was enormous. A shell burst over St. Aidan’s Church, which however, was not much damaged. The residents had another scare on Saturday morning, in consequence of a notice sent round by the Mayor warning the people to keep indoors and not allow children out. Another message followed that this was a false alarm.
On Sunday afternoon, a memorial service for Pte. Jones was held in the Thringstone Parish Church, which was packed. At the commencement, Miss Crane played the Dead March, the congregation standing meanwhile, the same two hymns as at the funeral service was sung. The vicar gave an address and also referred to the prayer book incident mentioned above. The Vicar is returning the book to the deceased’s mother, who lives at West Hartlepool.
(A photograph accompanied this article with the caption: “Durham Light Infantry firing over the Grave. Reproduced with kind permission of the ‘Daily Mirror’.” and is shown above.)

Coalville Times article - Friday February 5th, 1915
It is proposed to erect a children’s window in Thringstone Parish Church in memory of late school master, Pte. T. Jones, who was killed during the German bombardment at West Hartlepool. The sum already in hand towards the object amounts to over £6.

Coalville Times article - Friday April 2nd, 1915
THRINGSTONE MEMORIAL WINDOW
The current issue of the “Thringstone Parish Magazine” states that designs have now been got out for the memorial window which the school children are to erect in the Parish Church to the memory of Pte. T. Jones, late schoolmaster, who was killed during the bombardment of West Hartlepool. The subject is St. Alban, the first Martyr of Britain, who suffered martyrdom in AD 303, at Verulamiuff, now St. Alban’s. Tradition has it that he sheltered a Christian priest and was converted by him. He enabled him to escape and offered himself while yet a catechumen to Christian martyrdom. The design is appropriate to the fact that the window is near the font and reminds us of the sentence in the Baptismal Service “Christ’s faithful soldier and servant.” The appropriateness of the design to the memory of him to whom the window will be erected is in itself sufficiently obvious. The Sunday School children have agreed that their savings for the last seven years amounting £7 10s 1d should go to this object. The cost of the window is estimated at £34, and this sum is beyond them. The vicar will be glad of subscriptions from any of the day school children as well as from adults. The total amount raised so far is £15 12s 2d. We shall be grateful if any who would like to subscribe would do so as soon as possible, that the window may be put in at an early date. The Easter offerings which in many parishes is customary to give to the vicar of the parish, will be devoted to the Window Memorial Fund. The work will be undertaken by Messrs. C. E. Kempe and Co.

Coalville Times article - Friday May 21st, 1920
THRINGSTONE WAR MEMORIAL
UNVEILED BY COL. BOOTH AT THE PARISH CHURCH
A beautiful stained-glass window has been placed in St. Andrew’s Church, Thringstone, in memory of men from the parish who fell in the war, together with a brass tablet bearing all the names, and the unveiling was performed by Col. T. Booth at a special service last Sunday afternoon, when there was a crowded congregation, which included many relatives of the deceased soldiers.
The service was impressively conducted by the Vicar (the Rev. C. Shrewsbury) and opened with the singing of the hymn, “There is a Land of pure Delight.” Other hymns sung were, “O God our help in ages past,” “The Saints of God,” and “For all the Saints,” also the psalm, “The Lord is my Shepherd.”
The window, which faces the church entrance, depicts St. Alban, the first British martyr to die for the Christian faith, and inscribed, “Christ’s faithful soldier and servant unto his life’s end.”
The tablet by the side of the window bears the inscription, “To the greater glory of God, and in memory of the following who from this parish and congregation have given their lives for their country in the great war 1914 – 1919, this window is dedicated by the congregation and parishioners of St. Andrew’s.”

Here are 27 names, as follows:
1914
Pte. T. Jones, Durham Light Infantry.
1915
Pte. E. Hall, Leicestershire
Corp’l W. E. Moore, R.G.A.
Pte. I. Hall, Leicestershire
1916
Pte. E. Howe, Leicestershire
Sapper E. Robinson, Royal Engineers
Pte. L. Whitmore, Leicestershire
Pte. T. Squires, Leicestershire
Pte. M. Grainger, Leicestershire
1917
Pte. F. B. Bowler, Royal Dublin Fusiliers
Pte. R. Freeman, Leicestershire
Sapper H. Briers, Royal Engineers
A. J. Turner, telegraphist, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve
Pte. J. Squires, Leicestershire
Pte. L. Haywood, Scottish Rifles
Corp’l W. Sykes, Leicestershire
Pte. T. Bailey, Royal Scots
1918
Corp’l J. Bancroft, Leicestershire
Rfn. G. W. W. Howe, Rifle Brigade
Pte. J. Gee, York and Lancaster
2nd Lieut. T. F. McCarthy, Loyal North Lancashire
Pte. S. R. Dring, Leicestershire
J. T. Fortnam, Able Seaman, Royal Naval Division
L.-Corp’l A. Griffin, Sherwood Foresters
Pte. J. Morley, Suffolk
Pte. H. Freeman, Leicestershire
Pte. H. Lakin, Leicestershire

At the foot appear the words: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
Having unveiled the memorial, Col. Booth proceeded to the other end of the church and from the chancel steps addressed the congregation as follows:
“My friends, I have been entrusted with the very solemn, but to me, the very proud duty, of coming here to address you, the members of this congregation on the subject of the memorial, that beautiful brass tablet which I have just had the honour to unveil, and I can assure you all that I am fully alive to the responsibility which that has involved upon me, and I am also very appreciative of the honour which it has imposed upon me. I am sure that as you heard those names read out, you could not fail to have been impressed, as I was, with the fact that these precious lives came from every class and from all ranks. What you may not have realised altogether is the width and scope of their sacrifice. I will try to explain what I mean. Reading out those names, I first find mention of men who went out at the start, in 1914, to help to stem the first wild onslaught of the Germans before we were ready; when everything was unprepared. Think of that. Then we pass on to other names of men who gave their lives in 1915, in those dull days in the trenches, when everything seemed dark, and when we appeared to be hammering our heads against a stone wall. Then I find more names in 1916, men who died in the great Battle of the Somme, which lasted for many weeks, but in which their services were rewarded by the first ray of hope which seemed to come to the nation. Then more names I find in 1917, men who took part in those hammering blows which we may regard as the period during which the war reached its height, when the storm seemed to be at its worst. Then in those terrible days in the early spring of 1918, I find more names, when the nation strained well-nigh to breaking point in her brave endeavour to stave off the last despairing effort of the Germans to overwhelm us on the soil of France. Lastly, and to me the most pathetic of all, are some few names of men who fell just as the dawn was breaking, a few days before the Armistice. Well, I have given a brief account of how those names covered that scope I spoke of at first. What then do we owe these men? I do not know whether you, or I, or anybody can yet appreciate the magnitude of that debt, but certain it is, we can never repay. What are we to do then – what must we do? Well, I think we must see to it that these men are never forgotten; that their names are never forgotten. This beautiful brass tablet and memorial window are the proof we intend to give that they shall not be forgotten. I think we must do more than this; we must see that we explain to the new generation that is coming on – explain to them what this tablet means; show them the names, and as they get older and more able to understand, explain to them what it stands for, what we really owe to these men; that we owe to them the peaceful possession of our houses, the freedom of the countryside to-day, the honour of our women and the safety of our little children. I think that is the duty for us in the future, and they will carry it on long after we are no more. Then, finally, I want to say a word to the members of this congregation who are relatives of the fallen. I know that nothing I can say is any real comfort; nothing that anybody can say is of any real comfort; but it may afford you some consolation to know that we, your fellow countrymen, are determined that the names of those beloved ones are not forgotten, and that brass tablet and window stand for all time as a witness to the noble and unselfish example of those brave souls, and I hope when you leave this church after this beautiful service, that you will feel as I do, and as all this congregation do I am sure, that their sacrifice has not been in vain.”
After the Benediction, the service closed with the singing of the National Anthem.

Research undertaken and submitted (including photograph from the Coalville Times) by Andy Murby, September 2017.

A clearer copy of the photograph of the funeral of Private Theophilus Jones, which took place in West Hartlepool in 1914, was submitted by M. Kenney in 2019. This was taken from website:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/HistoryOfHartlepoolInImages/permalink/2250733538358169/

Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son of Lettie Jones, born 1861 in Liverpool, Lancashire. Theophilus was a schoolboy and was born in the 2nd quarter of 1885 in Darlington, County Durham, his siblings were, Charles Herbert P., born 1886 in Norton, County Durham and Alfred, born 1890 in Northallerton, Yorkshire, in April 1891 the family home was at Malpas Place, Malpas Terrace, Northallerton, Yorkshire. In March 1901 Theophilus was employed as a pupil teacher and was residing in the family home at Lion Hill Lodge, Breckenbrough, Thirsk, Yorkshire together with his step father, John Lowes, a game keeper, born 1862 in Middleton in Teesdale, County Durham, his mother, brother Alfred and half blood sister, Annie Lowes, born 1895 in Yorkshire. In April 1911 Theophilus was employed as an elementary school teacher and was residing in the family home at 14, Dorset Street, West Hartlepool, County Durham, together with his widowed mother, brother Alfred, a timber merchant’s clerk and half blood sister Annie, a grocer’s assistant.
The circumstances in which Theophilus lost his life are as follows: The Heugh Battery Bombardment – 16th December 1914 - Unable to face the British fleet in a full scale battle the German navy decided to carry out a raid that would draw a smaller number of British battleships into an ambush in the North Sea and on the morming of 16th December 1914 the towns of Hartlepool, Scarborough and Whitby were shelled. Only Hartlepool was defended, both by the batteries and naval vessels and a full scale engagement developed in which much property was damaged along with 101 civilians (37 children), 9 soldiers, 4 sailors and 9 German seamen killed. At 8:10 a.m. the German battleships, now only two and a half miles (4 km) off the coast, opened fire on the Headland batteries. During the following battle, two factors counted in the towns’ favour. The first was the recent camouflaging of the Heugh Battery. A false extension caused the enemy ships to fire high, so that many of the shells missed their target. The second was that in the time between the Germans’ spying out the area and their attack, one of the buoys in the harbour had been moved nearer to the shore. This caused the German ships to come in much closer to shore than they needed, given the range of their guns. The three German ships were units of Admiral von Hipper's High Seas Scouting Force and were the 28,100 ton battlecruiser Seydlitz, the 25,300 ton battlecruiser Moltke and the 17,250 ton armoured cruiser Blucher. Facing this massive force armed with a total of twenty 11 inch and twelve 8.2 inch guns were the three six inch guns of the Heugh Battery and a flotilla comprising of two scout cruisers, four destroyers and a submarine based in the port. That morning the four destroyers HMS Doon, HMS Waveney, HMS Test and HMS Moy were already at sea but without the scout cruisers HMS Patrol and HMS Forward which were still in port. At 8.00am the four destroyers sighted the German ships but their puny 12 pounder armament meant they were hopelessly outgunned and the German warships easily chased them off, but not before HMS Doon fired a torpedo which unfortunately missed. The first shots landed close to the Heugh Battery, killing Private Theophilus Jones (aged 29) of the 18th Battalion D.L.I. Three other soldiers were fatally wounded at the same time. Private Jones became known as the first soldier to be killed on English soil during the First World War. Two more soldiers were killed by the next shell. This also hit the telephone line between the two batteries, so the Commander had to try to relay orders by megaphone. This proved impossible because of the noise, so a man was sent to stand between the command post and the battery to relay orders by word of mouth. The Lighthouse Battery gun managed to hit Blucher, killing nine sailors and causing damage to the ship and two of her 6-inch guns. Following this, Blucher placed herself in such a position that the batteries were unable to fire on her because the lighthouse blocked their line of fire.
Three British coastal defence craft (two light cruisers and a submarine) were moored in the Victoria Dock at the time of the attack. The submarine was hit as it came out of the harbour, which then blocked the way for the cruisers behind it. This left them unable to help during the following attack. Both batteries fought back bravely but were hampered by misfiring guns and dud ammunition. Fortunately the Germans were using standard anti ship ammunition with time delay fuses which bounced off the gun aprons to explode behind the batteries otherwise casualties among the gunners would have been far higher. Lighthouse Battery did particularly well as one shot seems to have temporarily disabled the Blucher almost forcing her to run aground. The Germans spent nearly an hour relentlessly bombarding Hartlepool pouring 1,150 shells into the town, for the terrified people it must have seemed that the carnage would never stop. At 8.52am the German squadron fired its last shell and as quickly as it had appeared, it withdrew into the mists of the North Sea. They left 102 people dead including nine soldiers, seven sailors, 15 children and 467 wounded. Seven churches, ten public buildings, five hotels and more than 300 houses were damaged. But the Germans did not escape completely unscathed, the Heugh battery had fired 123 rounds mainly at the Blucher smashing her fore-bridge, damaging some of her guns and killing nine seamen. For their bravery the Gun Captains at the Heugh were awarded the first ever pair of Military Medals and the Lighthouse Gun Sergeant won the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Controversially the commander also won a number of awards but his subordinates who actually fought the action went unrewarded thanks to their German ancestry.
On Saturday December 19th 1914 The Leicester Chronicle and Leicestershire Mercury published the following article under the heading. “THRINGSTONE SCHOOLMASTER KILLED AT HARTLEPOOL.” The Vicar of Thringstone, the Rev. C. Shrewsbury, on Thursday received a telegram from a fellow clergyman at Hartlepool, conveying the sad intelligence that the late schoolmaster, Mr. Theophilus Jones, who left Thringstone on October last to join the 1st Durham Light Infantry, had been killed, the brief telegram reading:- “Theo killed at his post.” It is understood that the deceased, who enjoyed marked popularity at Thringstone, where he was headmaster of the village schools, after the transfer of Mr. Boulter to Wigston, was on military service on the East Coast when he met with his death. The Rev. C. Shrewsbury, vicar of Thringstone, who was grieved at the reported loss of the headmaster of the Thringstone Church of England Schools, in a conversation with a Leicester “Post” representative, said that the deceased soldier was appointed to the schools at Thringstone about twelve months last October, succeeding Mr. Boulter, who was appointed to a school at Wigston. In October this year Mr. Jones enlisted as a Durham county man in the 18th Service Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry, and had written to him to say he expected shortly to go to the front. He was unmarried, and 29 years of age. He had written that he was one of 600 of the battalion on garrison duty at Hartlepool, and billeted in the skating rink. Deceased was popular in the village and a great favourite with the Thringstone School staff and scholars, only a short time before leaving organising a successful childrens concert on behalf of the day schools. The Coalville Rugby Club recognised the splendid services he rendered in several matches in which he took part, and the Coalville Town C.C. claimed him as a member who was good all round. Deceased who was talented musically also, and was choirmaster of the Parish Church, was formerly at St. Aiden’s Schools, West Hartlepool, under the Rev. W. J. Knowlden, the vicar, to whom Mr. Shrewsbury was curate, and hence the deceased’s appointment to Thringstone Schools and close friendship with the vicar. Up to 5 o’clock Mr. Shrewsbury had no response to a telegram he sent to the vicar of St. Aiden’s or further particulars beyond the intelligence that Mr. Jones was killed at his post, and it could only be assumed that he was one of the batch of seven soldiers reported to have been killed during the bombardment. Deceased’s mother, a widow, is living at West Hartlepool, of which place deceased was a native. His brother is at present serving with the British Expeditionary Force in the Grenadier Guards, being called up as a reservist. Deceased held a comfortable position at Thringstone, and though having no military experience, offered his services to his county regiment for the period of the war, and he was one of seven Leicestershire County Council head teachers to enlist. His position, accordingly, was left open for his return, and meanwhile an assistant master has charge.