John Julian Jones was born on 4th September 1877 at Wash Mount, Bedford, Leigh in Lancashire. He was the son of Alfred Hewlett Jones (born Pennington, near Leigh) and his wife Elizabet (nee Schuhmacher) who was born in London. The father was a bookkeeper.
In 1881 the family were living on Warrington Road in Leigh. The father was a commercial clerk and the mother was the housekeeper. They had eight children: Elizabeth Ada (11), Mary Louisa (10), Miriam (8), Henry Alfred (7), Frederick Charles (5), John Julian (3), William Louis (1) and an unnamed baby who was only 30 hours old. The baby was eventually named Arthur Schuhmacher. All bar the eldest child had been born in Leigh.
School records showed that the children of school age were admitted to Tyldesley Wesleyan School in September 1882. The family lived at 29, George Street at that time. They had previously been at a school in Pennington near Leigh.
Ten years later the family were living at 19, Factory Street in Tyldesley with Shakerley, Lancashire. The mother was the head of the family and Alfred was not recorded. Elizabeth stated herself to be married. She was working as a dressmaker. Elizabeth Ada and Miriam had left home and there was a ninth child, James Edward, who was eight years old.
By 1901 John Julian had left home, but it not known where he was living at the time of the Census.
On 21st October 1902 he married Blanche Alberta Ormson at the Parish Church of St Thomas in Hyde, Cheshire. At the time they were both living at 158, Mottram Road in Hyde. Blanche had been born in Runcorn and was working as a grocer’s assistant. Her father kept the Norton Arms in Halton village. John Julian was a policeman. They were both 25 years of age.
The 1911 Census recorded the couple and their son William Ormson Jones, age seven years, visiting the family of Lewis Ellis Grieves in Ashington, Northumberland. Their son had been born in Hyde and they stated that they had had another child who had died. This was Norman Louis who died in 1907 at the age of one year. John Julian’s occupation was that of advertising agent.
John Julian’s service records for the Great War recorded that he had at some time served in the Grenadier Guards, but that his obligation to serve had time expired. His service number had been 19776 and he had been a Private. He was nearly 6’1’’ tall, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. He eventually joined the RAF on 1st August 1918, at which time he was living at the Post Office in Sutton Weaver. He was transferred to the RAF Reserve on 26th February 1919 and appeared as an absent voter on the electoral roll in Spring 1919. He had been given the service number 280538. He was discharged in 1920.
The 1939 Register showed the couple living at “The Poplars” on Chester Road in Sutton Weaver. John Julian was an advertising salesman and Blanche was a housewife. Their son had left home.
It is not known when John Julian’s parents died.
Blanche passed away in 1949 at the age of 72 years and her husband in 1963 in Southampton aged 85 years.