Royal Navy – HMS Hampshire
Colin Jones was born in Gloucester on 24 January 1878. He was one of four hildren born to Edward and Elizabeth Jones. He joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Entrant in June 1893 and served in various warships during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. He was given the rank of Ordinary Seaman in January 1896, committing to serve for a minimum of twelve years.
Promotion to Able Seaman followed a year later and to Leading Seaman in January 1902 and to Petty Officer in April 1903.
In 1908 he became a Ship’s Corporal, thereby becoming an assistant to the Master at Arms in his duties. During his time with the Navy he no doubt travelled to many parts of the Empire. His transfer to HMS Hampshire came in January 1914 and his appointment as the ship’s Master at Arms occurred on 2 November 1914. and he remained with the Hampshire for the remainder of his career.
HMS Hampshire was a Devonshire Class armoured cruiser, completed in July 1905. It had seen service in the China Station and the Mediterranean before joining the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow in late 1914. As part of the 2nd Cruiser Squadron, it was present at the Battle of Jutland but was barely involved in any action.
On 5 June 1916 Hampshire was given sailing orders to carry Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War and his staff, to Arkhangelsk, Russia on a diplomatic mission. The cruiser left Scapa Flow at 16.45 and after about an hour was joined by two destroyers.
Due to bad weather and heavy seas, it was decided to route the Firth and round the western side of Orkney . The escorting destroyers struggled to maintain station in the conditions and were ordered back to Scapa Flow, the risk of submarine attack being considered very low.
At 19:40hrs Hampshire was about a mile and a half the mainland of Orkney, near Marwick Head, when an explosion occurred, causing the ship to heel to starboard. The ship was holed between the bow and bridge and immediately started to sink by the bow after striking one of several mines laid by the German submarine U-75 on 27/28 May 1916.
A total of 735 crew members went down with the ship which sunk within 15 minutes, including Master at Arms Colin Jones and 14 passengers, notably Lord Kitchener and his entourage. Only 12 of the crew survived and were washed ashore on Carly floats.
Master at Arms Colin Jones was aged 38 and unmarried. He is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial. At the time of the Great War Colin’s father was living in the Tredworth area of the city (his mother had died in 1907) and he died almost exactly one month
after Colin’s death.