Walter Jones

Walter Earl McDonald Jones (b. 18th September 1927 – d. 8th October 1962) was a resident of North Grove for the majority of his life, only spending time away during the years 1944 – 1945 and 1947-1948.

He was the son of Earl and Priscilla Jones, the wife of Patricia Jones and the father of Peter Jones. In turn, Peter Jones had seven children but Walter never met any of them due to his untimely death.

Childhood
Walter Jones was born at Reedley Forest House to Earl and Priscilla Jones during 1927. He was their only child. He was born into two of the most prominent families in North Grove and as a result had a privileged childhood.

From the age of six to eleven, he attended Stonyhurst College. However, he stayed at home at the weekends and had a close relationship with both of his parents throughout his childhood.

Within the town of North Grove, Walter was well loved and was friends with David Weston and Lawrence McCarthy.

World War Two
Walter’s father Earl fought during World War One and during the inter-war period had kept up his military status, training recruits and travelling to the likes of India, Sudan and Uganda. When he was younger, he went with his father on shorter trips along with his mother.

However, as his father held a high rank, when Britain declared war on Germany, he was sent to train and fight.

His father managed to get through the majority of the war unscathed, to the relief of Walter and his mother Priscilla. It was in September 1944, which his mother received the news that Earl had been killed during Operation Market Garden.

When summer of 1944 came round, Walter lied about his age and started his training to be sent abroad to France to partake in the Battle of Normandy. D-Day and his father had been his main drive to join the war effort despite being 16 going on 17 years old.

At the news of his father’s demise, he was granted three days leave. It was there that he found his mother. She was inconsolable and he felt horrible for making her go through the potential pain of losing another member of her family again.

His mother had no family, so asked his father’s sister Mildred and her husband Clarence to look after her while he was away.

He was submitted into the 21st Army Group offensive that began the push on the Rhine in February 1945. He earned his position due to who his father was. Walter proved capable and managed to earn himself a ‘Distinguished Service Order’.

Walter was shot in the arm in March 1945 but managed to continue his work with the British Army in the Netherlands and Germany until May 1945 when Germany formally surrendered.

Post-World War Two
Walter returned home to North Grove after the war ended and began his studies in Law. He never discussed what he saw while he served in the British Army and anyone who knew him before the war noticed a change in him.

He tried to help his mother who had become a recluse but she refused any help and threatened to kick her son out of the house if he even tried to remove her. The house was his formally after his father had died but he knew there was nothing he could do and he left his mother to her delusions.

She would throw parties and dance around the hall on her own as if the place was full and Walter hated seeing his mother like that.

In late 1947, Walter was required to attend Kings College in London to complete some training which he wasn’t able to do from home at the University of Manchester where he was currently studying.

Walter came home for Christmas but had to leave again. While in London, he met Patricia Howarth. She was studying the Classics and English Literature and the two fell in love remarkably fast.

Her studies were due to end in the Summer of 1948 and Patricia had agreed to move to North Grove so that they could marry and be together.

Before that could happen however, tragedy struck. In February 1948, Walter was called home by their butler. They had found his mother dead after she had committed suicide. She left a note in which she sounded the most lucid since his father’s passing which explained she was sorry but she loved Earl too much to stay away from him any longer.

Walter was distraught and managed to find a way in which he could move his studies for the last few months in Manchester as he managed his father’s estate. Walter was nineteen years old when he was left an orphan.

Last year of studies and marriage
Walter struggled to come to terms with his mother’s death. She hadn’t been the same since he had returned from the war but he hadn’t allowed himself the time to really come to terms with it. After she had passed, he felt an enormous amount of guilt for not trying harder to pull her from her depression and loneliness.

He continued his studies as he lived on his father’s estate with Patricia and in 1949, they married in front of a few family and friends at Reedley Forest House.

Once he passed the bar, he began to work in Manchester more. He worked within the Criminal Justice System and worked himself up that by 1956 he was a well-sought of defence lawyer.

It was in 1952 that he and Patricia welcomed their only child: Peter. Walter loved Peter and just like his own parents, spent as much time as possible with him. Teaching him to ride a bike and making sure he was an integral part within the North Grove Community.

Death
Life continued to be cosy for the Jones’. Peter was doing extremely well at Stonyhurst College, his own alumni, and Patricia was writing her third book after the first two became bestsellers and he was a partner at his firm and earning a decent wage.

In early October 1962, Walter and Patricia were going to pick up Peter from school after hearing that Patricia’s mother was unwell and were wanting to drive down to Canterbury, where she was from.

On the way to pick him up, Walter and Patricia were involved in a fatal car accident. A wagon had overturned and caused a twelve car pile-up leaving five dead including them both. Walter survived the initial accident but died from internal bleeding the day after on 8th October 1962 aged 35.

The whole community grieved for their deaths and the town held a week of mourning. Peter continued his studies at Stonyhurst College and during the summer months spent his time between his maternal grandparents in Canterbury, Kent and North Grove, UK with his cousins.

Family
Father: Earl Jones

Mother: Priscilla Jones

Wife: Patricia Jones (1949 – 1962; their deaths)

Sons: Peter Jones

Grandchildren: Sean Jones, Olivia Jones, Hannah Wright, Katie Jones, Louisa Jones, Lewis Jones and Georgie Jones

Aunt: Mildred Justice

Uncle: Clarence Justice

Cousins: Janet Justice, Edgar Justice, Debra Fuller and Nancy Weston