THE VICTORIA CROSS AWARDED TO COMMANDER LOFTUS JONES, ROYAL NAVY ( HMS 'SHARK' ) HAS BEEN ACQUIRED BY THE LORD ASHCROFT VC COLLECTION. |
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30 January 2013 |
The Victoria Cross and First World War campaign medals awarded to Commander Loftus Jones, Royal Navy ( HMS 'Shark' ) have been acquired by the Michael Ashcroft Trust the holding institution for the Lord Ashcroft VC Collection. The Loftus Jones VC group had previously been on a long loan to the Royal Naval Museum in Portsmouth.
[ London Gazette, 15 September 1916 ] Commander Loftus Jones. Recommended for posthumous honour for fighting his ship until she sank after having been seriously wounded. For the award of the Victoria Cross [ London Gazette, 6 March 1917 ], Battle of Jutland, North Sea, 31 May 1916, Commander Loftus William Jones, Royal Navy ( Command HMS 'Shark' ).
In recognition of his most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty in the course of the Battle of Jutland. The full facts have only now been ascertained.
Margaret Jones, the widow of Loftus Jones, was invested with her husband's Victoria Cross by King George V at Buckingham Palace on the 31 March 1917.
The story of Loftus Jones' dedication to duty and bravery came out some time after the battle and therefore the award of the Victoria Cross was not gazetted until the 6th March 1917.
On the 23rd October 1916 Margaret Jones received a letter from the Admiraly informing her that Commander Jones' body had been washed ashore off the coast of Sweden and on the 24th June 1916 had been buried in Fiskebakskil Churchyard, Vastra, Goetland. The funeral had been attended by many local people and a monument had been erected through subscriptions from local fishermen. In 1961 Loftus Jones' body was transferred to the British War Graves Kviberg Cemetery in Gothenburg. |
Iain Stewart, 30 January 2013