A fascinating Great War East Africa Military Cross group awarded to Corporal, later Temporary Captain H.G. Jones, British South Africa Police later North Rhodesian Police who had initially seen service during the Boer War where he would take part in operations in Rhodesia as part of the British South Africa Police, by the time of the Great War he would be serving with the North Rhodesian Police as a Liaison Officer where he would be posted to Fife, only half a mile from the frontier with German East Africa, ordered to retire to the hinterland on the outbreak of war, he argued successfully that doing so would cause damage to British prestige he frequently led foraying expeditions with his tiny force into enemy territory, the result being that the double company of German Askari at Tukuyu never descended upon him, the Germans being satisfied that he was far too strong for them! Consequently he remained unmolested for months until regular troops arrived from the South to safeguard the frontier. When General Sir Edward Northey arrived to take command of the troops in Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Jones joined his staff as an intelligence officer, and took part in all the important actions of Colonel Murray’s column until Iringa was captured in 1916. Then he reverted to civil duties as the first political officer in that station, where he continued to serve until 1923, being awarded the Military Cross in the London Gazette of 4th June 1917 for his services in East Africa. In the last the last two years he had been experimenting on his plantation near Mbeya with the growing and distillation of oil from patchouli plants important from the Seychelles. He was also growing Eucalyptus Citriofora for essential oil and experimenting with the distillation of oil from a wild plant which grown profusely in the neighbourhood and is known locally as songole.
Group of 6: Military Cross, GVR cypher; Queen’s South Africa Medal 1899-1902, 1 Clasp: Rhodesia; renamed in engraved style; (1001 CPL. H.G. JONES. B.S.A. POLICE.) King’s South Africa Medal 1901-1902, 2 Clasps: South Africa 1901, South Africa 1902; renamed in engraved style; (1001 CPL. H.G. JONES. B.S.A. POLICE.) 1914-1915 Star; (1-0 H.G. JONES.) British War Medal and Victory Medal; (T. CAPT. H.G. JONES.) Court-mounted for wear.
Condition, Boer War medals renamed in engraved style, Good Very Fine
Hugh Gerald Jones’ life and career is best summed up by the obituary notice from the East African and Rhodesia Magazine:
‘Mr. Hugh Gerald (Ropesoles) Jones, M.C., died some time ago in Southern Tanganyika at the age of 70, after more than 49 years in the Rhodesias and East Africa, throughout which territories he had many friends and a host of admirers. Indeed, few men in Tanganyika in the past 30 years have inspired and held the affection of so many others, including those generations his junior. Until the outbreak of the recent war, at any rate, almost every English Speaking European in the Territory had head of the exploits of ‘Ropesoles’ Jones.
Born at Fitz Rectory, Salop, the third son of the late Reverend E. Humphrey Jones, he left England at the end of 1898 for Southern Rhodesia to join the British South Africa Police, a corps which has produced so many African administrator. On leaving the B.S.A.P. he followed many of his friends into the service of the Chartered Company, first in the customs in Umtali and then at Feira, whence he gravitated into the administrative branch in Northern Rhodesia. Feira, reputed to be the hottest station in Central Africa, was his post for more than four years, though it was quite normal for an exchange to be made after a matter of months. Thence he went to Sesheke, on to Elizabethville in the Belgian Congo on a liaison appointment, back to Chiengi on Lake Mwezu, and then to Fife, near what is known as Tunduma on the Great North Road.
Fife was only half a mile from the frontier with German East Africa, so when war broke out in August 1914, he was in the front line. Ordered by telegram to retire to Kasamaa with his archives and specie, he wired back ‘Cannot this order be rescinded as am strongly entrenched with my Native police, and such action would lower British prestige on eyes of local natives?’ Though his armed retainers numbered fewer than a dozen, and his ‘fortifications’ consisted of shallow trenches round his boma, encircled by a few strands of barbed wire, he was allowed to remain.
Realising that attack was the best form of defence, he frequently led foraying expeditions with his tiny force into enemy territory, the result being that the double company of German Askari at Tukuyu never descended upon him, the Germans being satisfied that he was far too strong for them! Consequently he remained unmolested for months until regular troops arrived from the South to safeguard the frontier.
When sallying forth to welcome this force he was challenged by a Native picket who refused to allow him to proceed. His African NCO indignantly explained that he was ‘Bwana Joni, Mwinyi Mkondo (the owner of the war)’for the Natives in that part of the Northern Rhodesia at the time verily believed that Jones had started hostilities; the picket, duly impressed, let him pass.
When General Sir Edward Northey arrived to take command of the troops in Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Jones joined his staff as an intelligence officer, and took part in all the important actions of Colonel Murray’s column until Iringa was captured in 1916. Then he reverted to civil duties as the first political officer in that station, where he continued to serve until 1923.
Then two of his of old friends, Cummings and Lumb, having discovered alluvial gold on the Lupa, Jones resigned to join them as the third of the pioneers on the diggings. At one time he held the record nugget for the area, one of 55 ounces.
He selected the site of the boma at Mbeya , built the first house there and constructed the first aerodrome. On the estate some 20 miles away which he later acquired, he planted the first coffee in the locality and one season secured a higher price on the London market for his product than any other coffee grower anywhere in East Africa. It used to be said by the diggers that Mbeya should have been called Jonesville. It is fitting that he should have been buried there.
He retired to the Seychelles in 1937, but on the outbreak of war two years later hurried back to Dar Es Salaam to join up, and was delighted at being accepted for the Tanganyika Naval Volunteer Force. He had served in the South African war as a Corporal, finished the 1914-1918 war as a major, and in 1939 found himself a petty officer. Clad in his ‘number tens’ with a breast full of ribbons (starting with the Military Cross he had won in the German East campaign), he was described as looking like ‘an Admiral gone wrong’
Many were the tales told about him from the BSAP days onwards. He was a born raconteur himself and could draw on a well-stored memory of an earlier African era.
Why ‘Ropesoles’? The soubriquet arose from the fact that, while stationed in Feira, after having taken years to wear out a pair of ropesoled shoes which had cost 1s 11 1/2 d and were then regularly advertised in an English magazine, he wrote ordering another pair, and, having nothing better to do, amused himself by sending to the manufacturers a witty effusion in praise of their product. For years afterwards they used it as an advertisement in the magazine as an ‘unsolicited testimonial from H.G.J.’ who was therefore dubbed ‘Ropesoles’ by his friends. The name stuck wherever he went, and he was so known until his death.
During the last two years he had been experimenting on his plantation near Mbeya with the growing and distillation of oil from patchouli plants important from the Seychelles. He was also growing Eucalyptus Citriofora for essential oil and experimenting with the distillation of oil from a wild plant which grown profusely in the neighbourhood and is known locally as songole.
So passes another of the old timers, one will long be remembered in Tanganyika. He was a brother of Mr. S.B. Jones, for many years in the Colonial Service in the Territory and now living in the Seychelles.
Jones’ Military Cross for East African was awarded in the London Gazette of 4th June 1917 whilst serving with the North Rhodesian Police.
