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Gareth’s Background History
John Hughes
1815-1889
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Gareth’s story starts in 1868 when John Hughes from Merthyr Tydfil ,
South Wales was commanded by Tsar Alexander I to find iron ore and
coal for the manufacture of steel in order to build railways and
heavy industry in Imperial Russia. The legend has it that Hughes
surveyed an area in the steppes of the Donbass in Ukraine, where
there was only a shepherd and his dog and there he founded the town
of Hughesovka, later the City of steel, Stalino and today is Donetsk
a city of 2 million people. |
Annie Gwen
Jones with Arthur Hughes and his family
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In 1889 Mrs Annie Gwen Jones, Gareth’s mother, was
appointed tutor to the children of Arthur Hughes the grandchildren
of John Hughes and she remained with the family for three years
leaving suddenly with them on account of cholera riots in the town. |
Gareth with
his mother, Annie Gwen Jones
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As a child in the early nineteen
hundreds, Gareth Jones heard many tales from his mother, Mrs Annie
Gwen Jones about her experiences in Ukraine. She taught him
until the age of seven. It was the stories of her youthful
experiences that instilled in Gareth Jones a desire to visit the
country where his mother had spent three |
Major Edgar
Jones, Gareth's father
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All knew my grandfather as the Major. He was commander in chief of
the Glamorgan Garrison during the First World War and the name major
was a courtesy title which remained with him ever afterwards. He was
headmaster of Barry County School for Boys for nearly 35 years. |
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Aberystwyth College
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Gareth attended
his father, Edgar Jones’
school in Barry South, Wales, after which he studied at the
University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, and the University of
Strasbourg. |
Trinity College
Cambridge
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He won an
exhibition Scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge. At Trinity he
excelled himself gaining First Class Honours in Russian which he
spoke fluently, and he was fluent also in German and French. |
Rt. Hon David Lloyd George
Former Prime Minister in Great Britain
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Surprisingly enough,
despite Gareth’s excellent degree, he found it difficult to gain
employment due to the economic Depression of the period, but a close
friend of his father, Dr Thomas Jones, who had been David Lloyd
George’s Private secretary in the Great War introduced him to the
Former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Gareth joined the staff
of the great Welshman for more than a year as Foreign Affairs
Adviser. |
Joseph Stalin
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This post card was sent to his mother. In the
summer of 1930 Gareth made his first visit to the Soviet Union.
His previous visit had been thwarted due to diplomatic relations
having been severed after the Arcos Espionage Affair in 1927.
Instead he signed on as a stoker in a coal carrying ship and made
his way to Riga to perfect his spoken Russian. Finally in 1930
he was able to make his pilgrimage to the town of Hughesovka about
which his mother had spoken so frequently. But he did not stay
long. |
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