Smoking pipe with case: Sergeant William Henry Jones, 2nd Casualty Clearing Station, AIF

Briar pipe in the Dublin shape with a sterling silver collar at the end of the shank, and an oval pressed amber stem. Both the collar and the pipe shank and impressed 'CMG', while the sterling silver collar is also hallmarked with the symbols for Birmingham, 1906. A small piece of the amber stem has broken where it joins the shank; the broken pieces are with the pipe.

The pipe is stored in a commercially made pipe box, with the stickers 'CMG' and 'HALL MARKED SILVER MOUNT' displayed on the inside of the lid.

This pipe was used by 7460 Sergeant William Henry Jones, born at Sydney, NSW, an x-ray operator of Ryde, who enlisted on 15 November 1915 aged 38 years. Jones was one of the few x-ray operators before the war, and his skills were specifically sought out by Lieutenant-Colonel H S Stacy, who had the responsibility of setting up the newly established 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station, (2ACCS) in Australia in October and November 1915. Stacy writes in his unpublished manuscript "Unofficial History of the 2nd Australian Casualty Clearing Station" (c 1938) that the Red Cross Society assisted financially in acquiring specific equipment; a 'gas engine and dynamo to supply current for the X-Ray apparatus'; the x-ray equipment itself; and 'all the essentials to convert a tent in the desert into a dark room suitable for x-ray screening and developing' (p 3)

William Jones embarked from Melbourne for Egypt only 8 days later after enlisting. Arriving at the end of December 1915, they set up at Ferry Post adjacent to the Suez Canal and remained in that position until 20 April 1916. The x-ray equipment was set up 'in a special tent with an inner lining of black so that it could be used for screening purposes.' (p 8)

When the AIF transferred to France in April 1916, 2 ACCS set up camp at the rail head at Trois Arbres, near the town of Steenwerck. This allowed access to the railway line to Calais. Their x-ray unit was located in the same long Nissan hut as the operating theatres. It opened in late June 1916 and within a month was taking the casualties from the Battle of Fromelles: on one day alone, 20th July 1916, they evacuated 2,357 patients through to the rear. Butler states that in June to August 1917, 'of 2,775 cases operated on during this period, approximately 1,600 were X-rayed "chiefly for the localisation of missiles".

William Jones was made a corporal in March 1917 and an x-ray attendant sergeant on 27 January 1918. He not only operated the X-ray but assisted in constructing a 'high frequency machine' that was helpful in the treatment of trench foot and pain relief. Stacy said of Jones (p 19) that he was 'quiet, extremely efficient and unassuming, he frequently worked twenty hours out of twenty four and turned out x-ray work of a high order. He was truly a pioneer of x-ray work in the forward areas – his record of skiagrams [x- ray plates] during the war – 7, 203 – is probably unique; in addition there were hundreds of cases in which he merely screened the part. He received promotion on active service; he deserved even more'.

Stacy added that 'the x-ray department also had the honour of being the first of its kind with any CCS in France; it was soon recognised as being of such importance that it was copied by all the British Clearing Stations'.

2ACCS remained at Rois Arbres until 11 March 1918, when the German Offensive forced them to evacuate to Hazebrouck; they were evacuated again to Blendeques a week later. Sergeant Jones returned to Australian in May 1919 and was discharged on 20 August 1919.