Gareth
Jones worked for David Lloyd George
1905 -1935
“Gareth Jones was a journalist who
won every step of his way by personal force; he has perished on one of
the horizons he was always questing.”
J.L. Garvin; Editor of
The Observer
On August 13th 1905, a son
was born to Edgar and Annie Gwen Jones in their home, Eryl, Barry and
his proud parents gave him the name, Gareth Richard Vaughan Jones. The
child blossomed into manhood living his life to the full; a man true to
himself. Tragically, his life was cut short on the eve of his 30th
birthday. He was to achieve more in his short life than most men who are
fortunate enough to live to a ripe old age.
In 1899 Edgar Jones was appointed
headmaster of the recently established Barry County School for both boys
and girls. Though a schoolmaster he was known always as the ‘Major’
following his service as Commander of the Glamorgan Fortress during
World War One. He was loved and highly esteemed by his pupils and
regarded as “The Mathew Arnold” of Wales.
Gareth’s mother was an accomplished
and interesting woman in her own right. She had spent three years as
tutor to the two daughters of Arthur Hughes from 1889 to 1892 in
Hughesovka leaving with the whole family to flee from the town on
account of Cholera riots. Arthur Hughes was the son of the Welshman,
John Hughes the steel industrialist who founded the town of Hughesovka,
later the tragic town of Stalino in World War II and today known as the
city of Donetsk.
The stories of her wonderful
experiences instilled in him a desire to visit the Soviet Union and
Ukraine. With this goal in mind he studied languages and had a brilliant
academic career at University. He first attended Aberystwyth College
with two years between in Strasburg University. In 1926 he gained an
Entrance Exhibition to Trinity College, Cambridge where he gained
first-class honours in French and German in Tripos, Part I in 1927, and
a Double First, Tripos Part Two in German and Russian in 1929. These
languages he spoke so fluently that he could easily pass for a native
speaker.
********
In 1929, employment for Cambridge
graduates, even with excellent results, was difficult to obtain, but
following an introduction by Dr Thomas Jones in 1930, Gareth was
appointed to the position of Foreign Affairs Adviser to the Wartime
Prime Minister, David Lloyd George. Gareth was fortunate to be
appointed to a well-paid position considering the world international
economic situation in 1929 and on Wednesday, January 1st 1930
Gareth commenced work at Old Queen Street, Westminster. He enjoyed his
work despite the heavy demands that Lloyd George made of him. He was
expected to read 7 French, 1 Swiss, 2 Italian, 3 German, 4 Russian
newspapers and the Chicago Tribune
. He also had to write a weekly
report on the Foreign and Welsh Press.
No sooner had Gareth finished one
brief for the Welsh Wizard than there was further work to do. One
morning he found there was a note from Sylvester awaiting him when he
arrived at the office. On January 6th a Syro-Palestinian
Delegation had written a letter to Lloyd George drawing attention to the
pledges made to the Arabs during the War and stating that the Balfour
Declaration was in total opposition to these pledges. “Why were pledges
to the Jews honoured and those to Arabs disregarded.”
The former Prime Minister asked for
an account of Proportional Representation and of the electoral system of
Germany. It was to be ready by 1.15 that day. “I want you to get” he
said “ an account of the electoral system in Germany, Belgium, France
and any other country where there is either a second ballot, or the
alternative vote or P.R. Get it done by tomorrow.”
Gareth was kept busy undertaking
briefs. One was on “The situation in India, Palestine and Egypt” and he
worked hard on a brief on the results of the “Naval Conference compared
with Washington Conference.” He also prepared memoranda on Briand and
American tariffs. His briefs covered many and varied topics Gareth’s
knowledge on world affairs was now without bounds.
India’s demands for Independence
rated highly in the politics of the time. Gareth criticised an article
Ll. G wrote for the Daily Mail which contained and an attack on Wedgwood
Benn, a veiled one on the Viceroy of India and gave the impression that
British Leaders including Stanley Baldwin were muddled and confused.
This was repeated by Miss Stevenson to Lloyd George and Miss Gellan
counselled silence as the best policy in future .
Mae Mrs Lloyd George a Megan yn cashau ysgrifennyddes Lloyd George Miss
Stevenson.
Later Gareth was suddenly called to see Ll.G: “The Chancellor of Austria
is coming to see me today. Schoo – What is his name?” “Schober, Sir.”
“What’s the political situation in Austria now?” Gareth spoke about the
Heimwehr etc. The Sangerfest in Vienna.”
Miss Edwards, a secretary on Ll.G’s staff described the statesman’s
character “He is a strange mixture of extremes. Sometimes he can be
amazingly kind, as he was when her father died. Sometimes he can be
absolutely cruel and give you the worst dressing down possible. You
never know how he takes news. Sometimes he takes bad news extremely
angrily and peevishly for instance, Nottingham by-elections yesterday.
Sometimes much worse news may come in and he may say, ‘Oh, it doesn’t
matter. We’ll do better next time.’ He takes sudden likes and dislikes
or if he takes a dislike then everything you do is bad.”
`
The patient A.J.Sylvester told Gareth:
"I’ve been following him (L.G.)
round with a bag for 10 days. If I ask him a question he just walks
away. He won’t say “Yes or No.” “I’ve been following him round. He’s
in a terribly difficult mood these days. He’s going to Derby today. He
wanted to go in a new blue suit, so he had new blue suit made for him.
He said he was not going in a top-hat. Today he asks, “What should I
wear?” I said, “You should be going in a top-hat.” “Well, I am going
in to wear this suit.” Now what if the King talks to him! So finally
at the last minute he says: “Very well; why weren’t the clothes ready.”
And now we have to search all the corners of London for clothes for
him."
Diplomatic relations had been
restored with the Soviet Union after the Arcos affair in 1927 and Gareth
was now able to make his first visit - his pilgrimage to Hughesovka.
. The visit was very brief as the
only food he could obtain him was one small roll of bread. His letter
home from Berlin wrote of the terrible conditions in Ukraine, of famine
and he anticipated many deaths.
On Gareth’s return when at Vickers
there was a very important call for him from Miss Edwards who said;
“They want you down at Churt.” Seebohm Rowntree, Lord Lothian and
Wallace Stewart were present for the weekend.
Mr. Rowntree said: “I gave such a
glowing account of your talk with me that they said they must have you
down. I said that it was more thrilling than any novel I’d read, not
only being very valuable, but that you have the gift of a raconteur.”
Gareth wrote comprehensively in his
diary and I must just give you some quotes from the conversation.
“Poor devils,” said Lloyd George when
I told him about Donetz. That’s the place to live in. Tell us what
would they do with us if we had a Soviet Government here?” I replied;
“You would be shot Sir.” “And what about Lothian?” “Oh, he’d be sent
Solovki or the Dokery Islands.” “And Rowntree?” “ Oh he’d be put in
charge of the Soviet chocolate industry with a Communist looking after
him. As soon as he had given all his knowledge and experience to
another man he’d be sent away.”
When I said about the tear bombs on
Russian towns, he said; “There are some places in London I’d like to
drop bombs on.” “10 Downing Street,” said Wallace. “Yes, I would like
to wake them up a bit.”
Rowntree continued ; “What do you
think of Baldwin?”
“He’s very ambitious. Balfour
once told me. “There are two men who to the public appear ambitious,
but who are really very retiring and conscientious. They are Asquith
and Curzon. Then there are two who appear retiring and modest and who
really very self-seeking and cunning. They were who? Baldwin and well,
you will never guess. – Grey was very, very ambitious.” I was
staggered when he came to spend a weekend before the formation of the
Government in 1906. He did nothing between 1896 to 1906, but did
everything to be Foreign Secretary.
Rowntree: -“What will his part be in
history?
Lloyd George: “He’ll play a very
contemptuous part in history. He made some great mistakes, which could
have shortened the War. He could have kept Turkey out of the War. He
could have kept Bulgaria out of the War. A million pounds would have
done it. If he could only bribed Ferdinand. That would have had a
tremendous effect on the War. Then he persuaded Greece to keep out of
the War. Greece had some 200,000 trained men. He could have saved the
Gallipolli disaster.
“I was dead against the War. So were
a lot of others until Belgium was invaded.”
After Lloyd George had gone to bed,
Wallace said, “I’ve never heard Lloyd George listen like that. Usually
it’s we who listen to him all the time.”
Fortune favoured Gareth on his
return. Lord Lothian introduced him to Geoffrey Dawson of The Times
and three articles entitled ‘The Two Russias’ were published in
the October and in April the following year the Western Mail
published five.[i]
Gareth wrote describing the situation in the Soviet Union and said “The
Dominant factor of the Five-Year Plan is the character of Stalin, the
dictator. This ruthless, honest man is just the man to drive a nation.
He is brutal and has no mercy . He wrote that: “The success of the Plan
would strengthen the hands of the Communists throughout the world. It
might make the twentieth century a century of strugg1e between
Capitalism and Communism.”
As well, on recommendation from Sir
Bernard Pares, he was offered employment by Dr. Ivy Lee, public
relations adviser to organizations such as the Rockefeller Institute,
the Chrysler foundation and Standard Oil. The intention was research a
book on the Soviet Union. Soon after his arrival in Wall Street, New
York in May, 1931 he was invited to accompany Jack Heinz II to the
Soviet Union. Fortified with food from the Heinz organization including
tins of Baked Beans they made their visit in the summer of 1931 and at
the end of their tour they visited Ukraine. Gareth wrote comprehensive
diaries of this visit and from them Jack Heinz was to publish a book
anonymously entitled Experiences in Russia 1931: A Diary.
Famine conditions were worse - far worse than the year before. Many
'Kulaks' were being uprooted, many dying particularly en route to
Siberia.
Finally after some fine Surrey
scenery we entered the drive to Bron-y-De. Sylvester said that Lloyd
George had seen practically nobody and that half of his time was spent
in refusing people who wanted to see the Chief - even close friends.
We arrived and were met by two dogs;
went in and were taken through the small library- drawing room into a
large room where Lloyd George was reclining on a sofa. He looked very
impressive with his absolutely white hair and his smart grey suit. He
gave me a wonderfully warm welcome and seemed really delighted to see
me. “Well Gareth,” he said, “You’ve been wandering over the face of the
earth like another very potent figure. I have a large number of
questions to ask you.” I told him that everywhere in America, Russia,
Germany, France I heard people asking about him. He said. “Well, I’ve
turned the corner.” He looked bright, well and his eyes flashed as much
as ever. Sylvester had told me he was getting on wonderfully. His
colour was good and he looked much better and much less tired than he
did the day I went to see him from Cambridge two years ago. “And now
tell me about Germany.” I described my visit to Germany. “And how is
Russia getting on?” I told him that the Communists were much stronger,
due mainly to the success of collectivisation and to the policy of
Stalin.
Lloyd George: “That was a very
courageous and statesmanlike speech. I think that Stalin is a really
great figure.”
I said that the misery of the
peasants was great and that they hated the collective farms: “Of course
they do. They’ve got to work now no peasant likes to work.” He did not
seem to have much sympathy for the Russian peasants.
“And now what about America?” How
many unemployed there?”
I said there were probably 8 million
fully unemployed and about 8 million part-time.
“Doesn’t that lead to blood shed?”
“Well Sir. There have been serious riots in Kentucky and a number of
people have been shot.”
Lloyd George: “Do you know we’ve
heard nothing about that. It’s that the press of ours, which refuses to
print anything showing that things are going badly in a protectionist
country.”
Just then Miss Russell, the
typist came in with the news she had received over the phone. She read
out that MacDonald made no decision about the General Election. Lloyd
George’s facial expression changed immediately and there was a look of
tremendous impatience and anger. “He’s a poor thing!” with absolute
scorn. “He’s betrayed his own party and now he’s going to betray ours.
“Then he snarled “neurotic.”
Just then we heard a car arriving and
in came the maid who announced Sir Herbert Samuel (Home Secretary), Sir
Donald Maclean (Minister for Education) (Donald MacLean’s father) and
Sir Archie Sinclair (Secretary for Scotland). I suggested that I should
go to the other room and so Sylvester and I went to the library drawing
room and had tea. The historic interview between and the Liberal
Ministers in the National Government took place in the next room and
then I could hear raised voices. Lloyd George seemed to be putting vim
into them. They had been wavering. Lloyd George was saying: “If there
is an election the pound will go down, down, down.” You could hear the
word ‘tariff’ being repeated often.
He returned to work for David
Lloyd George. No sooner in
London than Lloyd George invited Gareth to Criccieth for the weekend and
on May 22nd 1932 he wrote his is Sunday letter to his family
describing his visit to Brynawelon from the Lion Hotel: Just as we got
to the gate, Ll.G and Megan came out, Ll.G. with flowing white hair,
hatless with a cloak over his shoulder. He was in the most exuberant
with his welcome, blocked the way of the car and said with an Amercan
accent: “Well, I guess our American friend is back again. How are you
Gareth?” We then returned after a walk of 1¾ miles - to the house and I
was taken into the drawing room, where Mrs. Lloyd George, Tom
Carey-Evans and Lady Carey-Evans were. Lloyd George spoke in terms of
high admiration of Stalin. Stalin is trying an experiment. Of course,
he fails but he recognises his failure. He’s man enough. I take off my
hat to Stalin and to Mussolini. And when Stalin recognises failure or
tries a new method they say, “I told you so.” Every scientist fails
time and time again before he makes a great discovery. People in
America are finding that the great business leaders are alright when the
car is going along a smooth road but they are helpless now that the car
has broken down.
“Mussolini is building roads,
bridges, canals, and viaducts in many parts of Italy. He aims at a
re-building of his native country, and it is remarkable that his
programme follows the lines laid down by the Liberal party in Great
Britain and almost identical with Lloyd George’s
Liberal Plans! What irony that the enemy of Democracy should be
carrying out the policy advocated by British Liberals.”
Gareth returned to London and to his
employment with David Lloyd George. He spent many weekends at Bron-y-de,
Churt researching some of the most secret documents of the War for the
former Prime Minister’s War Memoirs. Lloyd George was a hard
taskmaster but Gareth was young and very energetic. Gareth worked in
the library, took his meals with Lloyd George called him “My boy” who
before breakfast would walk in the garden of which the great Welshman
was so proud, to take the his daily instructions.
The young researcher wrote on his
first visit to Churt: “The work here is most interesting. I am working
on some of the most vital documents of the War. The shipping brief I am
writing is giving me great pleasure and Lloyd George said the first part
was very good. I type all my own material. .” Gareth was pleased when
the former Prime Minister talked about “When Gareth and I have finished
our book.” The book came out in the spring of 1933.
But dramatic events were occurring
in Germany and so in late January and early February 1933 he visited
firstly, a country he knew extremely well. He had visited Germany each
year from 1922 – a date when the Deutsch Mark was so low in value that
it is said he made the whole journey for £5. He was present in Leipzig
the day Adolf Hitler was made Chancellor and a few days later flew with
the dictator in his famous plane ‘Richthofen’ to Frankfurt. There,
Gareth was present at a great newly appointed Fuehrer was given the
‘Vaterland’ a tumultuous reception and where the hall echoed to the
ovation made by the newly appointed Chancellor of Germany. He compared
The article that he wrote about his flight with Hitler is a classic
piece of writing.
If this aeroplane should crash the whole history of
Europe would be changed. For a few feet away sits Adolf Hitler,
Chancellor
of Germany and leader of the most volcanic nationalist
awakening which the world has seen.
It was in the next month, March 1933
that he made his third and final visit to the U.S.S.R. and to Ukraine to
investigate the reports that had filtered through of the terrible
starvation to the city. In his diary, on Gareth’s arrival in Moscow, he
records that he met Malcolm Muggeridge and they discussed the famine in
Ukraine. Soon after this, Muggeridge’s articles were published in the
Manchester Guardian
on March 25th, 26th and 27th
respectively though according to Muggeridge these had been drastically
edited by the left wing newspaper.
Careful about what he wrote in his
letters home from the Soviet Union, on his return to Berlin, Gareth
Jones immediately gave his famous press release on the 29th
of March 1933 and this was printed in many American and British
newspapers including the New York Evening Post
and the Manchester Guardian. The article in the New York
Evening Post was entitled “Famine Gripping Russia, Millions Dying,
Idle on the rise says Briton”.
Gareth had taken an unaccompanied
journey through north Ukraine and wrote “We are waiting for death’ was
my welcome, but see, we still, have our cattle fodder. Go farther
south. There they have nothing. Many houses are empty of people
already dead,’ they cried.
Two days later March 31st
1933 there was a Rebuttal by Walter Duranty to Gareth .in the
New York Times
“There is serious food shortage throughout the country with
occasional cases of well-managed state or collective farms. The big
cities and the army are adequately supplied with food. There is no
actual starvation or death from starvation, but there is widespread is
mortality from diseases due to malnutrition.”
To which Gareth replied by letter to
the New York Times on May13th refuting the article of Walter
Duranty who had stated that there was no famine and death.
“The Soviet censors had turned the
journalists into masters of euphemism and understatement and hence they
gave ‘famine’ the polite name of ‘food shortage’ and starving to death
was softened to read as ‘widespread mortality’ from diseases due to
malnutrition’…
“Gareth congratulated the Soviet
Foreign Office on its skill in concealing the true situation in the
U.S.S.R.”
A telegram was sent to The
Soviet Embassy by which Maxim Litvinoff, the Soviet Commissar for
Foreign Affairs which accused Gareth of espionage. He was also placed on
the Black list of the O.G.P.U. the Soviet Secret Police indicting many
crimes to his name. Was it a coincident that Sylvester was called to
the Soviet Embassy at 12 o’clock on April 8th by the
Ambassador Maisky.[iv]
As well Gareth offended Lloyd George
in a letter he wrote immediately he arrived in Berlin on March 27th
stating that “The situation is so grave, so much worse than in 1921 that
I am amazed at your admiration for Stalin.”
From then on Gareth appeared to be
ostracised by the British establishment though his German colleagues
despite their support of Nazism remained supportive and friendly
On Gareth’s return from the Soviet
Union he published at least 20 articles in the Western Mail, the
Financial News and the Daily Express.. His last article was “Goodbye
Russia” in the London Daily Express, but no further article were
published after April 20th in Britain by him.
Gareth after this appeared to be
ostracized by the British establishment and never to be contacted by
Lloyd George again. Gareth was banned from the U.S.S.R. This must have
been a bitter disappointment to him as he was unable to return to a
country about which he knew a great deal, and had spent so much time
studying her literature, history and language. For his age he must have
been one of the foremost specialists in Britain on the country. The
academic world had lost a man who had he lived would have been as
renowned as Sir Bernard Pares.
Gareth had been called liar by the
Moscow Correspondents but he never survived long enough to be vindicated
by Eugene Lyons in his book Assignment in Utopia.
Eugene Lyons describes how Gareth Jones’ portrayal of the shocking
situation in Soviet Russia and Ukraine was denied. “Throwing down Jones
was as unpleasant a chore as fell to any of us in years of juggling
facts to please dictatorial regimes”.
In 1933 to 1934 Gareth was employed
as a journalist and reporter to the Welsh newspaper, The Western Mail.
During his employment with the newspaper he wrote some delightful
articles about Wales, a Wales that no longer exists in this day and age
of technology. Here, in these articles he shows his genius and ability
to describe scenes of his beloved homeland vividly and poetically. He
showed compassion and humour. The vitality of his prose is shown in the
full light of his exuberance. His depth of pity for the miners and steel
workers from the Valleys of south Wale is evident in his articles
describing the scourge of unemployment and the deplorable living
conditions of the poor.
Gareth made two visits to Ireland
during his period in the ‘wilderness’ and wrote on the ‘Enigma of
Ireland. – his articles are well worth reading giving an insight into
the Irish problem. He interviewed Éamon De Valera who spoke with envy
about the way Wales had kept its language. Before leaving Dublin in
March 1934, Gareth spoke at the Dublin Rotary Club meeting on 'The
Russia of Today'. Gareth, was thanked, described as the most eloquent
speaker they had had for sometime, and placed him along side the finest
orators known in the 19th century English Parliament naming Parnell,
Sexton, Healey and Dillon (Irish Nationalists) to name, but few famous
Irish men.
The Far East was an enigma to the
west and as so, Gareth wished to find out and investigate the Japanese
intentions of expansion in the Far East and in particular northern China
and Manchukuo. In 1931 Japan invaded Manchuria, deposing its Governor,
the War Lord, Chang Hsueh-Liang, known also as the Young Marshall. It
was named Manchukuo in the following year, Not only had Britain a vast
empire to rule, but was anxious about events in Germany. She did not
wish a confrontational front in Asia as well as Europe.
Gareth resigned from The Western
Mail and he left Britain in late October 1934 to embark on a ‘Round
the World Fact-Finding Tour’. He arrived in New York in time for the
congressional elections resulting in immense support for F.D Roosevelt.
Three interesting months were spent in the States. He interviewed Frank
Lloyd Wright in his home Taliesin.
On New Years Day he visited Randolph Hearst, the anti-Communist
newspaper magnet who was duly impressed with the young journalist.
On January 18th 1935
Gareth left for the Far East calling firstly in Hawaii. There he
foresaw the problems involving the Japanese that might erupt in the
newly-built Pearl Harbour. While there, one of the articles he wrote,
with uncanny intuition, was entitled the ‘Rape of Manchuria’.
He spent six weeks in Japan where he
interviewed some of the most important politicians influencing the
politics of Japan and the Far East in the early 30’s. Namely Eliji Amô,
the Foreign Office Spokesman, Yosuke Matsuoka who took Japan out of the
League of Nations, Admiral Mineo Osumi, the Naval Minister, Genera Sadao
Araki, the former War Minister who advocated ‘Strike North’ into Siberia
and General Senjuro Hayashi, the War Minister who succeeded Araki. The
fact that he had been David Lloyd George's former Foreign Affairs
Secretary gave him entreé to meeting these men.
Leaving Japan, Gareth spent 3-4
months visiting the countries around, what today is called the Pacific
Basin, enquiring about the situation in each country and their attitude
to the Japanese. His final intended destination was to be Manchukuo of
which his associates in America and Japan were well aware.
Briefly calling in Shanghai and Hong
Kong, Gareth landed in the Philippines two days after Roosevelt had
given the country Independence. His next port of call was Java where he
was introduced to Black Magic, saw Opium production and was shown a map
in which Japan had coloured the Dutch East-Indies (Indonesia) and
Australia as their colonies. Sailing to Singapore he was shown round
the newly constructed Naval Base, ‘The Bulwark of the East’ and then on
to Siam (Thailand) by tramp steamer where he remained for two weeks. The
highlight of his visit was the interview with Luang Pradit, Pridi
Panomyong, the young Marxist who had endeavoured in 1933 to overthrow
the Princes in a coup de état.
Gareth left by train to travel
overland through Cambodia. He was mesmerised by Ankor Wat and he
continued by bus through French Indo-China seeing numerous opium dens on
the way, before catching a boat to Hong Kong. In this British Colony,
with the aid of Gerald Yorke (a secret agent) he arranged his
unaccompanied journey through bandit country to Changsha and on to
Nanking.
While on the train to Canton (Guang
Dong) he met some lively young people. Their fathers were respectively
General Tsai Ting-Kai
who was living in exile in Hong Kong following a failed coup known as
the Fukien Rebellion and General Chen Chi-Tang, War Lord of Canton who
gave safe passage to Mao Tse-Tung
in the early part of the Long March and had been buying Tungsten from
Mao's mines to sell to the Germans. Both Generals were adversaries of
Chang Kai-Shek and opponents of the Japanese. Gareth's journey to
Changsha was extremely adventurous. He then proceeded to Nanking where
he interviewed, the Young Marshall, Chiang Hsueh-Liang, and finally
arrived in Peking. There, he received an invitation from Baron von
Plessen of the German Legation and accompanied by Dr Herbert Mueller,
they attended the Meeting of the Mongolian Princes. Gareth was the only
person to be interviewed by their chief, Prince Teh Wang.
Von Plessen returned to the German
Legation and Gareth, the intrepid journalist travelled into Inner
Mongolia to a town called Dolonor with the German, Dr Herbert Mueller.
They believed it to be in Chinese territory, but found that they had
ventured into an area, infiltrated a few days previously, by the
Japanese Army and where Kwantung troops were massing - up to 40,000
though the figure varies. Apprehended by the Japanese they were
eventually told that there were three (or two according to Gareth) ways
back to the Chinese town of Kalgan, one of which was safe the other
being infested by bad bandits. Taking the presumed safe route on the
following day they were captured by the brigands and held for ransom for
100,000 Mexican dollars (£8,000). The German was released within two
days, but after 16 days in captivity, Gareth was murdered. The bandits
were disbanded Chinese soldiers. His death still remains a mystery, but
it was certainly politically motivated for he was looked upon as an
important captive having been employed by David Lloyd George.
Gareth’s parents,
as soon as they heard of his capture contacted Lloyd George and
A.J.Sylvester tirelessly acted as an intermediary
on their behalf only to be thwarted by a
intransigent Foreign Office mandarins. This is recorded in the
Public Record Documents, over 450 in number, covering the
invesdtigation into Gareth’s capture and murder. Mrs Edgar
Jones, Gareth’s mother wrote; “If it were not for Lloyd George’s
secretary, who has been wonderful, nothing would have been done.
Little do they care! So much for our Foreign Office!” There
were daily reports about Gareth’s capture in the newspapers, though
the troop movements in Dolonor as well as Dr Müller’s full account
were suppressed by a press censorship influenced by the British
Establishment.
On 3rd September, Mr
Sylvester wrote to Mr C.W. Orde at the Foreign Office in order to
clear up some points on their behalf:
“Mr Lloyd George would like a
full enquiry to be made into the tragic affair of Gareth’s death if
the Foreign Office had not already done so in order to establish
just how the whole tragedy had happened, and precisely who gave
advice to Gareth Jones and what that advice was.”
On the 7th September
Mr Sylvester again wrote to Mr Orde of the Foreign Office :
… I had passed
on to you the suspicion that is in the minds of some of his [Gareth]
friends that he may have been the victim of a plot to get him out of
the way because of some knowledge he may have happened on that
neither the Japanese nor the Germans would want to have published.
Someone with
expert diplomatic knowledge speaking at a private meeting at which I
was present some months ago said that if the archives at the
Japanese and German War Offices became accessible to the public they
would probably reveal a very close and friendly understanding, if
not actually a Treaty for Mutual Assistance, between those two
war-minded Powers.
Sylvester requested that a trained lawyer skilled at
cross-questioning – or a detective? – see Dr Müller, on behalf of
Gareth Jones’ relatives,
On 16th September,
Sylvester sent the further letter to the Foreign Office Official, Mr
Orde as well as a report from Adelaide Hooker who had called on him
with information about the kidnapping:
I am very much obliged to you for
your letter of the 13th September which I am laying
before Lloyd George. I shall await further communication from you
when you receive the information. Meantime I enclose herewith a
copy of The Week dated September 11th which has
just come into my hands.
Following this letter 16th
of September from Mr Sylvester, Mr Orde of the Foreign Office sought
advice from a Whitehall colleague, Mr Kitson:
I have had several letters from
Mr Sylvester regarding this case. We can give Lloyd George, as a
former employer of Mr Gareth Jones, a great deal of information,
which is of legitimate interest in the case. The basis that there
is a German-Japanese conspiracy is far-fetched. I cannot help
imagining that Mr Lloyd George is trying to make political capital
out of this. We could tell Mr Sylvester that we are trying to get
hold of Müller and take his story.
This prompted the following
comments the Foreign Office in their records on 17th
September:
It is not clear why, if both
Gareth Jones and Müller found out the secret of Japanese designs on
Chahar only Gareth Jones and not Müller was murdered by the alleged
bandits in Japanese pay. Otherwise the story is fairly plausible
and certainly sensational, with the Foreign Office living up to its
reputation for international intrigue.
Personally I do not believe that
there is anything at all in these suspicions of Japanese foul play.
But given that there are suspicions.
In consequence of this note, the
Foreign Office sent copies of Sylvester’s letter to the British
Embassies in Peking and Berlin.
The British Embassy in China
denied the theory of a German-Japanese pact. “There is evidence
that at least some members of the Japanese staff are in contact with
the Germans, but no evidence to connect them.”
Mr Basil Newton of the Berlin
Embassy was asked for information on Müller and was assured that the
Foreign Office would not necessarily pass everything on for
“internal political reasons”. On 26th September he
replied that:
Unless General von Blomberg,
[German Foreign Minister] some officials at the War Ministry and
Ministry of Foreign Affairs are the most arrant liars there is no
treaty or entente between Japan and Germany today. What is more, in
view of Hitler’s peculiar views on racial questions - which are no
joke as any German Jew can testify - it will take a good deal of
persuading him to join with Japan or any other exotic race against
the chosen Aryan stock. What is more, in view of Hitler’s peculiar
views on racial questions - which are no joke as any German Jew can
testify - it will take a good deal of persuading him to join with
Japan or any other exotic race against the chosen Aryan stock.
On September 23rd,
A.W.G. Randall of the Foreign Office stated that there was no
foundation whatever to substantiate a German-Japanese Pact. He
noted that Messrs Jones and Müller made the trip against the advice
of the local and British authorities and had signed a voluntary bond
disclaiming the Chinese authorities of responsibility.
Lieutenant Millar reported the
view that Müller was released because he was a German, “and the
relations of the Germans and the Japanese are friendly”. This
evidence lends colour to Mr Sylvester’s allegation regarding a
German-Japanese understanding.
. But I am afraid that if we
were to send Mr Sylvester the enclosures to this despatch it would
be difficult to get either him or Mr Lloyd George to agree with
Peking’s conclusion, and Mr Lloyd George would probably be provided
with some useful ammunition for awkward questions in the next
Parliament.
The following are hand written
comments from the Foreign Office appraising this document:
I have now read this report and
annexes, and agree that it is premature to disclose any of it to Mr
Lloyd George. The Embassy in Peking has been asked for their
opinion on the allegation of Japanese complicity and on the
suspicions regarding Dr Müller.
I am afraid that the wording of
this despatch would be hell to justify Mr Sylvester’s worst (and no
doubt, largely unwarrantable) suspicions. We must therefore wait
for a direct answer to our direct questions to Peking.
. We must be very careful
meanwhile what we say to Mr Sylvester and avoid if possible that
there are ‘complete reports’ which we might then be asked to
publish.[ii]
The Foreign Office acted in line
with the policy which later became known as ‘appeasement’. If, in
so doing, their aim was to thwart Lloyd George from discovering the
truth about a possible German-Japanese alliance, then they were
clearly successful. However in so doing they also prevented
Sylvester and the Jones family from finding out the truth about
Gareth Jones’ murder.
Sylvester, determined to get to
the bottom of the mystery of his colleague’s death wrote on 6th
September from the Office of Mr David Lloyd George to Mr Timperley,
the China correspondent for the Manchester Guardian: “I am
writing to ask your kind assistance to see whether you can throw any
light on the tragic death of my friend and late colleague Gareth
Jones.”
Many years later this letter
must caused much anguish to Baron von Plessen for two years after
Mr Lloyd George had died, in 1946, von Plessen wrote to Mr A.J.
Sylvester with the request that the letter be forwarded to Gareth’s
parents.
… But none other than Mr Lloyd
George himself has blamed me for the death of the Englishman. His
former secretary - not publicly, but in a letter which he wrote to a
friend of mine in Peking. I saw the letter myself, Mr Lloyd George
was wrong – I was not to blame for the death of Gareth Jones. I
feel I have a score to settle with Mr Lloyd George.
Why did Mr Lloyd George have to
write about my ‘mission’ to Mongolia implying, of course, that it
was a secret mission? It was no more a mission than if he went to
Brighton with his daughter Megan for the weekend. And what about
Sir Charles Bell and the various members of the British Embassy in
Peking who, like me, attended the celebrations of Prince Teh Wang’s
residence? Were they on a mission too? What was the meaning of
that Japanese aeroplane which landed close by at luncheon time? And
why were the two occupants closeted along with Prince Teh Wang in
his tent for so long? We heard that they had asked for the names of
all the Europeans present, without expressing a wish to see any of
them. Possibly it was just a routine matter – the Japanese like to
know what is going on in these parts – and yet!
The Baron must have read the
letter that was written to either Timperley or another correspondent
Macdonald and he assumed that Lloyd George had implicated him in
Gareth’s death.
Sylvester decided not to send it
to Gareth’s parents despite a number of letters from the Baron
requesting him to do so. The reason Sylvester gave was that he did
not want to stir up old memories of this ill-fated expedition. In
his letter Plessen appears to be more concerned about his honour
than family grief.
In 1987, Sylvester at 99 years
old still felt that Von Plessen was to blame. He wrote to my son,
Philip as he was convinced in the letter that Baron von Plessen and
Müller at the instigation of the Japanese were both implicated in
Gareth’s death
“Again, I say from the very start
in 1935 I have felt instinctively that Von Plessen, the supposed
friend of Gareth, had a responsibility for his death. I feel
strongly that Gareth’s murder was deliberately planned. He had
discovered too much. He died for his country.”
Gareth's death still remains a
mystery, but it was certainly politically motivated for he was
looked upon as an important captive having been employed by David
Lloyd George.
The verdict remains open on
Gareth’s death. The Japanese almost certainly intended to invade
Inner Mongolia. The question remains whether Gareth’s capture by
bandits, controlled by the Japanese was a covert plan. Was it a
pretext to release an important captive by the Kwangtung Army
thereby invading the territory? Initially the vehicle, the pair were
in, was owned by the organization, Wostwag a cover for the O.G.P.U.
After Dr Mueller, who has been found to be a Soviet Agent, was
released, the bandits holding Gareth were changed to another band
and a Soviet connection with the banditry seems less likely.
Which of the great powers would
have been the most interested in eliminating Gareth? Neither the
Soviets nor the Chinese would have wished an invasion of Inner
Mongolia. Gareth had endeavoured to expose the Five-Year Plan of
Collectivisation and Industrialisation and in its wake he had, by
his articles attempted to bring world-wide attention to a desperate
situation, the Great Famine in Ukraine; an atrocity, the knowledge
of which, Stalin had attempted suppress. For this did Stalin order
his death as a vendetta or did the Bolshevist regime kill him
fearing the invasion of Inner Mongolia and subsequently incursion
into Soviet Siberia?
The Soviets feared the presence of the Japanese on the border of
Siberia as they had designs on striking north into Soviet Territory.
It would not have been in the Japanese interest to kill Gareth in
their quest for raw materials and their desire to be a colonial
power though in their turn they might have been anxious that Gareth
did not expose their carefully laid plans to invade by stealth, the
Northern provinces. China, possibly the most devious of these
countries was playing a waiting game, powerless to fight the
Japanese; did she kill Gareth to foil the latter's strategies? The
Chinese would not have wished the loss of their land in the north.
Their militia was in hot pursuit after the bandits and it is
possible they may have killed him. Gareth's murder might have been
quite simply carried out by the bandits fearing capture by the
militia.
There are many theories to
debate, but until there is documentary evidence as to how Gareth
died we shall never know the answer. Did his death foil the invasion
of Inner Mongolia in 1935? According to H.T.Barrett of the Hong
Kong Critic,
“It is quite obvious that efforts were made to create another
international incident.”
Gareth had revealed to the world
the terrible famine in the Soviet Union and Ukraine; he predicted
the Second World War in Europe would breakout following the Danzig
Corridor dispute between Germany and Poland. Had he lived he might
have been able to reveal the designs of territorial expansion by the
Japanese that would bring about the conflagration in the Far East.
He foresaw problems in Pearl Harbour as early as 1935 and he pointed
to the problems in the north of Czechoslovakia. His predictions were
uncanny.
Gareth Jones, a great Welsh
patriot, walked with princes and had seen the plight of peasants.
“He had this gift of international understanding; he had this genius
of becoming the interpreter of nations to one another. To him was
given, for example, the power, the rare power of an instinctive
reaction to an international dispute not as a quarrel, which it
seldom or never is, between ‘a right and a wrong’ but between ‘two
rights”. He was an idealist – a lover of liberty and a foe of
oppression.
The truth to him was all-important. His death on the eve of his
thirtieth birthday was a tragic loss not only to his family but also
to the world and to society as a whole.
*******
Mr
Lloyd George’s statement
Jones Knew Too Much
I was struck with horror when the news of poor Mr
Gareth Jones was conveyed to me. I was uneasy about his fate from
the moment I ascertained that when his companion, Dr Herbert Müller,
was released he was detained. The so-called bandits fastened on to
Mr Gareth Jones as the more dangerous of the two. That part of the
world is a cauldron of conflicting intrigue and one or other
interests concerned probably knew that Mr Gareth Jones knew too much
of what was going on. Mr Gareth Jones was a born scout, dauntless
to the last degree. He had a passion for finding out what was
happening in foreign lands wherever there was trouble, and in
pursuit of his investigations he shrank from no risk. Doubtless he
had notes in his possession that would have been of great interest
to me or to many other foreign powers interested in Mongolia. I had
always been afraid that he would take one risk too many. Nothing
escaped his observation, and he allowed no obstacle to turn from his
course when he thought that there was some fact, which he could
obtain. He had the almost unfailing knack of getting at things that
mattered
Further Reference:
Gareth Jones: A Manchukuo Incident
More Than a Grain of Truth: The
Biography of Gareth Richard Vaughan Jones
By Margaret Siriol Colley
http://www.margaretcolley.co.uk/articles_soviet.htm
http://www.margaretcolley.co.uk/articles-japan.htm
http://www.garethjones.org
9
Gareth Jones, ‘Frank Wright’. The Western Mail, 8th
February 1935.
Juan Chang and Jon Holliday, Mao: the Unknown Story,
Jonathon Cape, London, 2005.p.
208.
‘Following Japan’s swift
occupation of northern China in July [1937] posed a very direct
danger to Stalin. Tokyo’s huge armies were now in a position to
turn north and attack Russia anywhere along a border many
thousands of kilometres long.’
Reverend Gwilym
Davies’s Tribute to Mr Gareth Jones: “Apostle
of International Understanding.”
[ii]
Life with Lloyd George by A.J.Sylvester, Macmillan Press
1975 page 39.
[iii]
Lloyd George, David, Truth about Reparations and War Debts
1932, Doubleday, Doran (Garden city, N.Y) page 122.
[iv]
Life with Lloyd George by A.J.Sylvester, Macmillan Press,
1975 page 94.
|