A PLAQUE honouring a Barry journalist – who revealed the horrors of Holodomor to the world – has been unveiled.

Gareth Jones was born in Barry in 1905 and attended Barry County School, where his father, Major Edgar Jones, was headmaster.

His mother, Annie Gwen Jones, had worked in Russia as a tutor to the children of Arthur Hughes, son of Welsh steel industrialist John Hughes.

Mr Jones went on to become a journalist and exposed the horrors of Holodomor, where Stalin’s regime in the 1930s starved several million Ukrainians to death.

This would have done unreported if not for Mr Jones’ determination and bravery with his story retold in the film Mr. Jones.

In 1935, while reporting on the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, Mr Jones died in mysterious circumstances; some suspect Stalin’s notorious NKVD security police were responsible. His ashes were later buried at Merthyr Dyfan Cemetery.

Mr Jones’ achievements throughout his life earned him a posthumous Ukrainian Order of Merit, a plaque at his alma mater, Aberystwyth University, and an exhibition of his diaries at Cambridge University.

A commemorative plaque has also been erected by Barry Town Council which stands alongside his family’s gravestone in Merthyr Dyfan Cemetery.

The plaque was made and delivered to Barry Town Council from Canada, and funded by Ukrainians in Canada and the US.

Barry Town Council worked with MS' Mick Antoniw and Jane Hutt to ensure the safe travel of the plaque which was officially unveiled on October 30 helping future generations to remember the life of Gareth Jones and enhance the culture and history of the town.

The plaque unveiling was attended by Gareth Jones’ great nephew Phillip Colley along with:

  • The Mayor of Barry Cllr Helen Payne;
  • The Mayor of the Vale of Glamorgan Cllr Lloyd-Selby;
  • Mr Prystaiko Vadym (Ukrainian Ambassador);
  • Mick Antoniw MS;
  • Jane Hutt MS;
  • Mr Fedir Kurlak AUGB (Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain);
  • Barry Town councillors;
  • Ukrainian families.