Gwilyn Griffith Jones was born at Port Madoc, Wales, and was inevitably nicknamed Taffy when he came to Adelaide. He was a regular player for Port Adelaide reserves in the 1913 season, but did not play in 1914 when Port did not field a reserve team.
Jones enlisted in the AIF on 13th December 1915. He was 26 and worked as a scaffolder for SA Railways. He was married and lived in the north- western suburb of Glanville, near the Port. In France Jones served as a sapper in the 5th Division Signals Company. He suffered bouts of illness but was lucky enough not to be wounded, and was returned to Australia and discharged in April 1919. There is no record of him in Adelaide after the war.