JONES
,
WILLIAM
(
1755
-
1821
),
Evangelical cleric
,
one of the friends of
Thomas
Charles
; b.
18 Nov. 1755
at
Abergavenny
, son of
John
Jones
,
clockmaker
. He went to
Jesus College
,
Oxford
, in
1773 or 1774
, and remained there till
1777
(
Charles
was there in
1775
, and
Jones
was then his ‘
very intimate friend
’);
Jones
, as his diaries begun at
Oxford
show, was a tolerably good scholar. Early in
1778
, he became
tutor in a Government servant's family
in
Jamaica
, but he returned early in
1780
, took his degree, and was ordained. From
1781 till 1801
he was
curate
at
Broxbourne
and
Hoddesdon
,
Herts.
, and in
1801
became
vicar
there, despite his fears that his ‘
Methodism
’ would impede the promotion. He corresponded with
Charles
, and letters of his will be found in
D. E.
Jenkins
's
Life
of
Charles
. He d. at
Broxbourne
12 Oct. 1821
. Twelve years before he d., he had a coffin made for himself, in the meantime fitting it with bookshelves — but when the time came the coffin was found to be too small. From
1777
till the end of his life, he kept detailed diaries; a selection was published by
O. F.
Christie
in
1929
.
Sources:
- The diaries;
-
D. E. Jenkins
,
Life of Thomas Charles
(Denbigh, 1908)
, principally iii, 636-9, but consult index also.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
