JONES, EDWARD (fl. 1781-1840), member, from 1781 of the London Gwyneddigion, and known to his fellows as ' Ned Môn ' -

he was secretary in 1782, president in 1785, and life-member of council; as his nickname implies, he hailed from Anglesey. Though he was generally spoken of as ' Jones of the Temple,' his name appears in no register of any Inn of Court, and it seems more probable that he was a lawyer's clerk - so also Robert Hughes (1744 - 1785), known to have been a clerk, is described as 'of the Temple.' Gwilym Lleyn (Llyfryddiaeth) attributes three books to him: an English translation of two of Cicero's treatises (1776), Cyfreithiau Plwyf, on the duties of parish officers (1794), and a two-volume Index to Records … of the Exchequer (1793 and 1795) 'by Edward Jones, Inner Temple.' One may doubt whether the first and third of these works are by our man [yet it should be noted that Leathart. in a letter of 1840, says that Jones ' is the author of some law works '.] Little is said about Jones in Leathart's book on the Gwyneddigion, though on p. 31 he has an amusing account of a squabble between him and David Samwell. W.O. Pughe described him to Leathart as 'a prominent orator,' and David Samwell (The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1926-7, 130) recounts his participation in a political debate in the Caradogion Society. When Leathart's book was published (1831), Jones was living in Paris, and was the oldest living member of the Gwyneddigion; [in the letter mentioned above, Leathart describes him as ' so advanced in years that we can say nothing more to him than ask his health ']. His help (and that of his brother Owen) is acknowledged in the preface to the 1789 Dafydd ap Gwilym. He had two brothers, OWEN ('Owain Môn ' and ' Cor y Cyrtie ' - a nickname which may indicate that he, too, was a lawyer's clerk), who was secretary (1789), vice-president (1792), and president (1793) of the Gwyneddigion, but was dead when Leathart wrote his book, and WILLIAM ('Bardd Môn'), who died in July 1820 (Leathart, op. cit., 57) - William was a member of the Cymreigyddion Society, and had been president (Y Llenor, 1938, 231).

Author

• Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, (1881 - 1969)

Sources

• Leathart, op. cit.
• [his letter of 1840 was communicated by Miss Rhiannon Francis Roberts of N.L.W.]

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q18671061

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/