Richard Jones, MP

Family and Education b. ?1534, 2nd s. of (Sir) Thomas Jones of Abermarlais by 2nd w. Mary, da. of James Berkeley, of Thornbury Glos., bro. of Henry Jones I and half-bro. of John Perrot. m. (1) by Mar. 1559, Elizabeth, da. and h. of Gruffydd Lloyd ap Gruffydd of Cwmgwili, 1s. 2da.; (2) Marged, da. Rhys ap William ap Thomas Goch, 1s.1

Offices Held

Escheator, Carm. Feb. 1559-Jan. 1560, Dec. 1560-Dec. 1561.

Biography In contrast with his elder brother, Henry Jones of Abermarlais, Richard Jones is a shadowy figure. He emerges briefly in John Foxe’s account of his visit in March 1555 to the Protestant martyr Bishop Ferrar in prison at Carmarthen, when

one named Richard Jones, a knight’s son, coming to Master Ferrar a little before his death, seemed to lament the painfulness of the death he had to suffer: unto whom the bishop answered ... that if he saw him once to stir in the pains of his burning, he should then give no credit to his doctrine.

Whence Jones derived his own Protestantism is unknown: he can scarcely have been the Richard Jones who graduated at Cambridge in 1544, but his half-brother John Perrot could have shown him the way. Both he and Perrot were to sit in the Parliament of 1555, Jones replacing his elder brother, who on this occasion exchanged Carmarthenshire for Cardiganshire, while Perrot reappeared for Sandwich, and both voted against one of the government’s bills.2

Jones was to sit again in Elizabeth’s first Parliament and to die some time after 1577.3

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558 Author: P. S. Edwards Notes 1. Date of birth estimated from elder brother’s birth and from election to Parliament. Dwnn, Vis. Wales, i. 189-90; PCC 8 Chaynay. 2. Foxe, Acts and Mons. vii. 26; Guildford mus. Loseley 1331/2—the name ‘Mr. Jones’ occurs twice consecutively on the list: unless this was a copyist’s error, one of the entries must refer either to Sir Henry Jones or to an otherwise unknown Member named Jones, leaving the other entry to denote Richard Jones. 3. St. Ch. (Univ. Wales Bd. of Celtic Studies, Hist. and Law ser. i), 46