William Jones, FRS

William Jones, FRS (1675 – 3 July 1749) was a Welsh mathematician, most noted for his proposal for the use of the symbol π (the Greek letter pi) to represent the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. He was a close friend of Sir Isaac Newton, PRS and Sir Edmund Halley. In November, 1711 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society, and was later its Vice-President.

Family

The son of Siôn Siôr (John George Jones), sheep-farmer, and Elizabeth Rowland; born in the parish of Llanfihangel Tre'r Beirdd, about 4 miles west of Benllech on the Isle of Anglesey.

Married

1. the widow of his counting-house employer
2. on 17 April 1731 at St. Lawrence Jewry, London to Mary, the daughter of cabinet-maker George Nix and his wife Sarah. On the marriage allegation of 16 Jan 1730, Mary was listed as age 25, spinster, of the Parish of St Paul, Covent Garden. William was listed of the Parish of St. Martin's in the Fields.

Children with his 2nd wife, born at London, England:

1. George, who died young
2. Mary, born in 1736. Married Frank Rainsford.
3. William Jones, born in 1746, philologist. Married Anna Maria Shipley.

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Biography

From "William Jones" Biography

William was born on a farm in Anglesey and the family moved to Llanbabo on Anglesey, then moved again after the death of William's father. The family were poor and William attended a charity school at Llanfechell about 3 km from the north coast of Anglesey. There his mathematical talents were spotted by the local landowner who arranged for him to be given a job in London working in a merchant's counting-house.
This job saw Jones serving at sea on a voyage to the West Indies, and he taught mathematics and navigation on board ships between 1695 and 1702. He was serving on a navy vessel which was part of the British-Dutch fleet under Sir George Rooke and James Butler, Duke of Ormonde, which destroyed a Franco-Spanish fleet in Vigo bay off northwestern Spain in 1702. Navigation was a topic which greatly interested Jones and his first published work was "A New Compendium of the Whole Art of Navigation" published in 1702. In this work he applied mathematics to navigation, studying methods to calculate position at sea.
After the battle of Vigo, Jones left the navy and became a teacher of mathematics in the coffee houses of London. This may seems strange but in fact at this time coffee houses were sometimes called the Penny Universities because of the cheap education they provided. They would charge an entrance fee of one penny and then while customers drank coffee they could listen to lectures. Different coffee houses catered to specific interests such as art, business, law and mathematics. Jones was able to make a living lecturing in coffee houses such as Child's Coffee House in St Paul's Churchyard. ....
... On his death Jones left a large collection of manuscripts and correspondence which it appears he had intended to publish as a major piece of work. There are many notes and copied parts of original manuscripts to which he had access. Wallis writes in [2]:-

"His collection of some 15,000 books was considered to be the most valuable mathematical library in England and was bequeathed to George Parker, 2nd Earl of Macclesfield. His papers were not in the bequest; nevertheless many are at Shirburn, where they have remained (1995) with access extremely restricted. Almost the only permitted publication has been those papers contained in the two-volume Rigaud Correspondence. Among Jones's manuscripts was another projected mathematical book, which his son, Sir William, had intended, but failed, to publish."

• 2. Biography by Ruth Wallis, in Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 2004).

Article by: J J O'Connor and E F Robertson

From Memoirs of the life, writings and correspondence of sir William Jones, by lord Teignmouth. With the life of lord Teignmouth, and notes, by S.C. Wilks, Volume 1 by Sir William Jones 1835 page 99

"... The history of men of letters is too often a melancholy detail of human misery, exhibiting the unavailing struggles of genius and learning against penury, and life consumed in fruitless expectation of patronage and reward. We contemplate with satisfaction the reverse of this picture in the history of Mr. Jones, as we trace him in his progress from obscurity to distinction, and in his participation of the friendship and beneficence of the first characters of the times. ..."

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Ancestry

From "A Cymmrodor claims kin in Calcutta: an assessment of Sir William Jones as philologer, polymath, and pluralist." by Garland Cannon and Michael J. Franklin. link

"This genealogical present, of inherent interest to all the ‘earliest natives’ [Cymmrodorion] of Wales and beyond, was sent in a letter of New Year’s Day 1748 by the ‘learned British antiquary’ and co-founder of this society, Lewis Morris (1701-65) to his friend William ap Sion Siors (son of John George), known in London as William Jones, FRS (c.1675-1749), ‘Longitude Jones’, celebrated mathematician, disseminator of Newtonian theory, and father of the future Orientalist.2 This document, now sadly lost, showed that the Morrises and the Joneses were closely related, sharing an ancestry deriving from Hwfa ap Cynddelw and the princes of Gwynedd. Exactly why a seemingly insignificant Ynys Môn parish should produce within two generations a scholar of the calibre of William Jones sen. and polymaths of such importance as Lewis Morris and Sir William Jones remains something of a mystery.3 ..."

• 1. The Works of Sir William Jones, ed. Anna Maria Jones, 13 vols. (London, 1807), rpt. in Collected Works, ed. Garland Cannon (Richmond, Surrey and New York, 1993), 1: 2-3; henceforth Works. Like the Morrises, William Jones sen. must have loved Welsh antiquities, for he purchased Moses Williams’s library, and employed the first President of the Cymmrodorion, Richard Morris, to catalogue it. Sadly on his early death these precious manuscripts were bequeathed to his former pupil, the Earl of Macclesfield, and they gathered dust at Shirburn Castle, inaccessible to Welsh scholars.
• 2. Garland Cannon, The Life and Mind of Oriental Jones (Cambridge, 1990), 1-4.
• 3. Perhaps it was something in the enlightening air, or in the milk of ‘Mam Cymru’, as Anglesey was traditionally known; the secret of their ‘common source’ might lie in the soil and in the significant appellation of their village: Llanfihangel Tre’r Beirdd (The Parish of St Michael, Town of the Bards). The district is rich in associations with both the Druids and the British saints ...

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Legacy

From "Selling the silver: country house libraries and the history of science" Roger Gaskell and Patricia Fara. Endeavour Vol.29 No.1 March 2005

"The first Earl of Maccelsfield was a generous patron whose proteges included the Newtonian mathematician William Jones. Originally entering the Macclesfield household as tutor to the Earl’s son, Jones collected many thousands of books, including what contemporaries considered the most valuable mathematical library in England. Jones bequeathed his collection to the second Earl of Macclesfield, and most of the 3000 scientific titles now being auctioned off were once his. ...."

From Wikipedia: Pi Day

Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant π (pi). Pi Day is observed on March 14 (3/14 in the month/day date format) since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant digits of π.
Pi Day has been observed in many ways, including eating pie, throwing pies and discussing the significance of the number π, due to a pun based on the words "pi" and "pie" being homophones in English (pronunciation: /paɪ/).

• Wikipedia: William Jones
  • 5. "How a farm boy from Wales gave the world pi" March 14, 2016 2.22am EDT
  • 6. Roberts, Gareth Ffowc (14 March 2015). "Pi Day 2015: meet the man who invented π". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
• Reference: FamilySearch Genealogy - SmartCopy: Mar 15 2017, 1:52:09 UTC
• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Mar 15 2017, 2:38:27 UTC
  • "Welsh mathematician who is remembered for introducing the symbol for the number pi (3,14...)."
• JONES , WILLIAM ( 1675? - 1749 ), mathematician ; Dictionary of Welsh Biography
  • " The father was John George ; the mother was Elizabeth Rowland , of the family of Bodwigan , Llanddeusant ( J. E. Griffith , Pedigrees, 3), and Elizabeth 's mother was of the family of Tregaian and therefore, according to Lewis Morris ( Add. M.L. , p. 190), related to the Morrises ’ father and mother. ..."
• Memoirs of the life, writings and correspondence of sir William Jones, by lord Teignmouth. With the life of lord Teignmouth, and notes, by S.C. Wilks. (2017). Google Books. Retrieved 15 March 2017, from page 98
• "Shirburn Castle, Oxfordshire" May 30, 2011 by Handed on