David Jones (businessman)

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David Jones (1793–1873)

David Jones (born March 8, 1793 in Llandeilo , Wales , † March 29, 1873 in Sydney , New South Wales ) was a Welsh - Australian merchant and founder of the department store David Jones Ltd., which still exists today . in Sydney, Australia.

Life

David Jones was the son of Thomas Jones, a farmer at Llandeilo in Wales, and his wife Nancy. His parents hoped that he would serve the Church, but their son showed no interest in agriculture or religious offices when he was 15 years old. He left home and trained at a grocer in Carmarthen . At the age of 18 he took a managerial position in a general store in Eglwyswrw ( Pembrokeshire ). Here in 1813 he married Catherine Hughes, the daughter of the local pastor. Mother and child died when their daughter was born a year later. On September 10, 1822, he married Elizabeth Williams, who died in 1826. Jones moved to London, where he immediately got a job with a retailer on Oxford Street . He changed jobs several times until he soon became a trusted assistant at RN Nicholls , Wood Street, Cheapside .

In 1828 in London he married Jane Mander, the daughter of John Mander from East Smithfield . The members of the Mander family were supporters of the religious movement of the Independents and were involved in the work of the non-denominational Christian missionary society London Missionary Society , in which David Jones was able to establish numerous contacts. Through William Wemyss, a friend of the Manders, he met Charles Appleton, a businessman from Hobart Town , Tasmania , Australia. Appleton had opened a shop in Sydney in 1825 and was now visiting London. Jones announced at Nicholls and partnered with Appleton one which the Australian subsidiaries under the name & Co. Appleton included.

In October 1834 Jones traveled with his family on the sailing ship Thomas Harrison to Hobart, from where he traveled overland to Launceston with plans to expand business to determine the needs of the settlers there. He arrived in Sydney on the Medway in September 1835. Robert Bourne, a former missionary, had run the Sydney business during Appleton's absence. Bourne's partnership with Appleton expired on December 31, 1835, after which the business was renamed Appleton & Jones . Jones had an ambitious plan to set up a department store in Sydney "on the principles of respectable London wholesaling". The relationship with Appleton soon showed cracks, Appleton had criticized Jones' liberal credit policy, in return Jones pointed out the profits. By mutual agreement, they dissolved the partnership in 1838.

The David Jones store between 1900 and 1910 on the corner of George Street and Barrack Street in Sydney.

Jones moved his company to its premises on the corner of George Street and Barrack Lane in central Sydney. To trade with London, he formed an interest group of business associates and fellow believers from the ranks of the independents such as Robert Bourne, Ambrose Foss, GA Lloyd and their accountants, Thompson & Giles, with William Wemyss as chief agent . Jones and his employees regularly secured the entire cargo space of ships that transported bounty migrants ( German  paid immigrants ) on the way to Australia and picked up loads such as wool or tallow on the way back to Great Britain.

Jones survived the economic crisis of the 1840s; business flourished again. With his wife he visited England and Wales in 1849 . In 1856 he retired from active management of the company, took on partners, and left a capital of £ 30,000. A few years later, faced with the threat of bankruptcy, he paid off his partners and returned to running the company. Within a few years, all obligations to his creditors were completely fulfilled. Jones became seriously ill in 1866 but recovered under the treatment of his son Philip. He finally retired in 1868 and died on March 29, 1873 at his home on Lyons Terrace , Liverpool Street, Sydney. His wife died three weeks later at the age of 71.

David Jones had invested in banking, real estate, steamship and insurance companies among others; in 1840 he was director of the Mutual Fire Insurance Co. , which was founded in 1848, founding director of the Australian Mutual Provident Society and in 1851 trustee and chairman of the Metropolitan and Counties Permanent Investment and Building Society . For about thirty-five years he was a Deacon of the Sydney Congregational Church; he was one of the founders and one of the earliest councilors of Camden College, as well as a committee member of the supporters of local Bible and religious communities. He was a generous supporter of his own and other churches and one of the dealers from Sydney, each 1,000 guineas to the Hilfsonds the Krimkriegsopfer donated. He was a member of the first Sydney City Council in 1842 and of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1856 to 1860 .

His third marriage produced four sons and four daughters. The eldest son David Mander († 1864) married a cousin, Emily Ann Jones, and with his brother George took over the 777 km² property called Boonara in Darling Downs . The second son, Philip Sydney (1836-1918) gained fame as a doctor and was knighted. His youngest son Edward Lloyd (1844-1894) married Helen Ann, daughter of Richard Jones, and took over the management of his father's company. In September 1848 the eldest daughter Eliza married the son of Dr. Robert Ross.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jenny Joyce: Assisted and Bounty Immigrants. In: unlockthepast.com.au
personal data
SURNAME Jones, David
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Welsh-Australian merchant and department store founder
DATE OF BIRTH March 8, 1793
PLACE OF BIRTH Llandeilo , Wales
DATE OF DEATH March 29, 1873
Place of death Sydney , New South Wales