Richard Jones (politician)

Richard Jones (around 1534, † after 1577) was a Welsh politician who was elected twice as a member of the House of Commons .

Richard Jones was the second son of Sir Thomas Jones and his second wife Mary, daughter of James Berkeley of Thornbury , Gloucestershire and widow of Thomas Perrot of Haverfordwest . That made Sir John Perrot his half-brother.

After his older brother Henry Jones was elected to the House of Commons for Cardiganshire instead of Carmarthenshire in the 1555 general election , Richard was elected Knight of the Shire for Carmarthenshire. In contrast to Henry, who became the leading politician in South West Wales, Richard made little appearance. Presumably through the influence of John Perrot, he remained Protestant during the reign of the Catholic Maria I. He was believed to be Richard Jones, who in 1555, shortly before his cremation, visited Robert Ferrar, the deposed Protestant bishop of St David's , in Carmarthen prison . Jones was re-elected as Knight of the Shire for Carmarthenshire to the first Parliament under Queen Elizabeth I in 1559 . In March of that year he married Elizabeth, the daughter and heiress of Gruffydd Lloyd ap Gruffydd. By marriage he acquired the Cwmgwili estate near Abergwili in Carmarthenshire. He did not appear in parliament and was only mentioned again in 1577 during a court hearing.

From his first marriage he had a son and two daughters. In his second marriage he married Marged, a daughter of Rhys ap William ap Thomas Goch. With her he had a son.

Web links

• PS Edwards: JONES, Richard (? 1534-77 or later), of Cwmgwili, Carm. (History of Parliament online, Ref Volumes: 1509–1558)
• PS Edwards: JONES, Richard (? 1534-77 or later), of Cwmgwili, Carm. (History of Parliament online, Ref Volumes: 1558–1603)