Thomas Jones (politician, 1554)

Sir Thomas Jones (* between February and April 1554 , † between March 7 and May 18, 1604 ) was a Welsh politician who was twice a member of the House of Commons .

Origin and youth

Thomas Jones came from the Jones family, who had risen to become one of the leading gentry families in South West Wales in the 16th century . He was the eldest son of Sir Henry Jones and his first wife Elizabeth, a daughter of Matthew Herbert from Cogan Pill. He was educated in Shrewsbury and studied at Gray's Inn in 1568 .

Life

Jones probably served in Ireland from 1584, where Sir John Perrot , a half-brother of his father, was Lord Deputy . That year he was knighted . After the death of his father, who was a leading politician in South West Wales, he returned to Wales in 1586 and was elected Knight of the Shire for Carmarthenshire . He inherited his father's estates, but the lease of the Llandovery estate in Carmarthenshire, which his grandfather Thomas Jones had already leased, was not renewed by the Crown. Reign fell to Lord Audley, whose ancestors had owned it as early as the fourteenth century, and in 1592 Audley tried Jones in the Treasury Court for alleged assault and withholding of documents. In 1596 Jones tried to obtain protection from the Treasury for the Newcastle Emlyn he had leased , which was claimed by his opponents. Jones also had to answer for attacks several times before the Star Chamber and other courts. Sir John Vaughan of Golden Grove charged him with embezzlement of funds after he was administrator of Llanthony , and in 1602 Jones was charged with entering a flour mill in Carmarthenshire.

Jones moved the center of his holdings from Pembrokeshire to Carmarthenshire. In 1591 he sold parts of his possessions in Pembrokeshire to John Perrot, in return he acquired properties in Carmarthenshire from the former Talley Abbey . In the House of Commons, Jones served on various committees. After not being elected in 1589 and 1593, he was re-elected as Knight of the Shire for Carmarthenshire in the 1597 general election. In addition to various other offices he was sheriff of Carmarthenshire from 1588 to 1595 and from 1602 to 1603 and sheriff of Cardiganshire from 1601 to 1602 . He was buried in the parish church of Llansadorne.

Family and offspring

He married Jane, the daughter and heiress of Rowland Puleston of Caernarvon . With her he had at least five sons and two daughters, including:

• Sir Henry Jones
• Rowland Jones
• Richard Jones
• Herbert Jones
• Anne Jones

His heir became his eldest son, Henry. Neither this nor any other of his sons achieved the political importance of their father or grandfather. In the 17th century, the Vaughan families of Golden Grove and Mansel took the place of the Jones family in South West Wales.

Web links

• AHD: JONES, Sir Thomas (1554-1604), of Abermarlais, Carm. (History of Parliament online, Ref Volumes: 1558–1603)