JONES, Thomas (d.1628), of Llanwarne, Herefs.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

s. and h. of William Jones of Llanwarne by his w. Katherine Biddlestone. educ. G. Inn 1568, called 1574. m. Mary, da. of John Wildgos, 2s. 1da. suc. fa. 1598.

Offices Held

A legal official attached to the council in the marches of Wales by 1586; j.p. Herefs. from c.1592; common councilman, Hereford 1620.

Biography

It is difficult to distinguish Jones’s career from those of several namesakes. In 1590 Sir Richard Shuttleforth was instructed to examine a charge of ‘many matters foul and disordered’ against him. It was probably he who was the Mr. Jones on a legal committee in the House of Commons 17 Mar. 1587, and certainly he who served on committees on 3 and 11 Nov. 1601. Again it is likely that he was the Mr. Jones on the committee of the solicitors bill, 18 Nov. 1601, and on the Exchequer bill committee, 25 Nov. It was probably he who brought a bill from committee 26 Nov., and certainly he who on 3 Dec. ‘wished a good passage’ to the bill to avoid double payment of debts. The burgesses for Hereford were appointed to a committee concerning two Welsh lordships on 24 Nov. 1601.

On 2 May he made his will, ‘calling to mind the frailty of all flesh, and knowing that it is but as grass, and the glory thereof to be as a flower of the field’. He asked forgiveness for his ‘infinite and most grevious sins’. He had already made a settlement of lands on his ‘very loving wife’ Mary, and the rest of his property was to be divided between his two sons, with a legacy to his daughter, and small bequests to his servants. The churches of Llanwarne, and of All Saints, Hereford, also benefited, and money and rye were left to the poor of both parishes. The will was proved 16 May 1628.

W. R. Williams, Parl. Hist. Herefs. 86-7; PCC 41 Barrington; CSP Dom. 1591-4, p. 200; APC, xx. 60; D’Ewes, 416, 624, 635, 642, 650, 651, 654, 667; Townshend, Hist. Colls. 283.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: J.J.C.

Notes