JONES, Griffith (c.1630-80), of Trewern, Llanfihangel Nant Melan, Rad.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Oct. 1679 - Feb. 1680

Family and Education

b. c.1630, 1st s. of Richard Jones of Trewern. m. (1) da. of Edmund Weaver of Above Eign, Hereford, 2s. 1da.; (2) lic. 18 Dec. 1677, Anna, da. of one Howard of Holborn, Mdx. suc. gdfa. Richard Jones c.1659.1

Offices Held

J.p. Rad. 1656-d., commr. for assessment 1657, Jan. 1660-d., militia Mar. 1660; alderman, New Radnor by 1661-d.; dep. lt. Rad. 1661-d., capt. of militia ?1661, commr. for loyal and indigent officers 1662.2

Biography

Jones’s family was of sufficient status to provide one of the first sheriffs of Radnorshire in 1548-9, and they had been associated with New Radnor since its charter of 1562. Trewern, three miles away, was in their day a spacious mansion well adapted to hospitality. Jones’s grandfather sat for the county in 1628 and the boroughs in the Short Parliament. ‘About 70 years of age and an unwieldy gentleman’, he supported the Royalists in the Civil War as a commissioner of array to the extent of subscribing warrants for raising money and pressing men. He was only too eager to submit to Parliament in October 1645, in revenge for which the local Cavalier commander swooped on Trewern, took him prisoner and plundered him down to the rings off his wife’s fingers. After this alarming experience he was allowed to compound at Goldsmiths’ Hall for a mere £72. He was still alive in 1658, but probably died before the Restoration.3

As a member of the New Radnor corporation, Jones tried with George Gwynne to find a candidate to oppose Edward Harley in 1661. Afterwards Harley’s brother wrote: ‘Griffith Jones and others of the 25 pretend they will send up an indenture by themselves, and that they will question the election, but that I suppose is but a crack’. Jones’s estate was probably no more than £300 p.a. and his affairs became steadily more involved during the seventies. In April 1679 he mortgaged most of his property to Sir Herbert Croft, probably in order to obtain funds for ousting Harley at New Radnor. This he succeeded in doing, but died before the second Exclusion Parliament met. His elder son of the same name stood by at the by-election, but the double return was never decided. By 1690 Trewern had been sold. Jones’s younger son, an army officer, restored the family fortunes, but although his great-grandson acquired a baronetcy for diplomatic services, none of his descendants entered Parliament.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: John. P. Ferris

Notes

  • 1. E. 134/20 Chas. II Mich. 29; NLW, Penybont mss; C6/19/75; E134/2 Win. Mary E.20, deposition of Henry Bull; London. Mar. Lic. ed. Foster, 772; C6/113/72; E134/29 Chas. II. Mich 14.
  • 2. BL Loan 29/79, Thos. Harley to Sir Edw. Harley, 30 Apr. 1661; Hereford City Lib., Phillips mss, Bull of Harpton ped.
  • 3. Trans. Rad. Soc. xxxvii. 41; Arch. Camb. (ser. 3), iv. 2; SP23/205, ff. 965-85.
  • 4. C5/508/15; C6/246/66.