David Jones (1765–1816) was a Welsh barrister. Jones was best known as ‘the Welsh Freeholder’. He was born in 1765, the only son of John Jones of Bwlchygwynt, near

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Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...

, where his father farmed his own freehold. He was a relative of John Jones, Unitarian critic. He received his early education at Pencader and

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, and in 1783 entered

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, London, with the view of preparing for the ministry among the

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ic dissenters, but, adopting Unitarian views, moved to

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. There he became tutor and lecturer in

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until, in October 1792, he took charge of the New Meeting congregation at Birmingham, as successor to

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, who had recommended him for the post. During his ministry there he delivered in 1794–5 ‘some admirable courses of lectures on the philosophy of the human mind, as connected with education, the theory of morals, and also on history.’ Turning to the study of the law, he was admitted a student of

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on 1 May 1795, was called to the bar on 26 June 1800, and practised chiefly as a chancery barrister, but attached himself as well to the Oxford and South Wales circuits. He also became a member of

Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...

, graduating B.A. in 1800 and M.A. in 1803. He died in 1816. Jones made a spirited defence of unitarianism against the attacks of Bishop

Samuel Horsley Samuel Horsley (15 September 1733 – 4 October 1806) was a British churchman, bishop of Rochester from 1793. He was also well versed in physics and mathematics, on which he wrote a number of papers and thus was elected a Fellow of the Royal So ...

in several works written under the name of 'The Welsh Freeholder'.

Works

;as 'The Welsh Freeholder' * ''A Letter to the ishopon the Charge he lately delivered'', London, 1790, 8vo, which evoked ‘An Answer … by a Clergyman of the Diocese of St. Davids,’ London, 1750, 8vo * ''The Welsh Freeholder's Vindication of his Letter'', &c., London, 1791, 8vo. * ''Reasons for Unitarianism, or the Primitive Christian Doctrine'', London, 1792 * ''The Welsh Freeholder's Farewell Epistles to the Bishop (lately of St. Davids), now of Rochester'', London, 1794, 8vo. ; as David Jones * ''Thoughts on the Riots at Birmingham'', Bath, 1791, 8vo, an enlarged reprint of an anonymous letter written by Jones in the ''

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'', and republished without his authority both at Maidstone and Birmingham. * ''The Nature and Duties of the Office of a Minister of Religion'', Birmingham, 1792, 8vo. * ''The Revolution in France and the Progress of Liberty, considered in connection with our idea of Providence and of the Improvement of Human Affairs'' (see advertisement in ''The Nature and Duties'', &c.), announced by Jones in 1816, is not known to have been published.

References

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, David 1765 births 1816 deaths 18th-century Welsh writers 18th-century British male writers 19th-century Welsh writers Welsh barristers Welsh Calvinist and Reformed Christians 18th-century Unitarian clergy 19th-century Unitarian clergy Welsh Unitarians People from Carmarthenshire Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Alumni of Homerton College, Cambridge Welsh religious writers 19th-century Welsh lawyers 18th-century Welsh lawyers