Robert Jones (born c.1596-died c.1653
History of Parliament Online article.) was a Welsh landowner and politician who sat in the
House of Commons of England, House of Commons between 1625 and 1629.
Jones was the son of
Sir William Jones
Sir William Jones (28 September 1746 – 27 April 1794) was a British philologist, a puisne judge on the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal, and a scholar of ancient India. He is particularly known for his proposition of th ...
and his wife Margaret Griffith, daughter of Griffith ap John Griffith of
Kevenamulch,
Caernarvonshire. His father was a judge and MP. Robert himself studied law as a student at
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...
in 1617. He married by 1641 Anne West, by whom he had one daughter.
In 1625, Jones was elected
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for
Carnarvon in place of
Edward Littleton, his brother-in-law,
who preferred to sit for
Leominster
Leominster ( ) is a market town in Herefordshire, England, at the confluence of the River Lugg and its tributary the River Kenwater. The town is north of Hereford and south of Ludlow in Shropshire. With a population of 11,700, Leominster is t ...
. He again replaced Littleton after the 1626 election.
[W R Williams ''The Parliamentary History of the Principality of Wales'']
/ref> In 1628 he was elected MP for Flintshire
, settlement_type = County
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and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. He held the estate of Castell-March.
A Royalist on the outbreak of the first Civil War, in 1643 he was High Sheriff of Caernarvonshire
This is a list of Sheriffs of Caernarvonshire (or Carnarvonshire).
The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in a county but over the centuries most of the responsibi ...
and magistrate for the county, and governor of Caernarvon Castle
Caernarfon Castle ( cy, Castell Caernarfon ) – often anglicised as Carnarvon Castle or Caernarvon Castle – is a medieval fortress in Caernarfon, Gwynedd, north-west Wales cared for by Cadw, the Welsh Government's historic envir ...
from 1643 to 1646. He sought immunity from delinquency proceedings by Parliament by claiming to have been party to the surrender of Beaumaris Castle
Beaumaris Castle ( ; cy, Castell Biwmares ), in Beaumaris, Anglesey, Wales, was built as part of Edward I's campaign to conquer north Wales after 1282. Plans were probably first made to construct the castle in 1284, but this was delayed d ...
to Roundhead forces. During the Second Civil War, he was detained by Parliament while he was sued by four merchants for goods seized for the Royalist war effort to damages of £1,730. He was last recorded an apparent debt prisoner at the Marshalsea
The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners, including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition, it became known, in ...
in 1653, when he petitioned for relief but he apparently died without the case being resolved.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Robert
Year of death missing
Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for constituencies in Wales
High Sheriffs of Caernarvonshire
Welsh landowners
English MPs 1625
English MPs 1626
English MPs 1628–1629
Year of birth uncertain
Members of Parliament for Caernarfon