Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jones, John (1772-1837)
JONES, JOHN (1772–1837), Welsh historian, was born 17 Aug. 1772, at Derwydd, in the parish of Llandybie, in Carmarthenshire. After obtaining a scanty classical education, he was employed as a schoolmaster near London, and while thus engaged at Wimbledon is said to have had Sir Robert Peel among his pupils. Subsequently he pursued his studies on the continent, and obtained, among other distinctions, the degree of LL.D. at the university of Jena. On his return to England he studied law, and on being called to the bar went the Oxford and South Wales circuits, but obtained little or no practice. He died in straitened circumstances at St. James's Street, Islington, 28 Sept. 1837.
Jones was a good Greek scholar, and was deeply read in the manuscript records of this and other countries, but his strong prejudices often perverted his judgment as an historian, and the influence exerted on him by German rationalism prevented him in his ‘History of Wales’ from understanding the religious revival in Wales in the eighteenth century. He published the following: 1. ‘A Translation from the Danish of Dr. Bugge's Travels in the French Republic,’ London, 1801, 8vo. 2. ‘De Libellis Famosis; or the Law of Libel,’ 1812, 8vo. 3. ‘Y Cyfammod Newydd, yn cynwys cyfieithiad cyffredinol y pedair Efengyl, gwedi ei ddiwygiaid yn ol y Groeg,’ 1812, 12mo, an original translation by Jones of the four gospels, sometimes erroneously attributed to the Rev. John Jones (1766?–1827) [q. v.] 4. ‘History of Wales,’ with a portrait of the author, London, 1824, 8vo. Of this a revised copy was found among his papers after his death. He also left in manuscript a work entitled ‘The Worthies of Wales, or Memoirs of Eminent Ancient Britons and Welshmen, from Cassivelaunus to the present time’ (see Preface to the History of Wales). A letter by him on Madog [q. v.], the alleged Welsh discoverer of America, appeared in the ‘Monthly Magazine’ for 1819.
[Gent. Mag. 1837, pt. ii. p. 323; Williams's Eminent Welshmen, p. 559; Jeremy's Presbyterian Fund.]