Basil Jones
|
The Right Reverend Basil Jones |
|
|---|---|
| Bishop of St David's | |
 |
|
| Province | Wales |
| Diocese | St David's |
| Installed | 1874 |
| Term ended | 1897 |
| Predecessor | Connop Thirlwall |
| Successor | John Owen |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | William Basil Jones |
| Born |
2 January 1822 Cheltenham, Wales |
| Died | 14 January 1897 (aged 75) Abergwili, Wales |
| Nationality | British |
| Denomination | Church in Wales |
| Spouse |
Frances Charlotte (1856-1881) Ann Loxdale (1886-1897) |
| Children | 1 son, 2 daughters |
William Basil Jones (1 January 1822 - 14 January 1897) was a Welsh priest and scholar who became the Bishop of St David's in 1874, holding the post until his death in 1897.
Jones was born in 1822 in Cheltenham to William Tilsey Jones of Gwynfryn and his wife Jane. He was educated at Shrewsbury School, under the tutelage of Samuel Hall and Benjamin Hall Kennedy from 1834 to 1841, becoming head boy in his final year. In 1842 he matriculated to Trinity College, Oxford. He was placed in the second class in his final school of literae humaniores and in 1845 he graduated BA, receiving his MA in 1847. In 1848 Jones was elected to a Michel fellowship at Queen's College, but in 1851 he exchanged it for a fellowship at University College, Oxford, which he held until 1857. During his time as a fellow at University College he became assistant tutor and bursar, and from 1858 through to 1865 was a lecturer in modern history and the classics. He left Oxford in 1865.
During his time as a lecturer Jones married his first wife, Frances Charlotte Holworthy, second daughter of the Rev. Samuel Holworthy, vicar of Croxall. They were married on 10 September 1856 and remained together until Frances' death on 21 September 1881; the couple remaining childless. Jones remarried on 2 December 1896, to Anne Loxdale. Anne bore him a son and two daughters and survived her husband.
While at Oxford, Jones showed himself to have a keen interest in archaeological and architectural affairs. He is credited for the design of his parish church at Llangynfelyn. From 1848 through to 1851 he was one of the general secretaries of the Cambrian Archaeological Association, and then joint editor of its journal, Archaeologia Cambrensis, in 1854. Jones was also secretary of the Oxford Architectural Society, and was part of a literary and philosophical society at Trinity known as Hermes. The society included other notable Trinity students, George Bowen, William Gifford Palgrave and Edward Augustus Freeman, all of whom were friends of Jones. Of his friendships made at Oxford, the one that endured was that with William Thomson who was also a past student at Shrewsbury School at the same time as Jones. Jones had been ordained deacon in 1848, and a priest in 1853, but after Thomson was made Bishop of Gloucester in 1861 he made Jones his examining chaplain. When Thomson was elevated to the office of Archbishop of York the next year he ensured that Jones was always close as an advisor, ensuring he held important posts in the York diocese, and in 1865 was presented with the vicarage of Bishopthorpe, where the episcopal palace is situated. Jones was soon recognised as Thomson's 'right-hand man', and a series of favourable appointments followed, with Jones becoming the Archdeacon of York in 1867, the rural dean of Bishopthorpe in 1869 and the chancellor of York in 1871.
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