Jones, Thomas ( - 1682-10-08)

Born in Oswestry, Shropshire the son of John Williams. He entered Jesus College, Oxford in 1641, leaving at the outbreak of Civil War and returning when the parliamentarian forces surrendered in 1646. He obtained a fellowship at University College, Oxford in 1649 and graduated BA in 1650 and MA in 1651. In 1654 he was certified to hold the rectory of Castle Caereinion, Montgomeryshire. He seems to have learned enough Welsh to preach. He was ejected after the Restoration in 1661. Following this he was appointed chaplain to Richard Vaughan at Ludlow, Shropshire and conformed to the established church. He accused George Morley, the Bishop of Winchester, of being responsible for Anne Hyde's conversion to Roman Catholicism, and was dismissed. On 11 November 1665 he became rector of Llandyrnog, Denbighshire but continued his quarrel with Morley and was fined for slander. To pay this £300 fine, he had his living sequestered and he became impoverished. During the Popish Plot he published many tracts defending the Church of England. His final years were difficult: he lost his sight and his mental health was very poor. He died on 8 October 1682 while at Totteridge, Hertfordshire.