Jones, Robert
1706-1742

A fellow student of Charles Wesley's at Christ Church, Oxford, he was born at Fonmon Castle, Glam, the family home. He became a local magistrate and was Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1729. Greatly impressed by the preaching of Howell Harris, he set up the dining-room at the Castle as a chapel with a pulpit for use by Methodist preachers, including the Wesleys. He and his wife Mary (née Forrest, of Minehead, d.1788) became Methodists in 1741 and after his sudden death his widow continued to entertain the preachers at Ffontygari Farm and gave herself to various charitable works. There is a painting of the Jones family by William Hogarth (1730) in the Cardiffcity art gallery.

Sources
  • E.A.Morgan in Bathafarn 9 (1954) pp.38-41
  • Griffith T. Roberts, in in WHS Proceedings, 26 pp.56-59, 80-83
  • Dictionary of Welsh Biography

Entry written by: WL
Category: Person
Comment on this entry