biography text
Jones’s great-grandfather was steward of Shrewsbury; his great-uncle William was M.P. Shrewsbury 1659, and his grandfather, Sir Thomas Jones, chief justice of the common pleas 1683-6, was town clerk of the borough and M.P. Shrewsbury 1660-79. He contested Shrewsbury unsuccessfully as a Whig in 1702; was returned for it at a by-election in 1710, but lost his seat at the general election; was returned again in 1713 but was unseated on petition, and was re-elected in 1715. He died 31 July 1715, aged 48, soon after the opening of Parliament.2Owen & Blakeway, Hist. Shrewsbury, ii. 293.