JONES, Charles (c.1595-1640), of Lincoln’s Inn, Mdx., and Plas Du, Llanarmon, Caern.

Charles Jones’s father was a judge in king’s bench, and he himself was a barrister of some repute, becoming a bencher of Lincoln’s Inn in February 1636 and a reader in the Lent term of 1640.21L. Inn Black Bks. ii. 339, 353. His colleague, Bulstrode Whitelocke*, considered him ‘a great practiser’ at Westminster Hall.22Whitelocke, Diary, 71. Jones was also a figure of some importance within the City of London, holding the position of deputy recorder, under his brother-in-law, Sir Edward Littleton*, from 1632; serving on numerous local commissions, including those for oyer and terminer, throughout the 1630s; and making numerous donations towards to repair of St Paul’s Cathedral at the end of the decade.23CLRO, Rep. 46, ff. 268v-9; Letter Bk. LL., f. 225v; C181/4, ff. 128-188v; C181/5, ff. 2v-157v; GL, 25475/1, f. 108; 25475/2, ff. 1v, 4, 6. Jones did not neglect his family’s position in north Wales. He had served as MP for Beaumaris from 1624 until 1629, becoming its recorder in 1625, and in the early 1630s he purchased lands in Caenarvonshire from the City of London and Sir Thomas Myddelton†.24HP Commons 1604-1629; C219/39/253; NLW, Wynnstay RA 34.

In April 1640 Jones was again returned for Beaumaris in the elections for the Short Parliament. He was also elected for Monmouth Boroughs, but does not appear to have chosen between the two seats.25CSP Dom. 1640, p. 42; SP16/450/99; CJ ii. 15a; Aston’s Diary, 79. As a veteran MP, Jones was treated with some respect during the brief session. On 16 April 1640 he was appointed to the committee of privileges and was chosen as its chairman.26CJ ii. 4a, 17a; Procs. 1640, 245; HMC 11th Rep. vii. 98. As such he went on to report decisions on several disputed elections.27CJ ii. 4b, 7a, 14b; Procs. 1640, 144; Aston’s Diary, 77. On 18 April he was also named to the committee on violation of the privilege of the Commons on the last day of the previous Parliament.28CJ ii. 6b. In debate he stated that he had been present ‘at all proceedings in star chamber and king’s bench’, suggested a scrutiny of the court records on the subject, and ‘plainly declared’ the Speaker to be guilty of ‘the first breach’, by ‘offering to adjourn the Parliament without the House’s leave, which was against law’.29Aston’s Diary, 13, 15; Procs. 1640, 159-60. He spoke again on the subject on 20 April.30Aston’s Diary, 20.

Despite his connections with Littleton and the conservatives within the City, in the Short Parliament Jones generally sided with opponents of the crown. He was named to the Ship Money committee on 21 April.31CJ ii. 8b. The next day he urged a scrutiny of the commission to Convocation, before bringing the matter to a conference with the Lords, so that the House would know ‘what particulars to complain of’.32Procs. 1640, 168. Jones’s approach was, however, cautious. On the 23 April he suggested that the House follow the precedent of 1624 in meeting the king’s request for supply, this being ‘a moderate way’.33Procs. 1640, 173. Later on the same day he rebuked Sir Philip Mainwaring, secretary of the 1st earl of Strafford, for contrasting the Irish parliament’s readiness to supply the king with the reluctance of the English Parliament to do the same, arguing that, in view of the conquest of Ireland, ‘there was, is, and ever should be difference betwixt them’.34Aston’s Diary, 42. On 24 April he illustrated the difficulties in arguing legally for and against Ship Money, a subject he returned to on 30 April.35Aston’s Diary, 56, 107.

Jones was the reporter of conferences with the Lords ‘for righting our privileges’ on 25 and 27 April.36CJ ii. 12b, 14a. On the latter date he criticised the Lords, denying that there were good precedents for their ‘bidding us begin with subsidies or else to deny a conference’.37Procs. 1640, 179; Aston’s Diary, 70. On 30 April he was excused the chair of a committee on a bill for protecting the rights of minors because of his workload with the committee of privileges.38CJ ii. 17a. On 1 May, after speaking critically on the subject, he was named to the committee on abuses by church courts, and on 2 May he again acted as reporter of a conference with the Lords, this time about the Commons’ protest against their encroachments on financial questions, which he had supported.39CJ ii. 17b, 18a-b; Procs. 1640, 187; Aston’s Diary, 110. As tensions rose, Jones became increasingly concerned to reconcile Parliament and the king. On 2 May he argued that the true ‘danger of Scotland was the discontent at home’ that would result. Averting this was the king’s responsibility, and he urged MPs ‘to think of an answer to the king, saying that though we were trusted with the purses of the country, yet they were not to be used but upon occasion, and therefore the occasion of the war must be open or the Commons are not bound’.40Procs. 1640, 191-2; Aston’s Diary, 125. On 4 May he said he was ‘inclined to have subsidies without any relation to the Scottish business, only Ship Money first suppressed’; but he feared that declaring Ship Money illegal would be a step too far, and urged the House to ‘have no question put with which we must say no to the king’.41Procs. 1640, 196; Aston’s Diary, 133-4, 143; Russell Fall of British Monarchies, 121.

Jones died during the summer of 1640, and certainly before 3 September, when his replacement as deputy recorder was appointed.42CLRO, City Cash Accts. 1/2, f. 132. It is possible that a report of the death of ‘Serjeant Jones’ on 3 June was mistakenly of his; Serjeant William Jones did not die until 9 December.43HEHL, EL 7303; Baker, Serjeants, 521. There is no evidence to corroborate the claim that he died at Lichfield on his way to Westminster, having been ‘designed to have been Speaker of that unhappy Parliament’ by the king.44Lansd. 984, f. 190. Jones’s will, drafted in 1637, provided for a hospital for 12 poor old men at Pwllheli to commemorate his family’s rescue from a shipwreck there, and his own providential escape, as a small child, from a landslide from the path of which he was ‘miraculously by God’s own hand drawn and led’. Jones desired to be buried in St Paul’s Cathedral, to which he left 100 marks for windows in the quire.45PROB11/184/471.