JONES, Edward (c.1659-96), of Buckland, Brec.

Jones, the son of a Cromwellian legal officer who had trimmed his sails at the Restoration, was a steadfast High Church Tory. Returned to the Parliament of 1685, where he was totally inactive, and appointed as mayor of Brecon under James II’s charter, he had been removed from local office in 1688 for refusing consent to the repeal of the Penal Laws and Test Act. In the Convention he voted in favour of agreeing with the Lords that the throne was not vacant, and his appearance on the resultant black list may well have cost him election in 1690. Regaining his seat in 1695, after a fierce contest in which he had been backed by Jeffrey Jeffreys*, he was forecast as likely to oppose the Court in the division of 31 Jan. 1696 on the projected council of trade. He refused the Association and in March was listed as voting against fixing the price of guineas at 22s. On 25 Nov. he voted against the attainder of Sir John Fenwick†. Apart from this, there is no evidence of significant parliamentary activity. He died in December 1696 and was buried at Llansantffread, Breconshire.3 Jones, i. 190; iii. 203–4; Brycheiniog, vi. 100, 102; HMC Lords, n.s. ii. 210.