JONES, WILLIAM BASIL (TICKELL) (1822 - 1897) bishop

Name: William Basil (Tickell) Jones
Date of birth: 1822
Date of death: 1897
Spouse: Anne Jones (née Loxdale)
Spouse: Frances Charlotte Jones (née Holworthy)
Parent: Jane Jones (née Tickell)
Parent: William Tilsley Jones
Gender: Male
Occupation: bishop
Area of activity: Religion
Author: Thomas Iorwerth Ellis

Son of William Tilsley Jones of Gwynfryn, Llangynfelyn, Cardiganshire, and Jane his wife. Born at Cheltenham, 2 January 1822, he was educated at Shrewsbury and Trinity College, Oxford, where he was scholar in 1842-5, and was placed in the second class in Lit. Hum. in 1844. He took his B.A. in 1844 and M.A. in 1847, was a Fellow successively of Queen's and University Colleges, and took a prominent part in the academic life of the University.

Ordained deacon in 1848 and priest in 1853, he followed his friend (archbishop William Thomson) to the diocese of York in 1865, and held various ecclesiastical appointments there. After seven years (1867-74) as archdeacon of York, he was appointed bishop of S. David's in 1874, and held the see till his death at Abergwili on 14 January 1897. He married (1), 10 September 1856, Frances Charlotte Holworthy, who died without issue 21 September 1881, and (2), 6 December 1886, Anne Loxdale, of Aigburth, near Liverpool, who, with a son and two daughters, survived him. He is buried in the family vault at Llangynfelyn.

As bishop of S. Davids he continued and developed the work of his two predecessors, Thomas Burgess and Connop Thirlwall. He raised the standard of spiritual, pastoral, and educational work in the diocese, and effected a considerable reorganization of the diocesan machinery. He was able to speak Welsh, though not fluently, but he had little regard for the separate nationhood of Wales. His scholarship was displayed by such works as The Vestiges of the Gael in Gwynedd, 1851; The History and Antiquities of S. David's (with E. A. Freeman), 1852-7; editions of Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus, 1862, 1866; and various addresses and sermons.

Author

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/

The Dictionary of Welsh Biography is provided by The National Library of Wales and the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. It is free to use and does not receive grant support. A donation would help us maintain and improve the site so that we can continue to acknowledge Welsh men and women who have made notable contributions to life in Wales and beyond.

Find out more on our sponsorship page.