JONES, GRIFFITH HARTWELL (1859 - 1944), cleric and historian

Name: Griffith Hartwell Jones
Date of birth: 1859
Date of death: 1944
Parent: Edward Jones
Gender: Male
Occupation: cleric and historian
Area of activity: History and Culture; Literature and Writing; Religion
Author: Edward Morgan Humphreys

Born 16 April 1859, son of the Rev. Edward Jones (1826 - 1892), vicar of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant. David Jones ('Dewi Fardd'), Trefriw was one of his ancestors and John Jones (1786 - 1865), printer of Gwyndod Wryf Press, Llanrwst, was his grandfather. He was educated at Shrewsbury School and Jesus College, Oxford. He was D.D. and D.Litt. of Oxford. From 1888 to 1893 he was Professor of Latin at the University College of S. Wales and Monmouthshire, and during that period he took Orders. In 1893 he was appointed to the Jesus College living of Nutfield, in Surrey, which he held until his retirement in 1940. He died in London, 27 May 1944. He was unmarried. Hartwell Jones was the author of several historical works, including The Dawn of European Civilization (1903); Celtic Britain and the Pilgrim Movement (1912); and Early Celtic Missionaries (1928). Although he had lived most of his life in England he maintained a close relationship with Wales; for 20 years he was Chairman of the Council of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion - he was given the Society's medal in 1919 'in recognition of distinguished service to Wales'; he had been chairman of the National Eisteddfod Association, and a member of the Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire. He was disappointed not to have received preferment in the Church in Wales, where he thought he could have served Wales better; at one time it was thought he would have been appointed to a Welsh bishopric. His autobiography, A Celt Looks at the World, was posthumously published in 1946, and in that book he speaks frankly of his attitude towards personalities in the Welsh Church.

In his academic work the distinction he recalled with the greatest pride and pleasure' was his appointment as an examiner for the Chancellor's classical prizes and the Newdigate prize for English verse.

Author

Published date: 2001

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