Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jones, Robert (1810-1879)
JONES, ROBERT (1810–1879), writer on Welsh literature, eldest son of Robert Jones, was born at Llanfyllin in Montgomeryshire on 6 Jan. 1810, and was educated at Oswestry school and at Jesus College, Oxford, where he matriculated in 1833 and graduated B.A. in 1837 (Foster, Alumni Oxon). After holding curacies at Connah's Quay and Barmouth, he was appointed in 1841 vicar of All Saints', Rotherhithe, and held the living until his death on 28 March 1879.
While still at Barmouth, Jones published a small hymn-book containing a selection of the best Welsh hymns, some of his own, and others by members of his family (Byegones, 2 April 1879); and he was a frequent contributor to the periodical literature of the day. On the revival of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, he was appointed in 1876 the first editor of ‘Y Cymmrodor,’ being the transactions of the society, and was the author of ‘The History of the Cymmrodorion.’ In 1864 he published a reprint of the first edition of ‘Flores Poetarum Brittanicorum: sef Blodeuog Waith y Prydyddion Brytanaidd,’ by Dr. John Davies of Mallwyd, and he also edited for the Cymmrodorion Society, but at his own expense, a facsimile reproduction of the original black-letter edition (1547) of William Salesbury's ‘Welsh-English Dictionary,’ London, 1876. The earlier volumes of the ‘Powysland Club Transactions’ contain several articles from his pen, the most important of which, perhaps, is a series on ‘The Minor Poets of Wales.’ His chief production is the ‘Poetical Works of the Rev. Goronwy Owen (Goronwy Ddu o Fon), with his Life and Correspondence … with Notes critical and explanatory,’ 2 vols., London, 1876, 8vo. Jones also commenced editing the ‘Poems’ of Iolo Goch [q. v.], but left the work unfinished, a portion only of the historical poems being published, with his annotations as supplements to ‘Y Cymmrodor,’ vols. i. ii. He was at one time Welsh tutor to Prince Lucien Bonaparte; his collection of Welsh printed books was one of the finest in the kingdom, and after his death it was purchased for the Swansea free library, where it is still preserved in its entirety.
[Montgomeryshire Collections, xiii. 97; Y Cymmrodor, iii. 126; Byegones relating to Wales for 2 April 1879; Minute Book of the Cymmrodorion Soc.; Athenæum, 5 April 1879, p. 438.]