John Jones (Unitarian)
Encyclopedia
John Jones LL.D. was a Welsh Unitarian minister, critic, tutor and lexicographer.
, in the parish of Llandingat, Carmarthenshire
. His father was a farmer. In 1780, at age 14 or 15,’ he started study at the ‘college of the church of Christ,’ Brecon
, under William Griffiths, and remained there till 1783, when his father's death called him home. Soon after the establishment in 1786 of the New College, Hackney near London, he was admitted as a divinity student on the recommendation of his relative, David Jones, who was already a student there. He was a favourite pupil of Gilbert Wakefield
, classical tutor.
In 1792 he succeeded David Peter as assistant-tutor in the Welsh presbyterian college, then in Swansea
, Glamorganshire. With William Howell, the principal tutor, an old-fashioned Arian
, Jones, who was of the Priestley
and combative, had serious differences. In 1795 the presbyterian board removed both tutors, and transferred the college to Carmarthen
. Jones then in 1795 succeeded John Kentish
as minister of the presbyterian congregation at Plymouth
, Devon
, where he remained till 1798. He then established a school at Halifax, Yorkshire. From 29 March 1802 to 1804 he was minister of Northgate End Chapel, Halifax, carrying on a school at the same time.
In 1804 he settled in London as a tutor in classics, where his pupils included the sons of Sir Samuel Romilly. He after a time abandoned preaching altogether. He was a member (before 1814) of the Philological Society of Manchester; received (1818) the degree of LL.D. from Aberdeen University; was elected (1821) a trustee of Dr. Daniel Williams
's foundations, and (about 1825) a member of the Royal Society of Literature
.
He died at Great Coram Street on 10 January 1827, and was interred in the burying-ground of St. George's, Bloomsbury, where his gravestone bore a Latin inscription.
. He discarded accents. Instances of alleged theological bias in his interpretations were sharply commented on in the second number of the Westminster Review
(April 1824) by John Walker
the separatist; Jones fiercely defended himself. He defended the integrity of the passages in Josephus
referring to Christ, and maintained that both Josephus and Philo
were Christians. The initial chapters of St. Matthew and St. Luke he rejected as interpolations, but held the Comma Johanneum
to be authentic, and to have been excised at an early date because it taught Unitarian doctrine.
He published:
Posthumous was: ‘The Book of the Prophet Isaiah translated,’ &c., 1830. He edited an edition of John Entick
's Latin Dictionary, 1824, and contributed largely to periodicals, especially the Monthly Repository
.
, who had been his tutor at Hackney. His first wife died without issue in 1815, and Jones married secondly, in 1817, Anna, only daughter of George Dyer of Sawbridgeworth
, Hertfordshire
, who, with two children, survived him. His literary executor
was his nephew, James Chervet of Croydon.
Life
He was born about 1766 near LlandoveryLlandovery
Llandovery is a market town in Carmarthenshire, Wales, lying on the River Tywi and the A40 road.The town is served by Llandovery railway station, where there is a park and ride to Llanelli and Shrewsbury via the Heart of Wales Line...
, in the parish of Llandingat, Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. It is the 3rd largest in Wales. Its three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford...
. His father was a farmer. In 1780, at age 14 or 15,’ he started study at the ‘college of the church of Christ,’ Brecon
Brecon
Brecon is a long-established market town and community in southern Powys, Mid Wales, with a population of 7,901. It was the county town of the historic county of Brecknockshire; although its role as such was eclipsed with the formation of Powys, it remains an important local centre...
, under William Griffiths, and remained there till 1783, when his father's death called him home. Soon after the establishment in 1786 of the New College, Hackney near London, he was admitted as a divinity student on the recommendation of his relative, David Jones, who was already a student there. He was a favourite pupil of Gilbert Wakefield
Gilbert Wakefield
Gilbert Wakefield was an English scholar and controversialist.Gilbert Wakefield was the third son of the Rev. George Wakefield, then rector of St Nicholas' Church, Nottingham but afterwards at Kingston-upon-Thames. He was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. as second...
, classical tutor.
In 1792 he succeeded David Peter as assistant-tutor in the Welsh presbyterian college, then in Swansea
Swansea
Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
, Glamorganshire. With William Howell, the principal tutor, an old-fashioned Arian
Arian
Arian may refer to:* Arius, a Christian presbyter in the 3rd and 4th century* a given name in different cultures: Aria, Aryan or Arian...
, Jones, who was of the Priestley
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley, FRS was an 18th-century English theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works...
and combative, had serious differences. In 1795 the presbyterian board removed both tutors, and transferred the college to Carmarthen
Carmarthen
Carmarthen is a community in, and the county town of, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is sited on the River Towy north of its mouth at Carmarthen Bay. In 2001, the population was 14,648....
. Jones then in 1795 succeeded John Kentish
John Kentish
John William Kentish was an English operatic tenor born in Blackheath, Kent on 21 January 1910 and died in Chipping Norton, oxfordshire on 26 October 2006. Elder brother of the painter David Kentish-External links:*...
as minister of the presbyterian congregation at Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
, where he remained till 1798. He then established a school at Halifax, Yorkshire. From 29 March 1802 to 1804 he was minister of Northgate End Chapel, Halifax, carrying on a school at the same time.
In 1804 he settled in London as a tutor in classics, where his pupils included the sons of Sir Samuel Romilly. He after a time abandoned preaching altogether. He was a member (before 1814) of the Philological Society of Manchester; received (1818) the degree of LL.D. from Aberdeen University; was elected (1821) a trustee of Dr. Daniel Williams
Daniel Williams
Sir Daniel Charles Williams, GCMG was a Governor-General of Grenada, from August 8, 1996 until November 18, 2008. He was formally appointed by Queen Elizabeth II on August 9, 1996 after having been nominated by Prime Minister Keith Mitchell.In 1997, he was Knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth...
's foundations, and (about 1825) a member of the Royal Society of Literature
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
.
He died at Great Coram Street on 10 January 1827, and was interred in the burying-ground of St. George's, Bloomsbury, where his gravestone bore a Latin inscription.
Works
As a Greek-English lexicographer Jones did work which earned the commendation of Samuel ParrSamuel Parr
Samuel Parr , was an English schoolmaster, writer, minister and Doctor of Law. He was known in his time for political writing, and as "the Whig Johnson", though his reputation has lasted less well that Samuel Johnson's, and the resemblances were at a superficial level, Parr being no prose stylist,...
. He discarded accents. Instances of alleged theological bias in his interpretations were sharply commented on in the second number of the Westminster Review
Westminster Review
The Westminster Review was a quarterly British publication. Established in 1823 as the official organ of the Philosophical Radicals, it was published from 1824 to 1914. James Mill was one of the driving forces behind the liberal journal until 1828....
(April 1824) by John Walker
John Walker
-Politicians:* John Walker , U.S. Senator, public official, and soldier* John Walker , State Treasurer of Missouri...
the separatist; Jones fiercely defended himself. He defended the integrity of the passages in Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
referring to Christ, and maintained that both Josephus and Philo
Philo
Philo , known also as Philo of Alexandria , Philo Judaeus, Philo Judaeus of Alexandria, Yedidia, "Philon", and Philo the Jew, was a Hellenistic Jewish Biblical philosopher born in Alexandria....
were Christians. The initial chapters of St. Matthew and St. Luke he rejected as interpolations, but held the Comma Johanneum
Comma Johanneum
The Comma Johanneum is a comma in the First Epistle of John according to the Latin Vulgate text as transmitted since the Early Middle Ages, based on Vetus Latina minority readings dating to the 7th century...
to be authentic, and to have been excised at an early date because it taught Unitarian doctrine.
He published:
- ‘A Developement of … Events, calculated to restore the Christian Religion to its … Purity,’ &c., Leeds, 1800, 2 vols.
- ‘The Epistle … to the Romans analysed,’ &c., Halifax, 1801.
- ‘Illustrations of the Four Gospels,’ &c., 1808.
- ‘A Grammar of the Greek Tongue,’ &c., 1808; 4th edit., with title, ‘Etymologia Græca,’ 1826.
- ‘A Grammar of the Latin Tongue,’ &c., 1810; reprinted 1813, 1816.
- ‘A Latin and English Vocabulary,’ 1812; enlarged, with title, ‘Analogiæ Latinæ,’ 1825.
- ‘Ecclesiastical Researches, or Philo and Josephus proved to be … Apologists of Christ,’ &c., 1812. And its ‘Sequel’, 1813.
- ‘A New Version of the first three Chapters of Genesis,’ &c., 1819, (under the pseudonym of Essenus).
- ‘A Series of … Facts, demonstrating the Truth of the Christian Religion,’ &c., 1820. And ‘An Answer to a Pseudocriticism’ of this work, 1824.
- ‘A Greek and English Lexicon,’ &c., 1823.
- ‘A Reply to … “A New Trial of the Witnesses,” &c., and … “Not Paul but Jesus,”’ &c., 1824, (under the pseudonym of Ben David).
- ‘The Principles of Lexicography,’ &c., 1824.
- ‘Three Letters, in which is demonstrated the Genuineness of … 1 John v. 7,’ &c., 1825, (under the pseudonym of Ben David).
- ‘The Tyro's Greek and English Lexicon,’ &c.; 2nd edit. 1825.
- ‘An Exposure of the Hamiltonian System of Teaching,’ &c., 1826.
- ‘An Explanation of the Greek Article,’ &c., 1827. (against Middleton).
Posthumous was: ‘The Book of the Prophet Isaiah translated,’ &c., 1830. He edited an edition of John Entick
John Entick
John Entick was an English schoolmaster and author. He was largely a hack writer, working for Edward Dilly, and he padded his credentials with a bogus M.A. and a portrait in clerical dress; some of his works had a more lasting value...
's Latin Dictionary, 1824, and contributed largely to periodicals, especially the Monthly Repository
Monthly Repository
The Monthly Repository was a British monthly Unitarian periodical which ran between 1806 and 1838.The Monthly Repository was established when Robert Aspland bought William Vidler's Universal Theological Magazine and changed the name to the Monthly Repository of Theology and General Literature...
.
Family
He married first, soon after 1804, the only daughter of Abraham ReesAbraham Rees
Abraham Rees was a Welsh nonconformist minister, and compiler of Rees's Cyclopaedia .- Life :He was the second son of Lewis Rees, by his wife Esther, daughter of Abraham Penry, and was born at born in Llanbrynmair, Montgomeryshire. Lewis Rees Abraham Rees (1743 – 9 June 1825) was a Welsh...
, who had been his tutor at Hackney. His first wife died without issue in 1815, and Jones married secondly, in 1817, Anna, only daughter of George Dyer of Sawbridgeworth
Sawbridgeworth
Sawbridgeworth is a small, mainly residential, town and also a civil parish in Hertfordshire, England.- Location :Sawbridgeworth is four miles south of Bishop's Stortford, twelve miles east of Hertford and nine miles north of Epping. It lies on the A1184 and has a railway station that links to...
, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
, who, with two children, survived him. His literary executor
Literary executor
A literary executor is a person with decision-making power in respect of a literary estate. According to Wills, Administration and Taxation: a practical guide "A will may appoint different executors to deal with different parts of the estate...
was his nephew, James Chervet of Croydon.