Life

He was son of Richard Jones, of Stowey

Stowey

Stowey is a small village within the Chew Valley in Somerset, England. It lies south of Chew Valley Lake and north of the Mendip Hills, approximately south of Bristol on the A368 road Weston-super-Mare to Bath...

, Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

, M.P. for Somerset in 1654, and entered Gray's Inn

Gray's Inn

The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

 on 6 May 1647. He was called to the bar, and acquired a practice in the court of king's bench. George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham

George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham

George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, 20th Baron de Ros of Helmsley, KG, PC, FRS was an English statesman and poet.- Upbringing and education :...

 befriended him, and he was knighted and made a king's counsel in 1671.

He was solicitor-general

Solicitor General for England and Wales

Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law...

 from 11 November 1673 till 25 June 1675, when he was appointed attorney-general

Attorney General for England and Wales

Her Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales, usually known simply as the Attorney General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown. Along with the subordinate Solicitor General for England and Wales, the Attorney General serves as the chief legal adviser of the Crown and its government in...

. He directed the prosecution of the victims of Titus Oates's plot in 1678, but he resigned the attorney-generalship in November 1679. He was returned to the House of Commons as member for Plymouth

Plymouth (UK Parliament constituency)

Plymouth was a parliamentary borough in Devon, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons in 1298 and again from 1442 until 1918, when the borough was merged with the neighbouring Devonport and the combined area divided into three single-member constituencies.-In the...

 at a bye-election on 3 November 1680. He was a manager for the commons at Stafford's trial (30 November), and was heavily involved in the passage of the Exclusion Bill

Exclusion Bill

The Exclusion Crisis ran from 1678 through 1681 in the reign of Charles II of England. The Exclusion Bill sought to exclude the king's brother and heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, from the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland because he was Roman Catholic...

 through the commons.

He was satirised by the court wits, and John Dryden

John Dryden

John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.Walter Scott called him "Glorious John." He was made Poet...

 introduced him as 'Bull-faced Jonas' into Absalom and Achitophel

Absalom and Achitophel

Absalom and Achitophel is a landmark poetic political satire by John Dryden. The poem exists in two parts. The first part, of 1681, is undoubtedly by Dryden...

(1681). He was re-elected for Plymouth to the abortive parliament summoned to Oxford in March 1681. The king's declaration of 8 April 1681, justifying his dissolution of parliament, was answered by Jones in Just and Modest Vindication of the Proceedings of the last two parliameuts (London, 1681, anon.); this tract was reissued in 1689 as The Design of Enslaving England Discovered. After its publication Jones appeared little in public life, owing, it was reported, to dislike of Shaftesbury. He was on intimate terms with Lord William Russell. He died on 2 May 1682.