John Derek Jones (12 April 1927 – 9 March 2013) was an English Congregationalist

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

and politician in

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

. A member of the

Gaborone City Council The Gaborone City Council is the governing body of the city of Gaborone, Botswana. In terms of generated revenue, it is the wealthiest council in Botswana. It is composed of 30 councillors representing the wards of Gaborone. Structure The Town ...

, he served as the first Mayor of

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Botswana, largest city of Botswana, with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its metropolitan area is home to 534, ...

from 1966 to 1968.

Biography

Jones was born in 1927 in

Wallasey Wallasey () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. It is at the mouth of the River Mersey, on the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic county bou ...

, part of

the Wirral The Wirral Peninsula (), known locally as the Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide, and is bounded by the Dee Estuary to the west, the Mersey Estuary to the east, and Liverpool ...

in what was then part of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

in the north-west of England. His father was a shipping clerk and later a departmental manager in the

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

office of the Cunard White Star Line. His mother was a housewife. He did his primary and secondary schooling in Wallasey. His entire family was Methodist and he attended a Methodist Sunday school. He earned a master's degree at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, and then received his Diploma in Theology from Oxford's Mansfield College. He served in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

for two years. After being ordained, he moved to the

Bechuanaland Protectorate The Bechuanaland Protectorate () was a British protectorate, protectorate established on 31 March 1885 in Southern Africa by the United Kingdom. It became the Botswana, Republic of Botswana on 30 September 1966. History Scottish missionary ...

(now

) in 1954 as a missionary of the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed tradition, Reformed in outlook, with ...

. He later served as the Secretary of the

United Congregational Church of Southern Africa The United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA) is a prominent Christian denomination established in 1967, following the unification of various congregational movements within Southern Africa. Its origins can be traced back to the miss ...

. When Gaborone was built as the independent Botswana's new capital in the 1960s, it needed a government.

Vice-President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

Quett Masire Ketumile Quett Joni Masire, GCMG (23 July 1925 – 22 June 2017), was the second and longest-serving president of Botswana, in office from 1980 to 1998. He was given an honorary knighthood of the Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint Geor ...

urged him to run for city council as a

Botswana Democratic Party The Botswana Democratic Party (Abbreviation, abbr. BDP, colloquially known as Domkrag) is a centre-right politics, centre-right political party in Botswana. From the country's 1965 Bechuanaland general election, inaugural election in 1965 until th ...

candidate, but Jones did not believe that would be appropriate for a clergyman. Instead, he agreed to run as an independent and was elected unopposed in the South Ring constituency. Soon after, he was chosen as the city's first mayor in 1966. In 1968, he remained on the city council but stepped down as mayor, and was succeeded by Grace Dambe. He served his full term on the city council, but chose not to run for reelection in 1969. Soon after, he was awarded the

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

. From 1972 to 1993, he managed the Botswana Book Centre. In 1982, the Botswana Book Centre left the ELDT and a Botswana-based trust was formed to hold the business. Jones continued as manager until retirement in 1993, after which he was still involved with some of the publishing. For some time he continued to serve as editor of the Botswana Society, producing its journal ''Botswana Notes and Records''. His wife (since 1954), Joan Ann ( Talbert), originally Catholic, was awarded the MBE in 2000 for service to her community. She died in September 2002, aged 80. John Derek Jones returned to England, where he died on 9 March 2013, aged 86.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Derek 1927 births 20th-century Congregationalist ministers 21st-century Congregationalists Alumni of Mansfield College, Oxford Bechuanaland Protectorate people British emigrants to Botswana Botswana people of English descent Botswana city councillors Congregationalist missionaries in Africa English Congregationalist ministers English Congregationalist missionaries Naturalized citizens of Botswana People from Gaborone Protestant missionaries in Botswana Botswana Congregationalist ministers 2013 deaths White Botswana people Mayors of places in Botswana Officers_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire

Biography

See also

References