Thomas Jones (1810 – 29 November 1875) was a Welsh librarian, academic, and antiquarian who was librarian of

Chetham's Library Chetham's Library in Manchester, England, is the oldest free public reference library in the English-speaking world.Nicholls (2004), p. 20. Chetham's Hospital, which contains both the library and Chetham's School of Music, was established in ...

in Manchester from 1845 to 1875.

Life

Jones, from

Margam Margam is a suburb and community (Wales), community of Port Talbot in the Wales, Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, close to junction 39 of the M4 motorway. The community had a population of 3,017 in 2011; the built up area being l ...

in south Wales, was born in 1810 and educated at

Cowbridge Cowbridge () is a market town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately west of the centre of Cardiff. The Cowbridge with Llanblethian community and civil parish elect a town council. A Cowbridge electoral ward exists for elections to ...

grammar school before attending

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship ...

, between 1827 and 1832. After obtaining his Bachelor of Arts degree, he turned to working with books (in preference to an earlier intention of becoming a priest). He catalogued the

Neath Neath (; ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,2 ...

library in 1842 and was appointed as the librarian of

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

in 1845. Whilst he was in post, the library more than doubled in size (from 19,000 to 40,000 volumes) with Jones obtaining some books through his personal influence. His catalogue of 1862–63 (2 volumes) continued the earlier catalogues of Radcliffe and of Greswell (from 1791 and 1821 respectively). He was described as "one who seemed designed by nature for the place and whose whole soul was in his work". Jones kept a diary for the year 1866 recording his daily duties, most days would begin with dusting and cataloguing the books, whilst in the afternoons he would tend to library readers. Jones was the Librarian when

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

and Freidrich Engles visited the Library to consult materials, writing to Marx in 1870 after a recent visit to Chetham’s Library, Engels commented that "during the last few days I have again spent a good deal of time sitting at the four-sided desk in the alcove where we sat together twenty-four years ago. I am very fond of the place. The stained-glass window ensures that the weather is always fine there. Old Jones, the Librarian, is still alive but he is old and no longer active". As well as the catalogues of the library's collections, he wrote a ''Catalogue of the collection of tracts for and against popery (published in and about the reign of James II) in the Manchester library founded by Humphrey Chetham'' (1859). He formed a close working relationship with Chetham's Society President James Crossely, who would become honorary Librarian of Chethams after Jones's death. Upon hearing of Jones's death on 29 September 1875, Crossley remarked, "I seem to have lost half of myself…I am too much affected to say more." During his life Jones was an active

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts, archaeological and historic si ...

and was elected as a Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

in 1866, and served on the council for the Chetham's Society, editing volumes 48 and 64. Upon his death he had yet to publish a forthcoming title for the Chetham's Society focusing on the life of

John Dee John Dee (13 July 1527 – 1608 or 1609) was an English mathematician, astronomer, teacher, astrologer, occultist, and alchemist. He was the court astronomer for, and advisor to, Elizabeth I, and spent much of his time on alchemy, divination, ...

, the unpublished manuscript was donated to Chetham's Library as part of the

Francis Robert Raines Francis Robert Raines (22 February 1805 – 17 October 1878) was the Anglican vicar of Milnrow, Lancashire, known as an antiquary. He edited 23 volumes for the Chetham Society publications. He also transcribed 44 volumes of manuscripts. E ...

bequest.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Thomas 1810 births 1875 deaths Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Welsh librarians