Henry Jones (philosopher)

Jones was born in Llangernyw, now in Conwy County Borough, the son of a shoemaker. After working as an apprentice to his father, he studied at Bangor Normal College and became a teacher at Brynamman. Having decided to enter the Presbyterian ministry, he went to the University of Glasgow on a scholarship. After graduating, he obtained a fellowship, and went on to study at Oxford and in Germany. In 1882 he married Annie Walker, a Scotswoman, and later returned to live in Scotland.

Jones was appointed a lecturer at the University College, Aberystwyth, in 1882, before becoming a professor at the University College of North Wales, Bangor in 1884. In 1894, he became Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Glasgow, where he remained until 1922.[1]

A Liberal and a friend of David Lloyd George, he was instrumental in the passing of the Welsh Intermediate Education Act 1889, and worked for the establishment of the University of Wales and the introduction of a penny rate for education.

He was knighted in 1912 and was appointed Companion of Honour in 1922, shortly before his death.[2]

The Sir Henry Jones Memorial Prize (for moral philosophy), founded in 1934, is awarded annually in October.[3]

Jones married Annie Walker, a Scot, in 1882; they had two daughters and four sons. A son and daughter died in youth. All their three surviving children fought in the First World War, the youngest of whom, Lieutenant Arthur Meredydd Jones, MC*, was killed on active service in France. His two other sons, Captain James Walker Jones, DSO and Lieutenant Elias Henry Jones, ICS, both spent much of their career in Burma.

Jones supported philosophical idealism.[4][5] His philosophy has been described as "essentially Caird's version of Hegelian idealism".

• Browning as a Philosophical and Religious Teacher (1891)
• A Critical Account of the Philosophy of Lotze (1895)
• The Immortality of the Soul in the Poems of Tennyson and Browning the Essex Hall Lecture for 1905 (1907) also online as a PDF file from the Unitarians UK website
• Idealism as a Practical Creed (1909)
• The Working Faith of the Social Reformer: and other essays (1910)
• Social Powers: three popular lectures on the environment, the press and the pulpit (1913)
• The Principles of Citizenship (1919)
• The Life and Philosophy of Edward Caird joint author with J H Muirhead (1921)
• A Faith that Enquires Gifford Lectures (1922)
• Old Memories: An Autobiography edited by Thomas Jones (1923)
• Essays on Literature and Education edited by H J W Hetherington (undated but perhaps 1924).

See also The Life and Letters of Sir Henry Jones by H J W Hetherington (1925) - further information online as a PDF file from Cardiff University website

• Welsh Biography Online
• Works by Henry Jones at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Henry Jones at Internet Archive
• Henry Jones biographical notes and download available from the Gifford Lectures website
• Sir Henry Jones Museum
• Sir Henry Jones Papers at Glasgow University Archives
• Portrait of Sir Henry Jones in the Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Glasgow.