Sir John Prichard Jones is related to us in some way, although we still have to find the exact link; it is almost certain it is via the boys' gt gt grandmother Margaret Roberts, who was possibly Sir John's niece.
Sir John was the philanphropist chairman of the Dickens and Jones ladies' fashion store in Regent Street, London, known by that name from 1879 to 2006.
Sir John was one of seven children. He was born as John Jones on May 21, 1841, the son of farmer Richard Jones and Jane, nee Owen, at Tyn Coed, Newborough, a 25-acre smallholding.
He was apprenticed as a draper in Caernarvon and Bangor, then went to Dewsbury, Yorks, before settling in London.
He is believed to have started at Dickins Smith and Dickins, Regent Street, as a messenger boy, but was quickly promoted to buyer, manager then director. He became a partner in 1879, andthe firm changed its name to Dickins & Jones; it continued trading as such until 2006.
Under Sir John's guidance the firm hugely increased its sales and profitability, taking advantage of the new middle classes in the London suburbs. Sir John was also involved in other businesses and is said to have been prominent in movements for the promotion of workers welfare, supporting profit-sharing schemes for his employees
Although Sir John made his fortune in London, he always remembered his roots - he paid £20,000 to build the Institute in Newborough (it opened in 1905 and is now the village library), and also funded the Prichard Jones Hall in the University of Bangor. He was Sheriff of Anglesey in 1905, and a deputy lieutenant in 1910, when the photograph, right, was taken, possibly on the occasion of him becoming 1st baronet. He assumed the surname Prichard Jones by deed poll in 1917.
He was exceptionally fond of the boys' gt grandmother, Ann Williams. It is said that, after he built the Institute, he offered one of the almshouses to Ann if she would return to Newborough from Liverpool.
The Institute in Newborough is a wonderful building but is in need of work to save it. Sir John was forward-thinking enough to set up a trust fund; unfortunately it was linked to the rents from a building at 24 Aldgate in the City ofl London which was destroyed in the Blitz. Read more about the Institute, and see pictures of the interior.
You can also take a virtual tour of a room in the institute.
Sir John married twice. The first time was to Mary Coggan Coate of Somerset (Coate family history) at St. Mary's Abbot Parish Church, Kensington. They had no children and she died in 1901. He remarried in 1910, the daughter of a solictorin Kensington, and there was at least one son.
I have more information about Sir John; please contact me if you are researching him, although I hope to add more pictures to this website soon.
Sir John died in London in 1917 following an accident.
...her parents, Robert and Margaret.
Nain and Taid's gravestone in Newborough