Sir John Prichard-Jones, 1st Baronet (1845-1917) was born at Tyn-y-Coed, a small farm at Newborough, Anglesey[1]. When he was fourteen he was apprenticed to a draper in Caernarfon and afterwards moved to Pwllheli, then Bangor and eventually, when he was nineteen, to London.
In 1872 he entered the firm of Dickins, Smith & Stevens in Regent Street. Here he was successively promoted, to buyer, manager, director, chairman of the board and finally to partner, when the name of the store was changed to Dickins & Jones.
He was involved in the management of other businesses and was prominent in movements for the promotion of workers welfare and supported profit-sharing schemes for his employees.
He maintained lifelong links with his native area where he had a home and was a generous benefactor of the University of Wales, Bangor which awarded him an honorary doctorate. He was made High Sheriff for 1905 [2] , Deputy Lieutenant of Anglesey and created a Baronet in 1910 for his services to education and the community. He died at his London home, the result of an accident.
The Prichard Jones Institute, opened in 1905[1]at Newborough, Anglesey, may be described as a community centre for the people of Newborough. It consisted of a library, facilities for exhibitions, meetings and lectures. Also on the site were cottages which were made available to local elderly people, subject to certain criteria, who would also be paid a pension from a fund established by Sir John Prichard-Jones. The fund was financed through monies gained from a property in London, but unfortunately the property was destroyed through bombing during World War II. Without this fund the building has fallen into disrepair and requires renovation.[3]
In 2006 the Pritchard Jones Institute was one of the buildings nominated for the BBC television show Restoration.