Thomas Jones (ca. 1550 – April 10, 1619) was Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. He was also Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral and Bishop of Meath and the patrilineal ancestor of the Viscounts Ranelagh.
Jones was a native of Lancashire and the son of Henry Jones, Esq. of Middleton. His brother, Sir Roger Jones, Alderman of London, was knighted at Whitehall. Thomas acquired a Master of Arts from Christ's College, Cambridge in 1573,[1] after which he relocated to Ireland. He married a widow, Margaret Purdon, who was also a sister-in-law of Archbishop Adam Loftus. The relationship to Loftus proved beneficial to Jones.[2] He was named Chancellor of St. Patrick's Cathedral and was elected Dean in 1581. While dean, Jones granted questionable leases of church property including a particular 161-year lease which caused later St. Patrick's Dean, Jonathan Swift, to scold Jones:
A lease of Colemine made by that rascal Dean Jones, and the knaves or fools of his Chapter, to one John Allen, for eighty-one years, to commence at the expiration of a lease for eighty-one years, made in 1585; so that there was a lease for 161 years of 253 acres (1.0 km2), within three miles (5 km) of Dublin, for 2l. per annum, now worth, 150l.—Jonathan Swift [2]
When Archbishop of Armagh Thomas Lancaster died in 1584, Lord Chancellor of Ireland (and former Archbishop of Armagh) Loftus recommended Jones as a replacement despite his unorthodox leases. John Long was chosen for the position instead but, on May 10, 1584, at the written urging of Queen Elizabeth, Jones was named Bishop of Meath.[2][3] He was immediately called to the privy council of Ireland by the government of lord deputy John Perrot, a position he held for 20 years.[2][3] In April 1605, Adam Loftus died and King James I emphatically chose Jones to be Archbishop of Dublin, commencing the following November. He was also named prebendary of both Castleknock parish of St. Patrick's and the rectory of Trim in the Diocese of Meath:
Whereas, since the death of the late Archbishop, we have given an order for the supply of that See, because of same being a place so eminent within that kingdom; we took time to advise of a meet person for it; we have since upon conference with divers of our Council, found none more fit for the present time than the Bishop of Meath, in regard of his long experience in that kingdom, both in the ecclesiastical state as Bishop, and in the civil affairs as a Chancellor, wherefore we have made choice of him, and we are further pleased that he shall hold in commendam a prebend, which now he hath in possession, which he will nominate unto you.—King James I of England [3]
In 1605, Jones was appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland, a position he held for the duration of his life. He was staunchly anti-Catholic during the era of King James's Plantation of Ulster.[3][4] In 1611, he was part of a Protestant Council in Dublin "to prevent sectarianism and extirpate Popery." He attended the opening of the Parliament of Ireland in 1612, giving an important speech. During this period, he had eight Roman Catholics excommunicated and imprisoned for recusancy and then had them reimprisoned after Parliament released them soon afterwards.[3] Jones was a lord justice in 1613, received an honorary D.D. degree from the University of Dublin in 1614, and again served as lord justice in 1615. He and his son, Roger Jones, 1st Viscount Ranelagh, took part in several disputes with Lord Howth, the most serious of which involved an affray in Thomas St. in Dublin in 1609 in which a man was killed. During his time as Lord Chancellor, Jones saw that the cathedral of Christ Church underwent extensive repairs. He grew ill very suddenly and died at his St. Sepulchre's palace in Dublin in 1619. He was buried in St. Patrick's Cathedral beside his wife who had died four months earlier. Viscount Ranelagh, his only surviving son, had a monument and statue created with inscriptions for Thomas and his wife[3]:
Thomas Jones, Archiepiscopus Dublin. Primas et Metropolitanus Hiberniæ, Esujdem Cancellarius, necnon bis e Justitiariis unus. Obiit Decimo Aprilis, anno reperatæ salutis humanæ 1619.—Epitaph for Thomas Jones in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin [3]
The monument was restored in 1731 at the request of St. Patrick's dean, Jonathan Swift.[3]