JONES, Richard Robert.
Woodcut portrait by William Clements of the eccentric linguist Richard
Roberts Jones, a young man with curly shoulder-length hair and thick
beard and mustache; whole length,
standing to right, looking down to read a book held with both hands, a
French horn around is neck; wearing ill-fitting cloak, jacket, waistcoat
and trousers; hat lying on the ground at right. Lettered below image
with facsimile of sitter's autograph as the
title and printmaker's name 'W. Clements'. Toning and light foxing to
the paper.
220mm x 140mm. c.1835.
~ Richard Robert Jones (1780-1843) left home to escape beatings from an
exasperated father, a carpenter who owned a small cargo boat and
shuttled between Wales and Liverpool, but any hopes he may have had of
passing on the business to his son were lost in the
strange tidal forces of his son’s unusual mind. He spent much of his
life in transit, learning different languages. He had a thick beard, a
shapeless hat, often wore an old Dragoon’s jacket and travelled the
country with his books and a succession of stray
cats, wandering from country house to parsonage looking for support and
arguing with inn keepers who were foolish enough to give him lodgings.
He always carried with him a large number of books which he decorated
with prints of cats cut from old ballad sheets.
Sometimes he had to sell books to buy food but he would always try to
buy them back with any money he received. In December 1843 he died as
penniless and alone as he had lived, and was buried in St Asaph Parish
Churchyard.