Born Ludlow. Served in the army in the First Boer War as a veterinary captain. As a sculptor he specialised in animal figures. See Speel for more of his work. Our Picture Source and his Wikipedia page give much information about this man.
Alfred Adrian Jones was born on 9 February 1845 in Ludlow, Shropshire, the fifth of the seven children of James Brookholding Jones (1815-1888) and Jane Jones née Marshall (1816-1850). He was baptised on 12 February 1845 in Ludlow and his father was a veterinary surgeon.
In the 1861 census he was shown as a scholar living in Broad Street, Ludlow, with his widowed father, three siblings: Emily Jane Jones (b.1841) Fanny Rebecca Jones (1847-1923) and Tom Birch Jones (1848-1865), together with both a male and a female domestic servant.
On 23 July 1870 he married Emma Elizabeth Beckingham (1848-1887) in Ross, Herefordshire, When the 1871 census was undertaken he was described as a veterinary surgeon/hotel keeper at the Swan Hotel, High Street, Ross, Herefordshire, with his wife, two sisters-in-law: Elizabeth Beckingham and Ellen M. Beckingham, the latter being a barmaid. He also employed four female servants: a cook, a waitress, another barmaid and a chambermaid together with a male boots and billiard marker servant. Just two visitors were shown as staying at the hotel on the census return.
He does not appear in the 1881 census return as he was serving abroad in the army, but his wife and son, Adrian Brookholding Jones (1878-1958), were shown as visitors at the home of Thomas and Elizabeth Donne, Belvedere Lodge, Bounds Green, Tottenham. Their son had been born on 10 October 1878 in Dublin Barracks, Ireland.
The 1891 census describes him a widower and veterinary surgeon in the Life Guards, living at No.3 Studio, Cheniston Gardens, Kensington, with his son, a female servant and a visitor called Emma Wedlake (1854-1947). He was to marry Emma Wedlake later in the year.
He was described as an artist/sculptor in 1901 census living at 147 Church Street, Chelsea, with his wife, his son who was listed as a clerk at a railway company's office, a niece Edith M.B. Jones, together with a cook and a housemaid.
Probate records confirm that he remained living at 147 Church Street, Chelsea and that he died, aged 92 years, on 24 January 1938. Probate was granted to his widow on 7 March 1938 and his effects initially totalled £3,142-16s-2d but were subsequently resworn at £3,115-16s-2d.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan.
