Henry Jones

Henry Jones (2 November 1831 – 10 February 1899) was an English writer under the name "Cavendish", an authority on whist and other card games, tennis and other lawn games.

Biography

Henry Jones was born in London, the eldest son of surgeon Henry Derviche Jones. He attended King's College School (then in London, now in Wimbledon) from 1842 to 1848, and entered St Bartholomew's Hospital as a student during the 1849/50 session. His signature can be seen in the hospital's archives in the student signature book (a book that students signed when they began their studies) for the 1849/50 and 1850/1 sessions, where his address is given as 23 Soho Square.

Jones qualified MRCS (Member of the Royal College of Surgeons) in 1852 and practised medicine as a general practitioner (GP) until 1869 when he changed tack and became a full-time writer on games and sport. His writing career can be traced back to 1857 when he began writing about whist. Jones's father had been a keen devotee of this trick-taking card game, and under his tutelage, Jones had become a good player at an early age. He was a member of several whist clubs, and in 1862 he published The Laws and Principles of Whist: Stated and Explained and its Practice Illustrated on an Original System by Means of Hands Played Completely Through by "Cavendish", which became the leading treatise on the game. This work was followed by treatises on the laws of the card games of piquet and écarté.

Legacy Cavendish Road in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia was named after his pen name Cavendish by early residents who were keen whist players.

Publications

The Laws and Principles of Whist Stated and Explained and its Practice Illustrated on an Original System by Means of Hands Played Completely Through. Spine Title: Cavendish on Whist. Thos. De La Rue & Co. (London), Eighth edition, 1868, 120 pages. The Laws and Principles of Whist Stated and Explained and its Practice Illustrated on an Original System by Means of Hands Played Completely Through. Spine Title: Cavendish on Whist. John Wurtle Lovell (New York), From the Twelfth English Edition Revised and Greatly Enlarged, 1881, 257 pages. The Games of Lawn-Tennis (With the Authorized Laws) and Badminton. Thos. De La Rue & Co. (London), 1876, 30 pages. Reprinted in at least eight other editions in the nineteenth century. Whist Developments: American Leads and the Plain-Suit Echo, De La Rue & Co. (London), 1885, 172 pages. Patience Games: with Examples Played Through Illustrated with Numerous Diagrams. Thos. De La Rue & Co. (London), 1890.