Thomas Jones

Thomas Jones ( – 10 April 1619) was Archbishop of Dublin and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. He was also Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral and Bishop of Meath. He was the patrilineal ancestor of the Viscounts Ranelagh. Early life Jones was born in Middleton, Lancashire, circa 1550. after which he relocated to Ireland. He married a widow, Margaret Purdon, who was also a sister-in-law of Archbishop Adam Loftus; she is thought to have been a member of the prominent landowning Purdon family of Ballyclogh, County Cork. His relationship with Loftus proved beneficial to Jones. He has been referred to, uncharitably, as Loftus's "pale shadow"; a more balanced view is that the two men thought alike on most issues and so worked harmoniously together.

Jones was named Chancellor of St. Patrick's Cathedral and was elected Dean in 1581. While Dean, Jones granted questionable leases of church property including, in particular, a 161-year lease of a coal mine which caused a later Dean of St. Patrick's, Jonathan Swift, to rebuke Jones severely for his improvidence:

A lease of Colemine (i.e. a coal mine) 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 , within of Dublin, for 2l. per annum, now worth, 150l.|Jonathan Swift 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.

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 In 1611, he sat on a Protestant Council in Dublin "to prevent sectarianism and extirpate Popery". He attended the opening of the Parliament of Ireland in 1613, where he gave an important speech. During this period, he had eight Roman Catholics excommunicated, imprisoned for recusancy and then had them reimprisoned after Parliament released them soon afterwards. He was a key ally of Sir Arthur Chichester, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in his policy of extreme severity towards Roman Catholics. His enemies would spread malicious stories, such as a farcical claim that he was a wizard, simply to enjoy the hysterical efforts which Jones, who seems to have lacked a sense of humour, would make to refute them. As his powers failed, complaints that he neglected the affairs of his diocese became more frequent. He grew ill very suddenly and died at his episcopal palace, St. Sepulchre's Palace in Dublin in 1619. He was buried in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin 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: Margaret (died 1615), who married Gilbert Domville, MP for Donegal, and was the mother of Sir William Domville, Attorney General for Ireland.