| Authorised form of name | Jones; Richard (1641 - 1712); 1st Earl of Ranelagh; politician |
| Dates | 1641 - 1712 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | The house of his uncle, Viscount Dungarvan, Long Acre, London, England, Europe |
| Date of birth | 8 February 1641 |
| Date of death | 5 January 1712 |
| DatesAndPlaces | Burial:
Westminster Abbey, London, England, Europe (10 January 1712) |
| Activity | Education:
Pupil of Henry Oldenburg (FRS 1663) and of John Milton; Oxford (admitted 1656)
Career:
Travelled abroad with Oldenburg (1657-1660); MP for Roscommon in the Irish Parliament (1661-1669); Governor of Roscommon Castle (1661-death); Chancellor of the Exchequer in Ireland (1668-1674); Lord of the Treasury (Ireland) (1670-1675); Gentleman of the Privy Chamber (1670); Gentleman of the Bedchamber (1679-1685); Governor of Athlone (1674); Captain of Horse (Ireland) (1675-1682); Gentleman of the Bedchamber (1679); MP for Plymouth (1685), Newtown (1688, 1689), Chichester (1695), Marlborough (1698, 1700), West Looe (1701-1703); Treasurer of Chelsea Hospital (1686-1702); Commissioner for Assessment in Hampshire (1690); Privy Councillor (1691); Paymaster-General of the Army (1691-1702), resigned rather than face an inquiry into the accounts; Member of the Royal Fishery Company (1692); Ranger of Cranborne Chase (1700-death); Superintendent of Buildings and Works (1700-1702); expelled from Parliament for misappropriation of funds (1703); Governor of Queen Anne's Bounty (1704); Commissioner for South Sea Company subscriptions (1711); created a garden at his house next to the Hospital at Chelsea
Honours:
Earl 1674 |
| Membership category | Original Fellow |
| Date of election | 20/05/1663 |
| Date of ejection or withdrawal | 9 August 1682 |
| Relationships | Parents: Arthur Jones, 2nd Viscount Ranelagh, and Lady Catherine Boyle; succeeded his father as 3rd Viscount Ranelagh (1669)
Married: 1) Elizabeth Willoughby; 2) Margaret Cecil
Children: Elizabeth Jones, later countess of Kildare; Frances Jones, later countess of Coningsby; Catherine Jones
Additional relatives: nephew of Robert Boyle (FRS 1660) |
| OtherInfo | The South Sea Company (officially The Governor and Company of the merchants of Great Britain, trading to the South Seas and other parts of America, and for the encouragement of the Fishery) was a British joint-stock company founded in 1711, created as a public-private partnership to consolidate and reduce the cost of the national debt. To generate income, in 1713 the company was granted a monopoly (the Asiento) to supply enslaved Africans to the islands in the 'South Seas' and South America. Company stock rose greatly in value as it expanded its operations dealing in government debt, and peaked in 1720 before suddenly collapsing to little above its original flotation price. The notorious economic bubble thus created, which ruined thousands of investors, became known as the South Sea Bubble.
Jones was also a member of the Company of the Royal Fishery of England, a trading company incorporated in 1676, which sanctioned involuntary labour, though not lifelong slavery, on Company ships.
In his role as MP in Ireland, he organised and financially and socially profited off of a scheme of farming the whole of Irish revenues. The earldom went extinct with his death, and a cousin claimed his viscountcy in 1759. |
| Source | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB; GEC; Henning
References:
Bluhm, R K. 1960. 'Henry Oldenburg, FRS (c 1615-1677)', in Notes and Records, vol. 15, pp. 183-197
Hall, A R and Hall, M B. 1968. 'Further Notes on Henry Oldenburg', in Notes and Records, vol. 23, pp. 33-42
Notes:
The election date is Jones' re-election date into the Society after the grant of the second charter in April 1663. All Fellows admitted in a two-month window after this charter, until 22 June 1663, are considered Original Fellows. He was previously admitted into the Society on 11 September 1611. |
| Virtual International Authority File | http://viaf.org/viaf/315945627 |
| Code | NA7013 |