Tom Brown\u2019s School Days<\/em>). Hughes served as headmaster of Ruthin Grammar School too, from 1739 to 1768.\u00a0<\/p>“A few years ago, I discovered the Old Ruthinian Association, and amazingly it had a list of attendees at a school reunion in 1786. William Jones, attorney-at-law, was listed.<\/p>
“I was sure that this was \u2018my\u2019 William Jones because I\u2019d found his name in the \u2018Registers of Articles of Clerkship and Affidavits of Due Execution\u2019 in 1773, which are held at The National Archives (TNA) in Kew. At the age of 19, after paying a fee of around \u00a3100, William had gone to Oswestry to train as an attorney under Robert Lloyd.<\/p>
“I knew that William was marshal of the King\u2019s Bench Prison, so I searched its records at the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA). One document detailed ‘William Jones, his accounts’ and contained a record of cash payments ‘by deed by my father’ until he was 27.\u00a0<\/p>
“Thomas Jones wasn\u2019t poor after all, and left money for William\u2019s education. It was so exciting to find a personal document like this hidden among the papers of the King\u2019s Bench Prison.<\/p>
“The next mystery I needed to solve was, how had William made his move from rural Wales to London? The answer came from a general internet search.\u00a0<\/p>
“In 1784, William was the prosecutor in a libel case against William Shipley, dean of St Asaph Cathedral, Denbighshire. He acted on behalf of Thomas Fitzmaurice MP, high sheriff of Flintshire and brother of former prime minister Lord Shelburne. This was a golden opportunity for the young attorney.\u00a0<\/p>
“Dean Shipley was charged with publishing a pamphlet that Fitzmaurice believed to be libellous and seditious. It had been written by the dean\u2019s brother-in-law to highlight the need for electoral reform. The only thing that the dean had done was to pass it on.\u00a0<\/p>
“The case was scheduled to be heard at Wrexham, then postponed and held at Shrewsbury, where Shipley was convicted. An appeal was later heard in London, where he was acquitted of any wrongdoing.\u00a0<\/p>
“Involvement in such a high-profile case must have boosted William\u2019s career. By 1789, he was admitted to the Inner Temple in London, which I found in its admission database, and the following year he became marshal and associate to the chief justice Lloyd Kenyon. In 1791, he was appointed marshal of the King\u2019s Bench Prison, a lucrative position that he would hold for 43 years.<\/p>
“How did he manage to gain this patronage? The appointment was in Lloyd Kenyon\u2019s gift, who was an old boy of Ruthin Grammar School and the proposed judge at the aborted Wrexham trial.\u00a0<\/p>
“William married Mary Ann Boydell and they had nine surviving children. He died in 1834, leaving a mansion in Norfolk, a generous annuity for Mary Ann, and legacies to his children that totalled \u00a33 millionin today\u2019s money.<\/p>
“William\u2019s determination to join the \u2018landed\u2019 class was strong, and he achieved his goal through sheer ambition. However, he made a lot of money as marshal, and this is morally suspect because it came from inmates\u2019 fees. Would I have liked to have met him? Perhaps on one of his good days.”<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n
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