Griffith Jones (priest)

Griffith Jones (early 1684 – 8 April 1761) was a Welsh minister of the Church of England and a promoter of Methodism.

The idea met with enthusiasm, and by his death in 1761, it is estimated that over 200,000 people had learnt to read in schools organised by Jones throughout the country.

Jones taught people to read that they might know those things that were necessary for their salvation – the curriculum at his schools consisted only in the study of the Bible and the catechism of the Church of England.

He was a powerful preacher and he would preach in the open air, as later the Methodists would do, and bring upon himself the censure of bishops for addressing irregular meetings.

[4] On 8 April 1761, aged 77, he died at the home of Bridget Bevan in Laugharne, where he had resided since his wife's death.