A second charity established through a separate bequest by Jones enabled the building of the Newland Alms Houses in the Forest of Dean.

However, prior to his 1 Oct 1600 invitation to join the membership of the Haberdashers' Company, there is fairly little reliable information about his life.

[1] One account indicates that, unable to pay a fine in Newland, he instead moved to London and found employment as a porter to a merchant.

He eventually amassed a large fortune and decided to test the generosity of his native city.

However, author William Meyler Warlow dismisses this account, including the disguise as a poor man, as fiction.

The author speculates that some of the stories arose in an attempt to explain the difference in how the towns of Newland and Monmouth fared.

[1][3] In early 1613, he arranged for £6,000 to be spent for charitable purposes, giving it to the Haberdashers' Company to found the Monmouth Alms Houses and the London lectureship during his lifetime.

Due to the limited amenities in Newland and the age of the early 17th century Newland Alms Houses, which were difficult to modernize, the decision was made to concentrate alms house activity in Monmouth.

[4] Demolition of the Alms Houses off St James' Square began on Thursday, 23 February 2012.

[7] The future gated development of flats and houses is named Cwrt William Jones.