Jones, John

Jones, John (c. 1800-1882), English art collector, was born about 1800 in or near London. He was apprenticed to a tailor, and about 1825 opened a shop of his own in the west-end of London. In 1850 he was able to retire from active management with a large fortune. When quite a young man he had begun to collect articles of vertu. The rooms over his shop in which he at first lived were soon crowded, and even the bedrooms of his new house in Piccadilly were filled with art treasures. His collection was valued at approximately £250,000. Jones died in London on the 7th of January 1882, leaving his pictures, furniture and objects of art to the South Kensington Museum.