Leslie Grove Jones

Colonel Leslie Grove Jones (1779-1839) was an English soldier and Radical political writer.

He rose to attention after a series of "powerfully written and very violent" letters to The Times from 1829 to 1832 under the pseudonym "Radical", especially concerning the passage of the Reform Bill.[1][2]

Life

Jones was born in Bearfield, near Bradford-on-Avon. He joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman; while serving aboard HMS Révolutionnaire he objected, or intervened, when the ship's cook was flogged for a reason Jones believed unfair, and was disciplined. He subsequently left the service.[2]

In 1796 he joined the Army, having been offered an officer's commission in the Grenadier Guards[3] by the Marquess of Lansdowne. He served throughout the Peninsular War and was promoted to his highest rank, that of lieutenant colonel, in 1813. While stationed at Cambrai in 1817 he wrote the pamphlet An Examination of the Principles of Legitimacy, eventually published in 1827.[2] According to the foreword of the Principles, he also spent some time in the US around this period.[4]

Jones was a friend of Jeremy Bentham, who nominated him for a seat on the governing Council of London University (later to become University College London) in 1829.[5] Jones is mentioned as serving as a "proprietor" (similar to a trustee) of the University in 1831.[6]

He married twice, first to Jean Miller (d. 1833), daughter of Patrick Miller, with whom he had two sons, Algernon Burdett Jones and Warren Miller Jones.[7] His second marriage was in 1838, to the wealthy widow Anna-Maria Dashwood (née Shipley), a neighbour of Jones' in North Wales.[8] The second Mrs Jones was a daughter of William Davies Shipley and a friend of Walter Savage Landor; Jones' marriage to her possibly broke off a previous relationship between her and Leigh Hunt.[3]

Jones died on 12 March 1839, less than a year after his marriage to Anna-Maria. He had previously written in an 1831 letter to the Times that he wished for his body to be donated to medical science,[6] a request that was then both unusual and, given that the Anatomy Act would not be passed until 1832, illegal. This did not happen, and he is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery.[2]

Involvement in politics

After retiring from the army Jones became involved in Radical politics. His name begins appearing in newspaper reports of meetings of reformist MPs and others in the early 1820s.[9] His pamphlet An Examination of the Principles of Legitimacy was published in 1827. In late 1829[10] Jones began writing regularly to the Times under the pseudonym "Radical". It is not clear when it became generally known that he was the author, but the Times itself identifies the two in 1831[11] and his obituary treats it as common knowledge.[1]

Jones features in a number of 1830s satirical depictions of Radical politicians. An 1835 print titled "A Prospective View of the House of Commons", caricaturing a hypothetical Radical government, shows Jones alongside William Cobbett, Henry Hunt, Daniel O'Connell, John Gully, Joseph Hume, John Gale Jones, and Richard Carlile among others.

References

  1. ^ a b The Gentleman's Magazine 1839-05: Vol 11. Open Court Publishing Co. May 1839. pp. 541–2 – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ a b c d Archbold, W. A. J. (2004-09-23), Kinross, S. (ed.), "Jones, Leslie Grove (1779–1839), army officer and radical writer", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/15058, ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8, retrieved 2026-02-17{{citation}}: CS1 maint: work parameter with ISBN (link)
  3. ^ a b Gates, Eleanor M. (1988). "Leigh Hunt And Anna Maria Dashwood: A Shelleyan Romance". Books at Iowa. 49: 16–34. doi:10.17077/0006-7474.1158. ISSN 0006-7474.
  4. ^ Jones, Leslie Grove (1827). An examination of the principles of legitimacy. James Ridgway. pp. iii. JSTOR 60210833. Retrieved 18 February 2026.
  5. ^ The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, Volume 13. UCL Press. 2024-04-11. p. 99. doi:10.14324/9781800086104. ISBN 978-1-80008-610-4.
  6. ^ a b ""We have received a number of letters on the subject of Burking"". The Times. No. 14716. London. 8 December 1831. p. 5.
  7. ^ The Correspondence of Jeremy Bentham, Volume 13. UCL Press. 2024-04-11. p. 82. doi:10.14324/9781800086104. ISBN 978-1-80008-610-4.
  8. ^ Hare, Augustus J. C. (Augustus John Cuthbert) (1896–1900). The story of my life. Vol. 3. Robarts - University of Toronto. London : G. Allen. p. 128.
  9. ^ "Reform in Parliament". British Neptune. 8 April 1821. Retrieved 18 February 2026 – via The Social History Archive.
  10. ^ "Col. Leslie Grove Jones". British Museum. Retrieved 18 Feb 2026.
  11. ^ ""Reform."". The Times. No. 14465. London. 17 February 1831. p. 4.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.