William Wynn Jones

The Rt. Rev. William Wynn-Jones (10 November 1900 – 29 May 1950) was a Welsh educator and clergyman who served as Anglican Bishop of Central Tanganyika from 1948 until his death by a car accident in 1950.

William (Bill) Wynn-Jones, who was born into an upper middle class family in Swansea, Wales, on 10 November 1900, was a son of the Welsh chartered shipbroker Matthew Tertius Jones (1853 - 1912)^[1] who was a partner of the Welsh trans-European chartered shipbrokerage M. Jones and Brothers (est. 1856),^[2] which had been founded by his grandfather Matthew (b. 1828) and his great-grandfather Matthew (1800 - 1867).^[3]

Wynn-Jones's brother was The Rev. M. K. Jones, Rector of St Andrew's Anglican Church, Roseville, Australia,^[4] who was taken prisoner, to the P.O.W. Camp Changi, at the fall of Singapore whilst serving as senior chaplain to the Commonwealth armed forces in Malaya.^[5] Wynn-Jones's paternal uncle was the Vice-Consul for Chile^[6] and Secretary to the Chamber of Commerce Edwin Price Jones (1855 - 1924).^[3]

Wynn-Jones's cousins included the trans-European chartered shipbroker Ernest William Jones, who inherited M. Jones and Brothers (est. 1856),^[3] and the same's son the choral educator James William Webb-Jones;^[7] and the prominent gynaecologist Arthur Webb-Jones.^[8]

Wynn-Jones in 1933 married Ruth L. Minton Taylor, who was a granddaughter of the Premier of Tasmania Henry Dobson^[9] and a staff member of Mvumi Girls School.^[1] Their two sons and two daughters, who were born at Arusha European School,^[10] included the Tanzanian-born conservative Naomi Wilson OAM (b. 1940), who was a National Party of Australia member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1995 to 1998.^[11]

Wynn-Jones was educated at Queen's College, Taunton,^[12] until he accepted the invitation of The Reverend George Chambers to emigrate to Australia,^[1] where he in Sydney matriculated at Trinity Grammar School (New South Wales),^[12] subsequent to which he received from University of Sydney^[12] a BA in 1922 and an MA in 1927.^[1]

Wynn-Jones in 1921 he joined the staff of Trinity Grammar School as a house and sports master.^[1] He was ordained deacon in 1925, and priest 1926, and was appointed curate at Holy Trinity, Dulwich Hill, where he was involved in the Boy Scout movement.^[1]

He in 1927 joined CMS for missionary service in Central Tanganyika under Bishop Chambers, during which he became Principal of Kongwa Theological College.^[1] Wynn-Jones was in 1941 appointed as the first headmaster of Arusha European School, then subsequently in 1941 as Chancellor of the Diocese, then in 1947 as Assistant Bishop of Central Tanganyika, then in 1948 as Second Bishop of Central Tanganyika.^[1] He in 1948 attended the Lambeth Conference^[1] and he in May 1949 received an Honorary Lambeth Doctorate of Divinity.^[1]

Wynn-Jones died by a car accident in 1950,^[12] and was buried in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.^[13][14] He was reinterred by the Anglican Church of Tanzania in the graveyard adjacent to the Anglican Cathedral in Dodoma.^[15]

• "Entry for JONES, Rt Rev. William Wynn". Who's Who, Oxford Index. Oxford University Press.
• "Entry for 'WYNN JONES, WILLIAM (BILL) (1900 - 1950)', Australian Dictionary of Evangelical Biography". Evangelical History Association. Retrieved 25 April 2022.