Jones, Richard, 1st Earl of Ranelagh (1641 -1712)

Richard Jones, Earl of Ranelagh, was the only son of Arthur Jones, 2nd Viscount Ranelagh, and Katherine, fifth daughter of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork and Orrery. A pupil of John Milton, he studied at Oxford in 1656, but did not matriculate, and travelled abroad with a tutor 1657 1660. Member of Parliament (Ireland) for Roscommon 1661 1666, Governor of Roscommon Castle 1661, and Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer 1668 1674, he succeeded his father in 1670, and was created Earl of Ranelagh in the peerage of Ireland 11 December 1677. He was Member for Plymouth in the English House of Commons from 1685 1687, for Newtown 1689 1695, for Chichester 1695 1698, for Marlborough 1698 1700, and for West Looe 1701 1703, and Paymaster of the Army from 1689 to 1702, when he was convicted of defalcations amounting to £72,000 and expelled from the House. He was one of the original Fellows of the Royal Society. He married, 28 October 1662, Elizabeth, second daughter and coheir of Francis, 5th Baron Willoughby of Parham. His first wife died 1 August 1695, and he married secondly, 9 January 1696, Margaret, Dowager Baroness Stawell, fourth daughter of James Cecil, 3rd Earl of Salisbury. He left three daughters and all his titles became extinct on his death.