George Jones

The Reverend George Jones was born 14th July 1818 and baptised at the Countess of Huntingdon’s Chapel in Worcester, the son of William and Jane Jones. He was educated in Worcester before entering Cheshunt College which was founded by the Countess of Huntingdon, where he completed his theological studies. His first position was at Warrington, before being appointed to Tunbridge Wells in 1849, succeeding the late Rev John Finlay. The old wooden chapel had a parsonage as part of the same structure, and this is where George lived.

He had married Sarah Ann Cadby (born 1816 and baptised in a dissenting chapel in London) in Kensington in 1846 and they had 5 children, George Cadby Jones (1847), Stephen Cadby Jones (1849), William Cooper Jones (1854), Philip Cadby Jones (1856) and Sarah Cooper Jones (1859). (Cooper was Sarah Cadby’s mother’s maiden name).

Philip lived only a few months from 1856 to 1857 and was buried in the Emmanuel churchyard. William died aged 10 in 1864 and was also laid to rest alongside his brother.

In 1866, George Jones organised a 3 day fundraising bazaar which was held in the Royal Sussex Hotel to raise funds for the ‘new and substantial building for the late Countess of Huntingdon’s Chapel’. A harmonium was presented by Mr Charles Cadby of London, and there were 7 stalls presided over by various ladies including Mrs George Jones and Mrs Charles Tattershall Dodd. Over £100 was raised on the first day, and the bazaar was considered a resounding success. The new building was completed and opened in 1867 with a capacity for a congregation of 1,000.

George’s father William died in March 1871 and George may have been visiting there at the time of the 1871 census, as he was absent from Tunbridge Wells. His wife Sarah, and children Sarah and Stephen were resident in the ‘New Church Parsonage, (Countess of Huntingdon’s)’ at 16 London Road.

George was very popular with his congregation, testified by being presented with a ‘purse containing £260 on the occasion of his attaining the twenty-fifth year of his ministry in this town’ in April 1874. This was a considerable sum at that time, equating to over £35,000 today.

His wife Sarah died in 1874. A newspaper report in May 1875 reports that ‘two handsome stained glass windows by Messrs. Holland, Son and Holt of Warwick have been recently put into this church; one to the memory of the late Mrs George Jones, by her family.’

George was always interested in the education of children in the town, first opening a schoolroom associated with the new church in 1867. When this became too small he purchased and adapted Romanoff House school on London Road, which had been founded in 1832 by Thomas Alfree, around 1886. He renamed this Vale Towers Hall where he established the Mount Ephraim Middle Grade School for girls.

In 1877 George married Beatrice Stewart in the Ellington Chapel in Ramsgate.

George died in July 1888. Reports of his funeral tell us that ministers of most of the churches in the town attended, George was laid to rest in the family vault, which was at the north west end of the church. Later that year his widow commissioned Burslem’s monumental masons to erect ‘a handsome dark grey granite monument’ over the family vault. The structure was over 11 feet high with an inscription in gold lettering.

Sarah Cooper Jones married Samuel Joseph Woodham Smith, a solicitor and she died in 1944
George Cadby Jones was a chief clerk in the Bank of England. He died in Eastbourne in 1911
Stephen Cadby Jones dealt in stocks and shares and was living on his own means in the later censuses. He died in 1932.

Beatrice Jones continued to live at 16 Mount Ephraim until her death in 1913. The 1911 census shows it was a substantial building of 11 rooms. However, she did not continue to worship at the Emmanuel church, becoming a member of St John’s church, where her funeral service was held. She is buried in Tunbridge Wells cemetery in plot B13 123.

In 1974 the Emmanuel Church was demolished to provide better access to the Kent and Sussex Hospital. The bodies in the churchyard were exhumed and re interred in Tunbridge Wells Cemetery, but not all the names were decipherable. In 2023 a new headstone was unveiled at the spot where the burials took place.