{{Short description|British naturalist (1828-1888)}} {{Infobox person | name = John Matthew Jones | birth_name = John Matthew Jones | honorific_prefix = | honorific_suffix = FLS FRSC | birth_date = 7 October 1828 | death_date = {{death date and age|7 October 1888|7 October 1828}} | birth_place = Montgomery, Montgomeryshire, Wales, United Kingdom | death_place = Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada | image = | resting_place = | image_size = | caption = | other_names = J.M. Jones | signature = | education = | occupation = {{hlist|Naturalist}} | awards = | father = | mother = | relatives = }} '''John Matthew Jones''' (7 October 1828{{snd}}7 October 1888) was a British lawyer and naturalist.
==Early life== John Matthew Jones was born in Montgomery, Montgomeryshire, Wales, United Kingdom on 7 October 1828.<ref name="Mcgill">{{cite web|url=https://archivalcollections.library.mcgill.ca/index.php/jones-j-matthew|title=Archival Collections Catalogue: Jones, J. Matthew (John Matthew), 1828-1888|website=archivalcollections.library.mcgill.ca|access-date=2025-02-16}}</ref> His father was Rear Admiral Sir Charles Thomas Jones of Fronfraith.<ref name="Annual Register. (1861)">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oGETvGxWGywC&dq=Annual+Register+1861+fronfraith&pg=RA2-PA373|title= The Annual Register, Or, A View of the History and Politics of the Year 1860|website=books.google.ca|access-date=2025-02-17|date=1861|last1= Burke|first1= Edmund}}</ref>
==Career== In October 1852, J.M. Jones was appointed to the Royal Montgomeryshire Militia as an ensign under Sir John Conroy, 1st Baronet.<ref name="The United Service Magazine (1852)">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ax6QPT4NyGkC|title=Colburn's United Service Magazine and Naval and Military Journal Part 3|website=books.google.ca|access-date=2025-02-17|date=1852}}</ref> Shortly after, he was called to the bar at Middle Temple in London as a barrister-at-law on 6 June 1853.<ref name="The Legal Observer, Digest, and Journal of Jurisprudence (1853)">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aAYvAAAAIAAJ&dq=The+Legal+Observer+john+matthew+jones+1853&pg=PA157|title=The Legal Observer, Digest, and Journal of Jurisprudence, Volume 46|website=books.google.ca|access-date=2025-02-17|date=1853}} </ref>
He moved to America by 1854 before continuing to Bermuda and Nova Scotia, where he investigated native plant life and fish species.<ref name="Mcgill"/> John Matthew Jones became a Fellow of the Linnean Society of London in 1859.<ref name="Mcgill"/> He was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.<ref name="U.S. National Museum. (1885)"/>
Jones authored numerous scientific articles and publications on natural history. In 1859, he published a volume of 200 pages under the title "The Naturalist in Bermuda: A Sketch of the Geology, Zoology, and Botany of That Remarkable Group of Islands, Together with Meteorological Observations" in London. The book explored the land animals and plants of Bermuda.<ref name="Bulletin of the United States National Museum. (1882)">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v8c9AQAAMAAJ&dq=John+Matthew+Jones&pg=PR3|title=Bulletin of the United States National Museum, Issues 24-26|website=books.google.ca|access-date=2025-02-18|date=1882|publisher=U.S. Government Publishing Office}}</ref> He was assisted with the work by Maj. John Walter Wedderburn and John L. Hurdis of Southampton.<ref name="American Journal of Science and Arts. (1859)">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pLFGAQAAMAAJ&dq=American+Journal+of+Science+and+Arts+john+matthew+jones&pg=PA304|title=The American Journal of Science, Mrs. Gambold|website=books.google.ca|access-date=2025-02-17|date=1859 |last1=Gambold |first1=Mrs }}</ref> Collecting in Bermuda for several winters from 1859 to 1876, Jones became the top authority on its natural history.<ref name="Bulletin of the United States National Museum. (1882)"/> In the early 1860s, he published "Contributions to the Natural History of the Bermudas," edited by George Brown Goode.<ref name="Senate Documents. (1885)">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bHGu4lCJSd8C&dq=senate+documents+john+matthews+jones+goode&pg=RA2-PT568|title=The Miscellaneous Documents of the Senate of the United States for the Second Session of the Forty-Eighth Congress, and the Special Session of the Senate Convened March 4, 1885|website=books.google.ca|access-date=2025-02-17|date=1885}}</ref> He and Goode worked to compile complete faunal and floral lists to guide future research in the area.<ref name="Bulletin of the United States National Museum. (1882)"/>
On 5 January 1863, he was admitted to the Nova Scotian Institute of Natural Science. Elected president of the Nova Scotian Institute of Natural Science on 9 October 1867, he succeeded Philip Carteret Hill. Jones worked alongside vice presidents Dr. John Bernard Gilpin and J.R. DeWolfe and treasurer W.C. Silver. On 4 November 1867, he presented his paper, "Contributions to the Natural History of the Bermudas—Corals and Their Allies."<ref>Proceedings of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science. (1870). Canada: Nova Scotian Institute of Science..</ref>
The 1869 Naturalists' Directory by Frederic Ward Putnam included Jones in both the fish and insects categories.<ref>The Naturalists' Directory: Pt.II. North America and the West Indies. (1869). United States: Essex institute.</ref>
His work titled "Contributions to the Natural History of Nova Scotia" was published in 1870.<ref>Jones, J. M. (1870). Contributions to the Natural History of Nova Scotia. Canada: James Bowes & Sons.</ref> Four years later, he released "On the Vegetation of the Bermudas." He wrote "The Visitor's Guide to Bermuda with a Sketch of Its Natural History" around 1876. Jones's work titled "List of the Fishes of Nova Scotia" was published in 1879.<ref name="Mcgill"/>
==Personal life== In Halifax, Jones married Mary Barr Myers on 23 October 1860.<ref name="The Gentleman's Magazine. (1861)">{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z0hDAQAAMAAJ&dq=The+Gentleman%27s+Magazine+halifax+1861+myers&pg=PA200|title=The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume 210|website=books.google.ca|access-date=2025-02-17|date=1861}}</ref> His wife was the youngest daughter of Col. W.J. Myers.<ref name="Annual Register. (1861)">Annual Register. (1861). United Kingdom: (n.p.).</ref>
==Death== John Matthew Jones died at 60 years old on 7 October 1888 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.<ref name="Mcgill"/>
==Works== *The Naturalist in Bermuda: A Sketch of the Geology, Zoology, and Botany of That Remarkable Group of Islands, Together with Meteorological Observations (1859) *Contributions to the Ichthyology of Nova Scotia (1863) *Contributions to the Natural History of the Bermudas (1863–67) *Contributions to the Natural History of Nova Scotia (1865–67) *On the Geological Features of the Bermudas (1865) *On some of the Rarer Birds of Nova Scotia (1868) *Nova Scotia Coleoptera (1869) *Notes on the Marine Zoology of Nova Scotia (1870) *Review of Nova Scotian Diurnal Lepidoptera (1870–71)<ref>Catalogue of Scientific Papers (1800-1900).: Supplementary volume. 1800-1883. (1867). United Kingdom: Eyre and Spottiswoode.</ref> *On the Vegetation of the Bermudas (1874) *The Visitor's Guide to Bermuda with a Sketch of Its Natural History (1876) *Mollusca of Nova Scotia (1877)<ref>Ganong, W. F. (1889). Economic Mollusca of Acadia. Canada: Barnes.</ref> *List of the Fishes of Nova Scotia (1879)<ref name="Mcgill"/> *The Mammals of Bermuda (1884)<ref name="U.S. National Museum. (1885)">Report of the Assistant Director and of the Curators of the U.S. National Museum. (1885). United States: U.S. Government Printing Office.</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, John Matthew}} Category:1828 births Category:1881 deaths Category:Canadian naturalists Category:British writers Category:19th-century British naturalists Category:Montgomeryshire Militia officers Category:Members of the Middle Temple Category:Fellows of the Linnean Society of London Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada