Henry Jones

Stephen Van-Hagen (University of Coventry)
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From 1745 to 1770, a career equal in longevity to [Stephen] Duck's, Jones published one substantial volume of verse, a play that went to six editions, and at least twenty separately issued poems. Perhaps no eighteenth-century poet, plebeian or otherwise, who wrote and published as much as Jones did has evaporated more completely from our critical discussions of the period. (William J. Christmas,

The Lab'ring Muses: Work, Writing and the Social Order in English Plebeian Poetry, 1730-1830

, 2001, p.130)

Given the lack of critical attention paid to Jones it is unsurprising that relatively little is known of his early life. He was born in Beaulieu, Drogheda, in northeast Ireland in 1721. Like his (English) labouring-class contemporary, Robert Tatersal, Jones became a bricklayer. He had moved to

516 words

Citation: Van-Hagen, Stephen. "Henry Jones". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 March 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=11776, accessed 19 March 2024.]

11776 Henry Jones 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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