Life

He was the second son of John Williams of Bachellyn, Llanbedrog

Llanbedrog

Llanbedrog is a village and community on the Llŷn peninsula of Gwynedd in Wales. It is situated on the south side of the peninsula on the A499 between Pwllheli and Abersoch. Formerly in the county of Caernarfonshire, it has a population of 1,020....

, Carnarvonshire, where he was born. He spent some time as clerk in the office of his father, who was a solicitor

Solicitor

Solicitors are lawyers who traditionally deal with any legal matter including conducting proceedings in courts. In the United Kingdom, a few Australian states and the Republic of Ireland, the legal profession is split between solicitors and barristers , and a lawyer will usually only hold one title...

, but he then obtained a similar situation in London. He married a young Welsh heiress, and was enrolled as a member of the Inner Temple

Inner Temple

The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

 26 October 1751. He is usually described as of Broom Hall, near Pwllheli

Pwllheli

Pwllheli is a community and the main market town of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It has a population of 3,861, of which a large proportion, 81 per cent, are Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the place where Plaid Cymru was founded. It is the birthplace of Albert Evans-Jones -...

, Carnarvonshire. He died in Hamilton Street, Hanover Square

Hanover Square

Hanover Square may refer to:* Hanover Square, London, England* Hanover Square, Manhattan, New York City, USA** Hanover Square , elevated station* Hanover Square, Syracuse, USA-See also:* Hanover Square Rooms, London...

, London, early in 1774, aged 52. He left three children, two daughters, Elizabeth and Ann, and a son, Rowland.

Works

Jones published:

• ‘The Origin of Language and Nations, Hieroglyfically, Etymologically, and Topographically defined and fixed, after the method of an English, Celtic, Greek, and Latin-English Lexicon. Together with an Historical Preface, an Hieroglyfical Definition of Characters, a Celtic General Grammar, and various other matters of Antiquity. Treated of in a Method entirely new,’ London, 1764. This work attempts to prove that Welsh was the primeval language. Also ‘Postscript’ to the work, often bound with it, London, 1767.
• ‘Hieroglyfic: or a Grammatical Introduction to an Universal Hieroglyfic Language; consisting of English Signs and Voices, with a definition of all the Parts of the English, Welsh, Greek, and Latin Languages, some Physical, Metaphysical, and Moral Cursory Remarks on the Nature, Properties, and Rights of Men and Things, and Rules and Specimens for Composing an Hieroglyfic Vocabulary of the Signs or Figures as well as the Sounds of Things upon Rational and Philosophical Principles and the Primitive Meaning of Names,’ London, 1768.
• ‘The Philosophy of Words,’ London, 1769.
• ‘The Circles of Gomer, or an Essay towards an Investigation and Introduction of the English, as an Universal Language, upon first Principles of Speech, according to its Hieroglyfic Signs, Argrafic Archetypes and superior Pretensions to Originality; a retrieval of Original Knowledge; and a Reunion of Nations and Opinions on the like Principles, as well as the Evidence of Ancient Writers; with an English Grammar, some Illustrations of the Subjects of the Author's late Essays, and other interesting Discoveries,’ London, 1771. Jones subscribed to the theory, not original to him, that the Biblical Gomer
  Gomer
  Gomer was the son of Japheth in the Hebrew Bible.Gomer may also refer to:*Gomer *GOMER , in medical slang, an undesirable patient*Gomer Press, a printing and publishing company in Wales...
  
   was the ancestor of the Celts; and that he had retained knowledge given to Adam
  Adam
  Adam is a figure in the Book of Genesis. According to the creation myth of Abrahamic religions, he is the first human. In the Genesis creation narratives, he was created by Yahweh-Elohim , and the first woman, Eve was formed from his rib...
  
   of the essential meanings of letter forms.
• ‘The Io Triads: or the Tenth Muse, wherein the Origin, Nature, and Connection of the Sacred Symbols, Sounds, Words, Ideas, are Discovered,’ &c., London, 1773. Contains attacks on the linguistic theories of Lemuel Dole Nelme
  Lemuel Dole Nelme
  Lemuel Dole Nelme was an English craftsman, now remembered for wide-reaching theories on language.-Life:He was a maker of instruments and dealer in ships' merchandise of the eighteenth century. Nelme was in business in Exchange Alley in London around 1750...
  
   (which are related to his) and of John Locke
  John Locke
  John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
  
  .