Colonel J J Jones safely restored

The portrait of Col. J J Jones that has hung in the Dining Hall for some years will be familiar to Old Breconians. Last summer, Col. Jones fell off the wall with a resounding crash. Occurring during the late evening, it was lucky that there was no one in the Dining Hall at the time. The frame was badly damaged but, with another enormous stroke of luck, the portrait itself and its glass remained untouched. 

The portrait was originally commissioned in 1933 by the Old Breconian Association to recognise the generosity Col. Jones had shown to the school. It was painted by Edward Newling, a well-known portrait painter at the time who also painted the Lord Atkin portrait that hangs on an adjacent wall in the Dining Hall.  

In a project made possible by donations to the Chapel and Heritage Fund, we are happy to report that a fully restored Col. Jones is now back in his rightful place. It seems entirely fitting that this particular artefact is the first of several imminent projects to be undertaken from the fund. Col. J J Jones was himself a generous benefactor to local causes, including to Christ College.

A native of Merthyr, Col. Jones, qualified as a solicitor in 1868 and practised there until 1910. He became a Justice of the Peace for Breconshire in 1898, and was chairman of the Vaynor and Penderyn magistrates for several years. He was also a High Sherriff of Breconshire in 1914. He was known to be a generous benefactor in his immediate locality and outside it. In 1932 he made an endowment to Christ College of £11,500, the equivalent of close to a million pounds today. When the Chemical Laboratories were in need of further funding to complete the building begun in 1906, Col. J J Jones generously made a donation that enabled the building to be completed. 

Thanks to kind donations made to the Chapel and Heritage Fund, careful restoration work undertaken by local expert Paul Millis, and the expert work of the Estates team in rehanging the portrait, Col. J J Jones once again keeps an avuncular eye on the Dining Hall.