Penrhyn Grant Jones

Penrhyn Grant Jones CBE (1878-1945) was a British judge and diplomat who served in China. His last position before retirement was as Assistant Judge of the British Supreme Court for China.

Early life

Grant Jones was born on May 28, 1878 in Cowes, Isle of Wight.^[1] He was the eldest son of Frederick Topham Jones who had been an actor and Elizabeth Grant Jones (née Fitzgerald). Frederick was the owner of the Royal Sandrock Hotel near Niton on the Isle of Wight, a fashionable resort with its own spring. His father was also rector on the Isle of Wight. His father was declared bankrupt in 1897 and he lost the hotel.^[2]

Grant Jones was educated at Malvern College where he was a prefect.

Consular Service

Grant Jones came to China in 1902 as a student interpreter with the China Consular Service, having passed a competitive exam. He was promoted to be a 2nd Class Assistant on July 15, 1909. He served in various consular capacities around China, including Shanghai, Chongqing, Hankow and Changsha. He was promoted to Consul in 1926 in Harbin and served as Consul there and in Amoy (Xiamen) until 1931.^[3] He was awarded made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1928 while in Harbin.^[4]

Legal career

Grant Jones (second left) at a birthday Party for H.E. Arnhold in Shanghai in 1939. Also present G.W. Boosevain, Ellis Hayim and Judge Allan Mossop

Grant Jones passed his bar exams, being placed in the first class and was awarded a certificate of honour. He was admitted as a barrister of the Inner Temple in 1910 and called to the bar on June 19, 1912.^[5] He sat as an assessor on the International Mixed Court in the Shanghai International Settlement between 1912 and 1920. He also sat as acting Judge of the High Court of Weihaiwei in 1919.

In November 1931, he was appointed Judge of the British Supreme Court for China based in Shanghai replacing Gilbert Walter King.^[6] Grant Jones served as Acting Chief Judge of the court in 1933 and 1937.^[7]

Closure of Court, Retirement and Death

On December 8, 1941, Japanese troops occupied the court house of the British Supreme Court in Shanghai. Grant Jones was interned for 5 months before being repatriated to England.^[8] HIs appointment as judge was formally terminated in May 1943 after the Sino-British Treaty for the Relinquishment of Extra-Territorial Rights in China was ratified.^[9]

After returning to England, Grant Jones retired to Ticehurst in Sussex. He died on June 15, 1945.^[10]

Further reading

• Clark, Douglas (2015). Gunboat Justice: British and American Law Courts in China and Japan (1842-1943). Hong Kong: Earnshaw Books., Vol. 1: ISBN 978-988-82730-8-9; Vol. 2: ISBN 978-988-82730-9-6; Vol. 3: ISBN 978-988-82731-9-5

References

1. 1891 Isle of Wight census record
2. Edinburgh Gazette, December 21, 1897, p1262
3. Foreign Office List 1943, p 232
4. London Gazette, 4 June 1928, p3858
5. The Times, April 17, 1912, p 4
6. North China Herald, November 17, 1931, p243
7. Foreign Office List 1943, p 232
8. Report Relating to His Britannic Majesty’s Supreme Court in Japanese Occupied China, dated September 24, 1942, FO369/2719
9. China Order in Council, 1943, London Gazette, 25 May 1943, p2331
10. The Times July 19, 1945