Willoughby Jones played once for Glamorganshire in 1871 having just left Cowbridge Grammar School. His sole appearance came on 15 and 16 June 1871 at Hereford with the teenager batting at number eight in the line-up and scoring 12 in the drawn contest.
He subsequently attended Lincoln College, Oxford and continued to play cricket, as well as association football, to a decent standard. With his family having moved to Llanbedr, he played for Breconshire from 1871 until 1874, often alongside his elder brother, Thomas Babington Jones who in 1874 became the first Welshman to win a Cricket Blue at Oxford. Indeed, the pair were in the Breconshire team which met Glamorganshire in 1873 and 1874 with Babington opening the bowling and Willoughby opening the batting.
Willoughby was also a member of the South Wales Cricket Club and went on their London tours in 1874 and 1875, besides opening the batting for the Gentlemen of South Wales against the Players at Cardiff Arms Park during August 1874. He also appeared in the Next XVIII in South Wales Cricket Club’s trial match in July 1876 at the St. Helen’s ground in Swansea.
This proved to be his last match of note as, after completing his theological studies, he was ordained in 1877 and subsequently held curacies in Llanfairfechan, Llandiloes and in Brackley in Northamptonshire. He was then Rector of Dumbleton in Worcestershire from 1881 until 1900 before moving to Waverton in Cheshire where he remained until retiring in 1932.
JONES, Francis Willoughby
Born: Killay, Swansea, 3 September 1853.
Died: Leamington Spa, Warwicks, 7 December 1935.