LONG before Tom Jones set the world alight with his unique voice and dance moves a namesake had been just as famous across Britain.

However while the south Wales crooner is known for getting people up on the dancefloor the man who would become feared as Sir Thomas Jones was one of the most feared judges of his day and ally to two kings.

At least for a time.

Sir Thomas was born at Carreghofa hall Hall in Llanymynech in 1614 and educated at Oswestry School and Cambridge University where he graduated in 1632 and called to the bar just two years later aged 20.

Sir Thomas managed what many of his high society peers failed to achieve by remaining neutral during the English Civil War.

This is even more remarkable considering all around Llanymynech the Royalists and Parliamentarians waged war.

Border Counties Advertizer: King Charles II. Picture: Wikimedia.

King Charles II. Picture: Wikimedia.

He was elected as MP for Shrewsbury in 1660 and in 1669 he was made serjeant at law and knighted and made a judge of the King’s Bench in 1676.

It was in this capacity that Sir Thomas played a part in most of the political trials which dominated the latter part of King Charles II’s reign and the beginning of James IIs’ reign.

In 1680 Sir Thomas was part of the King’s Bench which dismissed a grand jury to prevent information about the Duke of York not attending church being heard which prompted the House of Commons to try and impeach two judges.

In 1683 he was chief judge in Quo Warranto case which ended with him ruling ‘that the liberties and franchises of the City of London be seized into the king’s hands.’

Sir Thomas earned a reputation for showing great severity and harshness at trials.

However Sir Thomas had quarrelled with King James after the monarch had wanted to dispense with the Test Act upon his choosing.

Border Counties Advertizer: King James II. Picture: Wikimedia.

King James II. Picture: Wikimedia.

This act had served the purpose of preventing Roman Catholics and political rivals from ascending to any civil or military office.

Sir Thomas had told the king ‘he had no power to dispense with a statute which Parliament had enacted for the preservation of the established religion of the country.’

King James gave the dissenting judges a choice of changing their positions or surrendering their positions to which Sir Thomas replied: "For my place I care little, I am old and worn out in the service of the Crown but I am mortified to find that your Majesty thinks me capable of giving a judgment which none but an ignorant or a dishonest man could give."

To this the King responded: " I am determined to have 12 lawyers for judges who will be all of my mind as to this matter."

Jones retorted: " Your Majesty may find 12 judges of your mind, but hardly 12 lawyers."

He and the three other judges were accordingly dismissed from their places on April 21st, 1686.

King James II did not rule for long and the last Catholic monarch was deposed in 1688 and succeeded by the Protestant co-rulers William III and Mary II in the Glorious Revolution.

Sir Thomas retired to his mansion, Carreghofa Hall, where he spent the remaining years of his life where he died aged 78 on May 31, 1692 and buried in St. Alkmund's Church in Shrewsbury where a monument in his honour remains.

Border Counties Advertizer: St Alkmunds Church in Shrewsbury. Picture: Geograph.

St Alkmunds Church in Shrewsbury. Picture: Geograph.