Alun Thornton Jones (OW 1946)

Thornton Jones was perhaps best known for his map-drawing skills, producing several routes for the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and the Oxford Preservation Trust (OPT).

The long term Marston resident was a member of Old Marston Parish Council for more than 20 years and a popular and respected member of the community.

Alun Thornton Jones was born in London on November 28, 1927.

His father, Burnett Thornton Jones, was a lawyer who worked first for the suffragettes and later as a notary public in India, the birthplace of Alun’s mother, Clemence Mendes.

Their house in London was bombed during The Blitz and Alun’s father wasted no time in moving the family to Oxford.

Their first stop was The Oxford Mail offices to receive information on rooms to let in the city.

Alun joined Magdalen College School (1940 – 1946) before studying medicine at Lincoln College in 1946, which became like a family to him when his father died when he was 17.

He interrupted his degree to complete National Service in the Signals Corps from 1947 to 1949, but returned to Lincoln College to read Greats, now Classics.

Mr Thornton Jones then completed a post-graduate diploma in Classical Archaeology, which saw him study and work on archaeological digs in Greece with the Ashmolean museum, including at Knossos.

Thornton Jones spent many years as a member of academic staff with Oxford University Press, and later Alden Press, working as an academic proof-reader in Greek, Latin, Eqyptian and Hebrew.

In 1961, Mr Thornton Jones married Bette Leslie and he moved from Jericho to Marston, where the couple lived until his death.

Their daughter Sharon was born a year later, with their youngest daughter Miranda following in 1965.

From the mid-1960s, Mr Thornton Jones was an active member and valuable source of knowledge for CPRE Oxfordshire and the OPT.

He produced detailed hand-drawn routes of CPRE and Save the Countryside sponsored walks in the 1970s and 1980s, also drawing maps of the houses and gardens where the Oxfordshire branch held its Annual General Meetings.

More recently, he drew the maps for the Oxford Heritage Walks guide books, published by the OPT.

In recognition of his map-making and calligraphy, Mr Thornton Jones became a Fellow of the British Cartographic Society and a member of Oxford Scribes.

Away from his map-making, in 1973 he became a member of Old Marston Parish Council, later serving as chairman.

In the late 1970s, Mr Thornton Jones became a tutor at the Oxford Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies in St Michael’s Street, Oxford, eventually becoming Dean.

He was well-known among visiting students on an academic level, but also for his ‘cultural experiences’, including Oxford pub crawls, enlivened by the tutor, a member of the Campaign for Real Ale.

He was also a talented photographer and his 50,000 images offer a fascinating insight into local social and community history.

Mr Thornton Jones will be remembered as generous and altruistic, giving his skills and energy for free up to the last week of his life, with drawings for the Oxford Preservation Trust.

He died on October 16 at the John Radcliffe Hospital after years of ill-health and is survived by his widow, Bette, and their two daughters, Sharon and Miranda.

(Text derived from the Oxford Mail)