The story of Mary Jones and her Bible inspired the founding of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Mary Jones (16 December 1784 – 28 December 1864) was a Welsh girl who, at the age of fifteen, walked twenty-six miles barefoot across the countryside to buy a copy of the Welsh Bible from Thomas Charles because she did not have one.[2] Thomas Charles then used her story in proposing to the Religious Tract Society that it set up a new organisation to supply Wales with Bibles.
Together with the Welsh hymnwriter Ann Griffiths (1776–1805), Mary Jones had become a national icon by the end of the nineteenth century, and was a significant figure in Welsh nonconformism.[1]
- ^ a b James, E. Wyn. "Bala and the Bible: Thomas Charles, Ann Griffiths and Mary Jones". Cardiff University.
- ^ Canton, William (1904). A History of The British and Foreign Bible Society. London: The British and Foreign Bible Society., p.466