Boy Jones

Boy Jones

Edward Jones (7 April 1824 – c. 1893 or 1896), also known as "the boy Jones", was an English stalker who became notorious for breaking into Buckingham Palace several times between 1838 and 1841. Jones was fourteen years old when he first broke into the palace in December 1838. He was found in possession of some items he had stolen, but was acquitted at his trial. He broke in again in 1840, ten days after Queen Victoria had given birth to Princess Victoria. Staff found him hiding under a sofa and he was arrested and subsequently questioned by the Privy Council—the monarch's formal body of advisers. He was sentenced to three months' hard labour at Tothill Fields Bridewell prison. He was released in March 1841 and broke back into the palace two weeks later, where he was caught stealing food from the larders. He was again arrested and sentenced to three months' hard labour at Tothill Fields. To remove Jones from Britain, the Thames Police tried to surreptitiously coerce him into employment as a sailor. After a voyage on a merchant ship to Brazil, Jones returned to London, where he worked for a month before disappearing and signing up to the Royal Navy—again at the instigation of the Thames Police. He was a ship's boy on HMS Warspite and had further duty on Inconstant and Harlequin. He deserted twice before being allowed to leave the service in 1847. After his return to Britain, Jones was arrested in 1849 for burgling houses in Lewisham, Kent (now South London), and sentenced to transportation to Australia for ten years. He returned to Britain in late 1855 or early 1856 and was again arrested for burglary, before he returned—of his own accord—to Australia. The details of his death are not known, although it was possibly in Bairnsdale in the east of Australia on Boxing Day 1893 or in Perth, in the west of Australia in 1896. Jones's exploits were extensively covered in the press, and several songs, ballads, poems and cartoons were created. He has been used as the basis for fictional characters and, because of the connection to Queen Victoria, is mentioned in several history books.

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