Walter Jones (polo)

Walter John Henry Jones (June 4, 1866 – April 14, 1932), was an English polo player.

He was born at The Elms, Warrington, the son of William Charles Jones and Lucretia Elizabeth Jones. His father was the owner of Jones Brothers Cotton Mills in Leigh, and extremely wealthy. Jones was a fine sportsman, was educated at Harrow School and Jesus College, Cambridge, and played polo, primarily for the "Rugby" team. He represented Great Britain in polo at the 1908 Summer Olympics, playing for the Hurlingham team, winning the silver medal. He lived at Hurlingham Lodge in Fulham, London. He married Maud, the widow of George Lyttelton Dewhurst (another Lancashire cotton magnate) of Beechwood, Lymm, Cheshire and Aberuchill Castle, Scotland.

Jones, a cotton-broker, was an important collector of first editions and watercolours and enjoyed big-game hunting, fishing and polo. He purchased J.M.W Turners's The Blue Rigi from Agnew's in 1912, who had purchased it at the Taylor sale for 2,700 guineas, but although he was interested in The Red Rigi (purchased for 2,100 guineas) he hesitated. It was sold to R.A. Tatton before being auctioned, yet again at Christie's, in 1928 when it was bought, yet again by Agnew's, and sold to Jones. Along with other drawings by British artists, the collection passed to Jones' widow, and was sold after her death at Christie's on 3 July 1942. Though The Blue Rigi still fetched the highest price in the sale, the wartime date explains the relatively low prices, The Blue Rigi going for 1500 guineas, The Red Rigi for 1100 guineas. The seventeen other Turners in the sale, in addition to the Rigis, ranged in date from The West Entrance of Peterborough Cathedral of 1795 to a late Venetian watercolour of circa 1841 and included two of the 1817 Rhine series of watercolours painted for Walter Fawkes, probably Turner's greatest patron, and other British, German, Swiss and Italian subjects.

He died leaving a net estate of £327,406.

See also: Polo at the 1908 Summer Olympics

References

- Estate: Times Sept 3, 1932, page 13

- Obituary: The Polo Monthly, May 1932, page 92

- Turner: Christies catalogue June 25 2006, Lot 53; Times June 19, 1942, page 7; Times, July 4, 1942, page 6