1911 census.co.uk Finds Tom Jones is English

This will be a shock for some of Tom Jones' fans: the world famous singer hailed as a Welsh icon, is actually three-quarters English.

The shocking news arrived with the launch of the Welsh 1911 census records earlier this week. The Times, The Mirror, the Daily Star, the Daily Express, The Sun, The Daily Telegraph and Hello! magazine were quick to publish the story, announcing three of Jones’s grandparents hail from the West Country, not Wales.

His paternal grandparents were James Woodward, an ironmonger’s haulier born in Gloucestershire, and Anne Woodward, born in Wiltshire. His maternal grandmother, Ada Jones, who originated from Pontypridd, had parents from Somerset and Wiltshire. Tom Jones’s only wholly Welsh grandparent was his maternal grandfather Albert Jones, a miner from Cardiff.

You can read more and view images of the original census records at http://blog.1911census.co.uk/2009/06/1911censuscouk-reveals-tom-jones-as-an-englishman/.

Comments

[Donna]

Wasn't he born in Wales? Doesn't that make him Welsh? Where were his parents born?

[Bud Dorr]

I guess he took his maternal grandparents' surname, or else he would be a Woodward.

[Elaine]

Bud,
His full name is Tom Jones Woodward. He dropped the Woodward for professional purposes.