• Name: Jones, Margaret
• Gender: Female
• Birth Date: September  1772
• Death Date:

See also Louisa Jones

The three biographies of Godwin and the Wollstonecraft Letters and biographies make no mention of her. She appears in 1797, shortly after Wollstonecraft's death. The first entries are in October 1797, first to Margaret Jones and then switching immediately to MJ, but then swapping between different forms through both 1797 and 1798. It seems likely that she is Louisa Jones's sister (there is an entry for E and M Jones in Bath - and Louisa Jones's letters to Godwin when he is at Bath ask him to 'give my love' to her sisters. There are some joint visits to the theatre with L and M J). It is possible that she initially played some role in the care of Fanny and Mary, since the transition from 'Margaret Jones' to MJ is almost instantaneous, followed by a mix of MJ entries and M Jones. This makes the identification a little uncertain. In 1798 there are entries for M. Jones at the beginning of the year but these then become MJ entries. On one occasion M J 'sleeps'. After Louisa Jones leaves Godwin there are no further entries for M Jones until 1801, suggesting that she may have accompanied her sister and returned home. She also appears with Miss Godwin several times in 1797, and, like Louisa may be primarily an acquaintance of Hannah Godwin's. MJ subsequently comes to be used to denote Mary Jane Clairmont, Godwin's second wife.

There is a large group of Jones entries that lack any further qualification that would enable identification. These have been left uncoded 29 -- jones: 1794-03-09 1794-04-15 1795-06-02 1795-10-18 1798-05-10 1798-06-12 1798-06-23 1798-09-04 1799-01-16 1799-06-15 1804-04-14 1805-05-04 1805-12-23 1809-11-25 1813-12-27 1813-12-28 1821-06-07 1821-11-26 1822-07-08 1830-09-09 1831-01-04 1834-06-07 1834-08-26 1834-09-19 1834-12-25 1835-01-13 1835-05-28 1836-02-19
1 -- jones (millenium hall): 1821-06-08
1 -- jones , size lane: 1814-01-04
1 -- jones t ckd: 1795-10-08
1 -- mes jones: 1831-01-07
10 -- jones's: 1797-05-09 1797-06-18 1797-12-29 1798-03-05 1798-03-10 1798-03-12 1798-03-14 1798-06-07 1798-11-14 1799-05-19

The early Miss Jones could be references to Margaret Jones, but Louisa seems more likely (as she was the special friend of Hannah Godwin, who would have recommended her to Godwin after Wollstonecraft's death). Louisa certainly had sisters (Elizabeth, Frances and Margaret) although the first two seem to have resided in Bath, at least in 1798. However, in one of her last notes, concerned with ending her employment at Godwin's, she refers to Margaret coming to stay the night, and asks whether he would prefer that she didn't. There is a late reference in August 1834 to a Miss Jones who visited Godwin with a companion (Lobrot), bringing him fourteen nectarines, which Godwin considered profligate. Margaret Jones ran a school in Greenwich, and subsequently in Cresswell Park Blackheath with Marie Ann Lobrot (ten years her junior - although the Morning Post suggests he opposite). In 1836, an advertisement appeared in the Morning Post soliciting contributions to save the two women from destitution. Mrs L. Dibbin subscribed £5. Entries involving both Lobrot and Jones have been coded for this Jones.

• Morning Post8 June 1836

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.