Richard Jones, 1st Earl of Ranelagh

Richard Jones was born in 1638, the eldest son of Arthur Jones, second Viscount Ranelagh and Katherine Boyle, daughter of the earl of Cork who counted amongst her brothers the chemist Robert Boyle and Lord Broghill, the later earl of Orrery who was a prominent politician in Cromwellian and Restoration times

Richard Jones's mother was estranged from her husband who appears to have been a drunkard and Richard Jones was largely brought up in his mother's household in London. Following the Restoration of Charles II he became a member of the Irish Parliament for Roscommon