Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Mordecai Jones (1813 - 30 August 1880) was a Welsh businessman and pioneer in the development of the South Wales coalfield. He was a notable promoter of the British Schools model of free education, and of Welsh and English Calvinistic Methodist churches. He became mayor of Brecon in 1854. Born in 1813, the son of a boat builder on the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, he was educated in Brecon at the expense of a local coal merchant.