The Boy Jones – The Boy Who Stalked Queen Victoria

Stalkers are never fun – but they are nothing new, either.  Even Queen Victoria was stalked a number of times during her long reign, most notably by Edward Jones – who became known in the nineteenth century media as The Boy Jones.  And he has something of a strange story, to say the least.

Jones became infamous (much to his family’s chagrin) for breaking into Buckingham Palace when he was just 14 years old.  That was in 1838 and despite being discovered with various stolen items on him, he was acquitted at trial.  He decided to do it again in1840, just ten days after the queen had given birth to Princess Vicoria.  This time, he was given to months hard labour but never one to allow a punishment to act as a deterrent, he broke in once more, two weeks after his release from prison.  This time he was found in the larders of the palace, stealing food.  He was given a further three months for that.  On all occasions, he would not give away his route into the palace.  Here's a contemporary cartoon (Old Harry is a common Victorian nickname used in humor or caricature.

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Now, three strikes and you’re out didn’t exist back in Victorian times, and these punishments were lenient for the time.  In a desperate attempt to ensure he wouldn’t break into Buckingham Palace again, the authorities persuaded him to become a sailor, and he made a journey to Brazil – and back. Although he never again bothered the queen, he deserted the navy twice and was arrested for burglary in Lewisham (now a borough in South East London).  He was transported to Australia in 1849, came back to the UK in 1855 to rob a few more houses, and then went back to Australia (apparently of his own accord).  He died there at some point between 1893 and 1896 – records are sketchy.  Below, he is pictured as a sailor - taken from an edition of Punch.

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Although we would probably not consider him a stalker in the modern sense, his Victorian exploits ensured his infamy at the time, with numerous reports of his exploits reported in the press. Not only that, songs, ballads, poems and cartoons were created celebrating his exploits. So he was, I suppose, generally looked upon a harmless nuisance, although there are reports that his parents were at their wit’s end with his exploits.  Even in modern times, his infamy ensured a fictionalised appearance in the TV series Victoria played with great charm by Tommy Roger.

Below you can find another fictionalised account of his life – this time animated – created by Haimeric Pays at Ecole Emile Cohl. It does get the year wrong by about fifty years, but my guess is the animator wished to show Queen Victoria as most people think of her – short, old and very, very plump.  He almost certainly never formally (or informally over a cake or two) met Queen Victoria, but he got alarmingly close to her private apartments and may have caught glimpses of her during his palace intrusions. Regardless, this is a very well done graduation project and as such the historical liberties it takes can be forgiven!