British poet Mary Jones was born in 1707 and raised in Oxford. Her brother, with whom she lived for most of her adult life, served as a reverend and chanter for Christ Church Cathedral.
 
Influenced by Alexander Pope, Jones composed formal poems that engage domestic and social themes with wry humor. She published one volume during her lifetime: Miscellanies in Prose and Verse (1750), which includes poems, letters, and translations. The book, which was first published privately for 1,400 subscribers, was subsequently published commercially and received considerable critical attention.