Life histories on a bookplate

In the August issue of Family Tree our 'Discovering Documents' author John Titford examines personalised bookplates used as curriculum vitae by distinguished gentlemen. Unfortunately we only had space for two bookplates in the magazine, so a third one is reproduced here.

Bernard Mouat Jones, born on 27 November 1882, fourth son of Alexander Mouat Jones of London and his wife Martha Eleanor (née Brinjes), had a very distinguished academic career. From Dulwich College he proceeded to Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated with a first-class degree in 1905, having specialised in chemistry, mineralogy and crystallography. He joined the Indian Educational Service in 1906, and was professor of chemistry in Lahore, 1906-1912; returning home, he served briefly as assistant professor at Imperial College, London, in 1913. Following service in the First World War, during which he achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the London Scottish and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (3 June 1917), he returned to academia and captured all the glittering prizes, garnering at least one more professorship, becoming a fellow of various learned societies and serving as chairman of a number of influential committees. He was principal of Manchester College of Technology, 1921-1938, and vice-chancellor of the University of Leeds, 1938-1948. He died on 11 September 1953. The essence of Jones’s varied career is summed up on his bookplate, which displays eight armorial shields (and nothing else):

1. Arms of Oxford University.
2. Dulwich College, the public school attended by Jones, who was a senior scholar there in 1898. These are the arms of Edward Alleyn, founder of the school, but were used without authority until 1935, when the school had these arms officially granted, with the addition of a chief ermine, bearing a cinquefoil gules.
3. The arms of Balliol College, Oxford, where Jones was a student from 1901 to 1904.
4. The arms of Imperial College, London. Jones was assistant professor here in 1913.
5. The arms of British Punjab. Jones was professor of chemistry at Government College, Lahore, Punjab, from 1906 to 1912.
6. University College, Aberystwyth, where Jones was professor of chemistry in 1919.
7. The arms of the University of Manchester. Jones was principal of Manchester College of Technology, 1921-1938. In due course the College of Technology became a component part of the University of Manchester.
8. The arms of the City of Manchester, which have also been extensively used by Manchester United Football Club – maybe Jones was a fan?

I have said that Jones was vice-chancellor of the University of Leeds from 1938 to 1948, but that university’s arms do not appear here, so presumably this bookplate was produced before 1938.