Born: October 3, 1826, London, England.
Died: February 26, 1895.
Buried: South cloister of Westminster Abbey, London, England.
Jones was the son of solicitor William Jones and Maria Cooper. His mother’s sister had married Samuel Flood, chaplain in Sierra Leone, so used this in his name. He married Catherine Wray at St. Martin in the Fields in 1856.
Samuel was educated at Pembroke College, Oxford (BA 1851).
Taking Holy Orders, he was Minister of St. Matthew’s, Spring Gardens, London (1854–76); lecturer at Bow, London (1858–76); Minor Canon (1859–95) and Precentor (1869–95) of Westminster Abbey; vicar of St. Botolph’s, Aldersgate, London (1876); and Priest in Ordinary to Queen Victoria (1869).
Being responsible for the chanting of the services at Westminster Abbey, he participated in the burials of Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning and Charles Darwin, among others. He also served for many years as secretary of the Religious Tract Society.
Jones’ wife Catherine, and his brother, William Henry Rich-Jones (vicar of Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, and canon of Salisbury), were both hymn writers as well.