Jones, Mary Latchford (Kingsmill) (1877–1968), public representative, was born on 28 June 1877 at 3 Wodehouse Terrace, North Circular Road, Dublin, the daughter of Percival Jones (1839–1906), a Dublin merchant and committed freemason, and Margaret Jones (née Williams) (1846–1920), originally from Mallow, Co. Cork. She had a twin sister, Suzie Williams Jones (1877–1952), and two brothers, Percival Thomas Jones (1873–94) and Kingsmill Williams Jones (1875–1918). The family were Church of Ireland. Percival senior specialised in glass, china (especially Belleek products) and earthenware goods, and traded both on his own account (from 1870) and in a business association (ending in 1900) with Callinan and Son, later Callinan and Jones. Maintained by his widow after his death, the firm of Percival Jones ceased business at 43 Grafton Street, Dublin, in 1912.
In 1894, having resided since 1878 at 11 Eblana Terrace, North Circular Road, Dublin, the Jones family moved to 'Glenmore', a detached house on Orwell Park, Rathgar. Mary was a pupil at Alexandra College from January 1895 to June 1897, but, unlike her sister, did not stay to take a degree from the Royal University, then the principal third-level examining outlet for women in Dublin. Her father records her as aged 20 and able to speak both Irish and English at the 1901 census. Her mother records her as aged 27 (recte 33) and bilingual at the 1911 census. At neither census is she identified with an occupation or profession, presumably an indication that she led a genteel lifestyle.
Mary moved in 1914 to Manchester to keep house for her brother Kingsmill, who practised as a doctor and had been elected a city councillor in 1913. She was to spend the rest of her life in that city, first living at his residence at 2 Syndall Street, Stockport Road, Ardwick, while he was engaged in war duty with the Royal Army Medical Corps, and later residing at 238 Upper Brook Street, Chorlton-on-Medlock (1921–c.1943) and at 9 Neston Avenue, Withington (from c.1943). Following the death of Kingsmill on the western front in August 1918, and using the name Mary Latchford Kingsmill Jones, she sought to continue his community commitment by expanding in voluntary social work and, increasingly, engaging in political life. In September 1919 she was nominated to a municipal committee charged with counteracting post-war profiteering. In July 1920 she became one of the first female justices of the peace. A year later, she was elected a member of Manchester City Council, representing her brother's former ward, Ardwick. She was elected an alderman in July 1938.
Kingsmill Jones unsuccessfully contested the Ardwick constituency on behalf of the Conservative party at the 1924 and 1929 general elections. Thereafter, she focused on Manchester city politics, becoming, when elected to chair the public health committee in 1929, the first female to take charge of a council committee. She later chaired the libraries (1934–8) and education (1939–42) committees, and also chaired or served on the boards of a range of voluntary organisations; a particular long-term interest was the promotion of women in society, including the Women for Westminster movement. Widely recognised as an articulate speaker with a pragmatic approach to issues, on being awarded the OBE in 1936 she was described as 'the outstanding figure in the progressive wing of the Conservative group of the council' (Manchester Guardian (1 January 1936)).
During the second world war, she attracted admiration for her morale-raising support for the local education service, and for her involvement as a volunteer with the Red Cross Society and other welfare organisations. In 1944 she was a potential nominee for lord mayor, but the Conservative party caucus opted for a male alternative. She was eventually elected, with cross-party support, as the first female lord mayor of the city in November 1947, holding office for an eighteen-month period (due to adjustments in election dates) until May 1949. During her tenure, widely acknowledged to have been very successful, she offered energetic leadership on post-war reconstruction issues centred on housing, education and child welfare. She continued to promote her long-term concern for women's issues. Her many engagements included hosting the official visit of the young Princess Elizabeth, conferring the freedom of the city on former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and welcoming Manchester United, captained by Irishman Jackie Carey (qv), as the victorious 1948 FA Cup winners. In recognition of her service, fifty women's groups commissioned a painting of her in mayoral robes by Ethel Léontine Gabain (1883–1950). This portrait has been hung in a committee room of Manchester Town Hall.
Following her mayoral term, Mary Kingsmill Jones continued to play a vigorous role on council committees and with many voluntary organisations. She retired only in November 1966, when in her late 80s and after forty-five years on the council. She was then made an honorary alderman. Ten years earlier, in 1956, her long record of distinguished service to her adopted city had been recognised when she became only the second female to receive the freedom of the city of Manchester. Her contribution was also recognised by the University of Manchester, who in 1943 awarded her an honorary MA, the accompanying citation describing her as a 'model citizen'.
At a national level, the committees on which Mary Kingsmill Jones gave service included the path-breaking Curtis committee on the care of children (1945–6) and a royal commission on justices of the peace (1946–8). Her OBE was followed later by the CBE (1949) and DBE (the equivalent of a knighthood) in 1958. She regularly visited family relatives in Ireland and was said never to have lost her Irish accent. Dame Mary Kingsmill Jones never married. She died at her home, aged 90, on 2 April 1968. Following a service at St. Paul's church, Withington, her body was given a private cremation.