Daniel Angell Jones was born in Liverpool in 1861 and moved with his family firstly toPorthmadog in 1863 and then to Harlech in 1867. He was the eldest of six children. His father was a master house painter by profession but by 1871 he had bought a grocery shop and combined house painting with selling general provisions. By 1881 when the family was living at Gwyndy Stores D.A. (as he was known) had left home and was an assistant teacher at Widnes, Lancashire. After qualifying as a schoolteacher, he taught at Machynlleth from 1886 until 1892. He then moved back to Harlech which became his home until he retired as a teacher in 1924. Between 1901 and 1924 he lived with his family at Rock House, 5 Bronwen Terrace. He married Louisa Edwards from Broughton in 1900 and they had two children, Dilys and Thomas Idris. D.A. was a well-respected and well-loved local Headmaster involved in all aspects of Harlech community life. During the First World War he lectured at the University of Wales, Bangor and was awarded an M.Sc. in 1918. His claim to fame is his interest in Botany (he wrote an unpublished Handbook of the Botany of Merioneth in 1898) and in particular his fascination with Bryophytes. This interest was stimulated by a teaching colleague and friend Silvanus Jones Owen of Croesor. The two men made numerous botanical excursions to the local countryside. D.A. began collecting bryophytes in Merioneth and Snowdonia and even enrolled his schoolchildren in bryophyte walks;. Among other achievements he added three rare liverworts to the British collection. He joined the Moss Exchange Club in 1901/2 and took a pivotal role in transforming the two sections of the Moss Exchange Club into a unified British Bryological Society (BBS)
in a meeting in Dolgellau. He became Secretary of a newly formed BBS in 1923 aposition he held until becoming President in 1935/36.
He died in Bristol in 1936. Five thousand of his bryophytes went to the National Museum in Cardiff in 1920. Further plants are at the Natural History Museum in London, Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, Merseyside Museum in Liverpool, and Warwick. The BBS celebrated its centenary in 2023.