Robert Jones (artilleryman)

Robert Jones () was a lieutenant in the artillery corps of the British Army, who wrote the first book on figure skating. He was known for popularising figure skating in Great Britain, and for his 1772 trial for sodomy. 
Jones wrote "A New Treatise on Artificial Fireworks", which was published in 1765. His book "A Treatise on Skating", published in London in 1772, went through several print runs. In it, he describes in one full page how to perform a "Flying Mercury" maneuver, which leaves behind it a spiral in the ice, and describes in another full page the manner in which can "cut the Figure of a Heart on one Leg."
Jones was tried at the Old Bailey and convicted of sodomy in July 1772; the victim was a boy, Francis Henry Hay, aged about thirteen. Jones was found guilty and sentenced to death. He then successfully applied to King George III for a royal pardon. The terms of the pardon were that he exile himself for life to any part of the world of his choosing; his destination was thought to be Florence. The politician John Wilkes tried to capitalize on the resulting outrage, alleging that the king had been manipulated by secret sodomites at court.