The industrial revolution was sweeping through England in the 1830s and life was hard for the common Englishman living there.  The use of machinery brought great unemployment to the labor force, thus decreasing their value.  Children and women of the working class were forced, out of economic necessity, to work at low paying jobs under very poor working conditions.  The death rate was high among factory workers and the movement of the population into the cities worsened living conditions. 

In 1837 Wilford Woodruff opened the LDS mission in Liverpool, England and made the following comment, “the poor are in as great bondage as the children of Israel in Egypt”.   A man by the name of John Greaves was on the same ship as James Denning and John Williams when they crossed to America and describes what he saw when sailing past New Orleans.  He wrote in a letter that the living conditions of the slaves in that area were better than what he had witnessed in Wales.

Dan Jones, was in the jail with Joseph Smith the day he was shot.   Before the shooting took place, Joseph, feeling that his end was near, told Brother Jones, who was from Wales, “You will yet see Wales and fulfill the mission appointed to you before you die.”

Brother Jones did return to Wales and presided over the mission, having great success in Southern Wales.  During his two Welsh Missions, he oversaw the conversion of 5,600 Welsh Saints.