The death on 17 December 1886 of John Coster, who represented the Heathcote electorate in parliament, caused the February 1887 Heathcote by-election. There were several people interested in standing in the electorate, including the former Heathcote MP Henry Wynn-Williams, but with Jones and the current Mayor of Christchurch, Aaron Ayers considered as the only contenders of having a chance of success, most other candidates withdrew from the contest. On nomination day on 2 February 1887, Jones and Ayers were nominated. A third person, James Arthur Williams, nominated himself, but could not find anybody to second this motion. Thus, the by-election was a two-person contest. On election day, 8 February 1887, the majority opinion was that Ayers would win. There was great interest in the election, as evidenced by the high turnout. Jones had a considerable majority over Ayers, with 527 and 336 votes, respectively. The 191 votes majority was mirrored by Jones having won all four polling stations.