jeaffreson coat of arms. VIVIT POST FUNERA VIRTUS

Armorial Bearings for Jeaffreson, as granted, 5 March 1839, to Christopher William Jeaffreson (formerly Piggott.) - Azure a fret argent on a chief dancette of the last three leopards' faces gules. Crest. - A talbot's head erased argent eared gules and charged with five ermine spots in saltire.

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Pedigree of the Jeaffreson Family with Notes and Memoirs

by M. T. JEAFFRESON

LONDON:
PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR
1922

XHTML version created by Adam Thomson
2003

Moved to Googlepages by Adam Thomson
2006


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Compiler's prefatory note.

A PEDIGREE in the possession of Mrs. George Edwards Jeaffreson of Framlingham first suggested to me the idea of making this one. It contained the names of 90 Jeaffresons and started from the 16th century. The Framlingham branch had been kept up to date, other branches were mostly three or four generations behind. Hearing that I was interested in our pedigree, Mr. Fraser Jeaffreson lent me a manuscript one which he said had been in possession of his family for some time. That pedigree contained the names of 66 Jeaffresons and appeared to be contemporary with the Framlingham one, but did not seem to have been compiled by the same hand, being much more full of notes, and several discrepancies proved it to be no copy of the former one.

Then I began to search amongst the Genealogical records in the British Museum. Burke's Landed Gentry gives the branch that is put on Table III. Oliver's History of Antigua supplies a good pedigree, faulty in the later years, but providing a great deal of information of the earlier years. I am particularly grateful for the Pedigree and Notes of the Jeaffreson Family, by D. E. Davy, in manuscript; the pedigree is sketchy and incorrect, but the extensive notes, gathered principally from Parish Registers, Church Notes and the Suffolk Press, have been exceedingly useful and seem to have been collected on purpose for me. I am also grateful to present members of the family, who have done their best to help me. Finally, I obtained some reliable corrections and was able to add another generation and 12 more names to the early part of the pedigree through the valuable research amongst early wills and other documents carried out in Notes on the Visitation of England and Wales by Frederick A. Crisp.

In my pedigree there are 13 generations, 210 Jeaffresons. I have spared no trouble in trying to make it as correct and complete as seems possible. The memoirs have been gathered together from various sources:- A Young Squire of the 17th Century, and A Book of Recollections, by John Cordy Jeaffreson; The Gentleman's Magazine, St. Bartholomew's Hospital Reports, St. Bartholomew's Hospital Journal, and obituary notices in various newspapers. The only records for which I hold myself responsible, and which I have had great difficulty to obtain permission to include, are those in connection with the Great War, but having gained access to diaries kept at the time, I feel I should not be doing my duty to future generations of Jeaffresons if I did not take the opportunity of adding these accounts.

Of the origin of our surname, unlike so many others, there is no room for doubt. The Norman Fitz-Geoffrey became in time the English Jeaffreson, and an early record of this change as it was taking place is on the document known as the "Provisions of Oxford," drawn up by the Barons in 1258 A.D. One of the signatories was John Fitz-Geoffrey who signed his name on that ancient charter as "Joh' Geffreessune."

MARIE THERESE JEAFFRESON.

July 22nd, 1922.


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Colonel John Jeaffreson.

Colonel John Jeaffreson of St. Andrew's, High Holborn, Dullingham House, co. Cambridge and Roushall in Clopton, co. Suffolk and an extensive plantation (St. John's) in St. Christoper's Island, West Indies; born at Pettistree about 1590; died at St. Andrew's, Holborn, in 1660.

For several generations the Jeaffresons had been Suffolk yeomen, farming freehold estates, when in the early part of the 17th century, John, one of the Jeaffreson stock, quitted his paternal home and commencing life as a seaman, rose to be a merchant adventurer and a man of some note in his generation, inasmuch as his efforts tended more distinctly to colonization than to privateering.

John Jeaffreson was born within four or five miles of Parham, where the family of Warner had long resided. In his boyhood a close friendship was formed by John Jeaffreson and Thomas Warner. These two often visited the small river-port of Woodbridge, where they heard the talk of sea-faring men, who fired their imaginations with stories of the deep. Thirsting for adventure in the New World, they pined for the free open sea and went to it by the nearest way, taking ship at Woodbridge.

In the year 1620, Thomas Warner, after taking counsel with Mr. Ralphe Merifield, a London Merchant, had recourse also to his old schoolmate, John Jeaffreson, who had already become an experienced navigator; these three men entered into partnership, agreeing to carry out one of the most notable schemes of emigration that had been laid since the discovery of America. It was arranged that Thomas Warner should collect a small band of suitable men and take them to Virginia, where they would hire a craft to cruise about the Caribbean Seas and make choice of islands suitable to their project. Having planted himself and comrades on St. Christopher's, or some neighbouring island, Warner would dismiss the Virginian craft with instructions that would make known his precise position in the West Indian Archipelago to his confederates in London. In the meantime, Mr. Ralph Merifield would make choice of a suitable vessel and furnish it in every particular for a voyage across the Atlantic. John Jeaffreson promised to hold himself ready to take command of the vessel and sail Westward with a cargo of adventurers, tools and provisions, to his friend's assistance. Each of the parties of this contract fulfilled his engagement. In 1623, Thomas Warner planted himself, with a few comrades, on the island of St. Christopher and started the first English Colony in the West Indies. In 1624, John Jeaffreson carried there a party of emigrants on board his ship the "Hopewell," which was provided by Ralph Merifield, but before he arrived, hurricanes had wrought disaster in the settlement formed by his friend. The optimistic Warner, left well nigh despondent, watched for John Jeaffreson's coming with the ardour of desperation, and when he landed, threw his arms round his friend's neck in relief.

History is not very clear as to where the funds for this enterprise came from, but that it received Royal encouragement is clear. The first Letters Patent to pass the Great Seal in a matter relating to any plantation on the West Indian Islands were the Letters, dated September 13th, 1625, whereby Charles I. appointed his well-beloved subject, Thomas Warner, gentleman, to be during pleasure Lieutenant of the Islands of St. Christopher, Nevis (sic), Barbadoes (sic) and Montserate (sic), "in mayne ocean toward the Continent of America," and further, in case of the said Thomas Warner's death, etc., appointed "our well-beloved John Jeaffreson, gentleman, to be during pleasure Lieutenant of the same islands."

John Jeaffreson became a large landed proprietor in St. Christopher's Island, imported slaves and built a mansion that was long regarded as one of the grandest houses in the island. He invited over his nephew Samuel, who acquired the Red House Plantation. John Jeaffreson was second in command under Sir Thomas Warner and organized the military force of the island. As Colonel of the Militia, he was at the same time Colonel of Infantry, Colonel of Horse, Colonel of Engineers and Minister of War. The West Indian colonist of the 17th century was at all times a fighting farmer. The condition of the St. Kitts' planter was specially precarious. He went to his daily toil with his sword at his side and with pistols in his belt. At any moment he might be called upon to defend himself against the Caribbees, the Bucaneers, the Spaniards, the French, the Dutch and the vindictive treachery of his negro slaves.

After spending over twenty years in the Colony, helping Warner to carry it through its earlier trials, Colonel John Jeaffreson returned to England and married Mary Parkins (or Parkyns), the daughter of Aden Parkins of Bunney and first-cousin of Colonel Isham Parkins, the gallant defender of Ashby-de-la-Zouche against the Parliamentary forces and ancestor of the Baronets of that name and the late Lords Rancliffe.

When his little boy (christened Christopher, after St. Christopher's Island) was just three years old, Colonel John Jeaffreson commanded a ship of 140 men and 36 guns, in the famous naval battle between the English and Dutch. Prize-money coming to him during the Anglo-Dutch war doubtless contributed to his prosperity. In 1656 he bought the manorial property and farms pertaining to Dullingham House, near Newmarket, in Cambridgeshire and the manor of Easton, in the county of Suffolk. Later, he also acquired land in Felixstowe and Trimley, county Suffolk, and the important estate of Roushall, in the parish of Clopton, in the same county, as well as houses and lands in Woodbridge and Wickham Market. With the exception of Roushall, bequeathed to his nephew, John Jeaffreson, who was his executor and guardian of his son's property, Colonel John Jeaffreson left all his real estate in England and the West Indies to his only son, who was just ten years old at the date of his father's death.


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Captain Christopher Jeaffreson.

Captain Christopher Jeaffreson of Dullingham House and of St. Kitts; J.P. for co. Cambridge; born in 1650; died s.p. 1 August 1725.

Having received his early training at a school chosen by his guardian, Christopher Jeaffreson was apprenticed at the age of 17, according to his father's will, to "a man of good condition and conversation." During his apprenticeship he spent two years in France and at the same time acquired the principles and practice of business. Whilst he underwent his training, his estate was so carefully nursed, that, on coming into his property on the completion of his 22nd year, he had the revenue of an affluent country gentleman. He then married a daughter of Colonel George Gamiell, but the young wife died soon after the marriage.

In his 27th year Christopher determined to visit his West Indian estate. He spent five eventful years in the Colony, where he worked energetically as a sugar-planter and merchant and took an active part in the political affairs of St. Kitts.

Returning to England in his 32nd year, he resided four years in London, acting as political agent to Sir William Stapleton, Bart., the Captain-General of the Leeward Islands, and as Commissioner of the English Colony of St. Kitts, at the same time diverting himself with the gaieties and humours of Charles II.'s town. He passed the greater part of his time, during the reigns of William III., Anne and George I. at Dullingham House, where he distinguished himself by the zeal with which he discharged the various duties of a county magistrate and a country gentleman. His monument in Dullingham Church bears the following inscription:- "Near this place lyes interred, in hopes of a blessed resurrection, ye body of Christopher Jeaffreson, of this county, Esqre, and son of Colonel John Jeaffreson of St. Andrew's, Holbourne, in ye county of Middlesex, and of Mary his wife, Daughter of Aden Parkins, Esqre, of ye county of Nottingham. He departed this life ye 1st August, 1725, in ye 75th year of his age. His eminent good qualities were so many, and his Impartiality in Administering Justice in his county so conspicuous, that he died greatly lamented by all who had ye happiness to know him."

The Antiguan Jeaffresons came to an end in the person of Robert Jeaffreson, a judge in Antigua, who died at his house in Gower Street, London, in 1806.


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Anne Scott, wife of John Jeaffreson of Roushall.

Ann Scott of Kettleburgh; marr. 2 October 1698.

In the reign of Edward I. a Lord John Scott came out of Scotland and "settled in the eastern counties." From him sprung the Walter Scotts, Mayors and Bailiffs of Dunwich in the 13th and 14th centuries. In the reign of Edward III. John Scott was Lord Chief Justice. From him Anne Scott was seventh in the direct descent, being in the sixth descent from his son, Sir John Scott, Knight, who married Margery, daughter of Rolph de Nevill, Earl of Westmoreland. From this Sir John Scott came the Scotts of Essex, Kent and Leiston, co. Suffolk. The above lady was from the Leiston branch. She died in October 1751.

The six sons of John Jeaffreson II. of Roushall, were men of extraordinary height. Christopher of Dullingham was six feet, six inches high and the shortest of the six men stood six feet, two inches in his slippers. Dark-eyed, dark-haired men, with aquiline features, they were very unlike the folk of the Suffolk woodland amongst whom they lived, who were for the most part short, grey-eyed and fair-haired.


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Lieut.-General Christopher Jeaffreson.

Christopher Jeaffreson of Dullingham House and of St. Kitts; Lieut.-General in the Army and Colonel in Cambridgeshire Local Militia; J.P. for cos. Cambridge and Suffolk; born in 1761; died 22 October 1824.

Lieut.-General Christopher Jeaffreson entered the service December 28th, 1778, as an Ensign in the 18th Regiment of Foot. He was appointed, October 4th, 1779, a Lieutenant in the 86th Regiment of Infantry and promoted to a Company in the same Corps March 17th, 1783. Captain Jeaffreson was placed, December 25th, 1793, on half-pay; he was appointed, May 13th, 1795, to a Company in the late 125th Regiment of Infantry and was placed, March 29th, 1798, again on half-pay. He was appointed, March 1st, 1794, Major by brevet and on January 1st, 1798, Lieut.-Colonel by brevet. He received, July 19th, 1803, the Lieut.-Colonelcy of the 4th Battalion of Reserve or Garrison Battalion and was placed, February 25th, 1805, for the third time on half-pay. He was appointed, April 20th, 1808, to a Colonelcy and obtained, June 4th, 1811, the rank of Major-General and on July 19th, 1821, that of Lieut.-General.


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Dullingham Church, St. Mary.

In the Chancel are several fine monuments to the Jeaffreson family, dating from 1733. On the floor, below the rails on the North side, stands a table monument of statuary marble, on which lies the figure of Lieut.-General Jeaffreson, at full-length, covered with a loose robe, his right hand, on which side he lies, raised to his head, his left crossing his breast, and grasping in the hand the hilt of his sword. On the South side of the table is this inscription:- "To perpetuate the memory of a truly just and liberal man, whose heart teemed with kindness and benevolence. This monument is erected by her who tenderly loved him, and most deeply lamented his loss." The work is most beautifully executed by Richard Westmacott, R.A.


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Christopher William Robinson.

Christopher William, son of Harriet (Jeaffreson) and William Pigott, was born January 23rd, 1830. He inherited Dullingham House, co. Cambridge, and under the will of his grandfather, General Jeaffreson, he assumed the surname and arms of Jeaffreson, but in 1857, by a testamentary injunction of William Henry Robinson of Denston Hall, whose heir he also was, he assumed the name of Robinson only. In 1870 he married Mary, daughter of John Dunn Gardner of Chatteris, co. Cambridge. He died in 1889, s.p. He had two sisters, Ada Pigott, who married John Dunn Gardner of Chatteris, and Harriet Pigott.


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John Jeaffreson of Bawdsey.

Besides the land which he owned and cultivated at Bawdsey, John Jeaffreson owned lands, etc., in diverse parishes of his county, to wit, Bredfield, Aspal Stonham, Clopton, Bedfield and Walton, which he let to farm. The entire acreage of his several estates may be roughly computed at a thousand acres.

The Rev. Christopher Jeaffreson, M.A.

Obituary Notice in the Gentleman's Magazine:- "At Tunstall, Suffolk, after a confinement of three weeks, during which he suffered little or no pain, and in his 60th year, the Rev. Christopher Jeaffreson, Rector of that parish and Iken. He was universally respected in the country, happily blending the becoming gravity of a Christian minister with the manners of a gentleman, and the convivial qualities of an agreeable and interesting companion. He was an indulgent husband, a firm friend and a general philanthropist."


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The Rev. Christopher William Jeaffreson, M.A. Cantab.

Christopher William Jeaffreson was a tall man with a handsome face and slightly aquiline profile, and his elegant figure offered no striking indications of the Herculean strength which was one of his physical endowments. Possessing the amount of classical scholarship to be looked for in a gentleman of academic training, he was also a musician of uncommon ability. But he was chiefly admirable for his conversational address, his lively humour and his perfect mastery of the noble art of self defence. When he reflected, in his mature age, on his youthful career at Cambridge, he recalled with complacency how he had distinguished himself as one of the younger "Pitt's body-guard" during the election that made that statesman Member of Parliament for the University. It may be declared boldly that, from the year of his ordination to the death of George III., he was the smartest pugilist of the clerical profession. Sparring with a skill and energy that were applauded by every ring he entered, he befriended the professors of an art that even in George III.'s time was decried by many people as inhuman and brutalizing. On falling "into trouble," prize-fighters of repute hastened to him for sympathy and material assistance. He was known to have entertained unfortunate pugilists at his Suffolk parsonage; and instead of crying "Shame!" on their Rector for opening his doors to the "ornaments of the ring" in their moments of distress, the parishioners of Tunstall extolled him for doing what was right to "men of merit."

There were occasions when this clergyman of an old school fought without the gloves. He had attained to middle age and was walking with his eldest son (at that time a Cambridge undergraduate), from their London lodgings to the theatre, when he was rudely accosted by an able-bodied ruffian, who derided him for being "a parson." A crowd came about the able-bodied ruffian and encouraged him with cheers to persist in his disorderly behaviour. As the encouragement incited the able-bodied ruffian to be guilty of still wilder outrages, the Suffolk Rector remarked, in his softest tone, "My good fellow, if you go on in this way, I shall be forced to punish you." "Oho, oho!" retorted the ruffian, putting up his fists and springing about in a style that showed him to have some acquaintance with the noble art, "so you mean to punish me, do you? Then, if that's your game, just punish me at once. Just please, parson, be good enough to punish me at once." He had his prayer. "The mill" was over in five minutes. The able-bodied ruffian was still lying upon the pavement, when the gentle-mannered parson went onwards to the theatre, without a scratch on his face or any serious disarrangement of his dress.

By the many sportsmen of his acquaintance, the Rector of Tunstall and the other parishes was regarded as the best partridge-shot in East Suffolk; and there was something curious in his way of shooting partridges. It was his practice when he went out with his gun and pointer to wear a waistcoat whose right-hand pocket was lined with tinfoil and charged with snuff. As soon as his dog had pointed and he saw the covey on the point of rising, he laid his gun upon his left hand, forced the fingers of his right hand into his snuff-pouch and took a pinch of snuff before he fired with deadly effect at the birds upon the wing. To persons who enquired whether he snuffed in this eccentric manner at a critical moment, in order to clear his vision and steady his nerves, he would answer, "No, but I am so nervous and excitable that I am apt to fire before the birds have fairly risen and to miss them by firing over their heads, unless I check my impetuosity by taking a hasty pinch."

The rector of Tunstall and the other places was a superlatively patriotic person. In 1803-4, when the volunteers were revived and every ploughman of the Eastern Counties glowed with martial ardour, the Rector raised a strong company of volunteers. Consisting for the most part of the young farmers and labourers of Tunstall and the adjoining parishes, the corps was commanded by the Rector himself, who, as the duly commissioned Captain of the force, used to drill his men on Sundays. At the beginning of the 19th Century it was the fashion for officers of the Army to wear their uniform at all places and hours of the day, and in his military fervour, the handsome Rector wore his red coat at dinner parties and dances. It was even alleged that he wore it in church under cover of his canonical habiliments. Whilst he was wearing his red coat as his usual dress, the Rector was invited by his Bishop to pass two nights at the Palace of Norwich. On his return from the cathedral city the Rector spoke and had reason to speak with complacence of the civilities which the Bishop had lavished upon him. But inferences were drawn by the Rector's neighbours from the fact that he henceforth forbore to wear his military costume when he was not on duty with his soldiers.

In his later time, when he had become the Rector of Longhborough-cum-Seasoncote, co. Gloucester, this handsome clergyman rarely visited Suffolk, unless he was in attendance upon the Marquis of Hertford at Sudbourne, in the shooting season. Taking for his second wife a considerable heiress, whose surname Baldrey he assumed, in accordance with her father's will, though no one of his multitudinous friends ever called him by it, he was rich enough to keep house in London and follow the pleasures of the town, where he was known to "all the world" and was on equally good terms with the great people of Mayfair and the comparatively insignificant people (including such Jews as the Disraelis and the Lindos), who gathered about his brother, John Jeaffreson - the Islington surgeon. He died at his residence in Connaught Terrace, Hyde Park, after a very long and severe illness.


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William Jeaffreson, F.R.C.S

William Jeaffreson, opthalmic surgeon to the Hon. East India Co. on their Bombay, Malabar and China Establishment, had from January 1824 to October 1834, 53,359 cases of every class of opthalmia; 8,680 cases of which he did not treat, as being incurable; 36,564 he restored to perfect sight, by operation and other treatment; 8,108 were restored to a useful degree of sight, or relieved , and only seven of all this vast number died of fungus haematoides. The foregoing statement included 67 cases of persons born blind, as also of many others, who, from 5 to 20 years, had remained in total darkness. In addition, however, to these cases, 2,300 persons had been cured or relieved of deafness and 37,500 of other various diseases, many of whom had submitted to severe operations of various kinds.

In addition to this flattering account of William Jeaffreson's success, contained in a Bengal paper, the natives presented him with a more substantial reward, viz. a service of plate which cost 300 guineas.


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The Rev. Herbert Hammond Jeaffreson, M.A. Cantab.

Herbert Hammond Jeaffreson was educated by a private tutor, then at Brentwood, and afterwards at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was ordained Deacon in 1872, and was Curate first at Cookham Dene, then at St. Michael's, Highgate. He was married in 1874, and later in the same year he was ordained Priest.

In 1878 he left Highgate and helped Mr. Liddell of St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, on Sundays, while in the week he assisted Mr. Cleaver, of St. Peter's Home, Kilburn; he gave increasing time to this latter work, till on Mr. Cleaver's resignation, he was in sole charge there.

In 1887 his health broke down, and for a year or two he was mostly abroad in Italy and Switzerland, returning in 1889 to be assistant Priest at St. Augustine's, Kilburn, under Mr. Kirkpatrick. In 1894 he again left England for reasons of health, and lived at Fiesole, ministering at both the English churches in Florence and also in the chapel of his own house, the Villa degli Angeli, by permission of Bishop Collins of Gibraltar, one of his best and dearest friends, whose Chaplain he became. During the last two or three years of his life his health failed more and more, until he passed away on October 29th, 1909.

Such was the uneventful outward setting of Herbert Jeaffreson's life; all its distinction and significance was in the mental and spiritual region. There was a certain reserve and shyness in his temperament, partly perhaps due to the fact that he had never had the full, free, corporate life of a public school, partly due to his delicate health. But if he lost some things in his education, he gained others; he escaped the conventionality which is apt to beset those whose minds are cast into one mould, and he had the inner solitude in which original thought is best developed.

Brought up in the Evangelical School of thought, his mind opened to other influences at Cambridge. Once, while still an undergraduate, when discussing with several friends what they wished to aim at in life, he said he should like to write something on the Christian Faith on the lines of Plato's ontology. This he did later in life, publishing in 1888 his book on The Divine Unity and Trinity, a work full of suggestion and both stimulating and controlling thought.

Of Herbert Jeaffreson's character it is not easy to speak; perhaps most difficult to those who knew him best. One may name this quality or that, but in the analysis the rare charm of the personality eludes us and evades description. A stranger, seeing him for the first time, would be struck by his courtesy, warmed and kindled by cordiality and brotherly kindness, and brightened by his delightful humour. It has been mentioned as one of the characteristics of a saint that he is apt to appear to have no use for his time if it is possible for him to do you a service; this, in his case, was profoundly true. He held, not only theoretically, but practiclly, the unity of all men and all creatures in one Centre, and his kindliness went out to all; to a starved, ugly cat, perhaps, which looked as if no one had ever caressed it before; to an ill-used, emaciated donkey, which he bought that it might die in comfort, and which revived into health and strength; to an Italian organ-grinder in Kilburn, who was a dear friend; to strangers and the unattractive, as well as to the most cultured and delightful people; he gave himself in some degree to all.

The little chapel in the villa became a centre of influence and help; through it he reached many who would hardly otherwise have come in contact with such aid, and who owed more to it than they could express. But he never confined his sympathies to those of his own communion. He threw himself into Italian life and thought with keen interest, and had many friends among both clergy and laity. His article on Modernism in the Church Quarterly Review showed how he could appreciate both sides in the controversy, and many Modernists, perplexed and distressed by the Papel authority, were kept patient and loyal to their Church by his wise counsel. His wide human interest in all with whom he came in contact never hindered his power of individual friendship; no one who had the privilege of his special friendship ever felt lost in a crowd; he gave himself to each one as perhaps to no other. As intercourse developed, it was seen how wide his interests were: art, science, poetry, history, public affairs, all had their place. With this wideness of interest he combined on many subjects full and exact knowledge. This is illustrated by the fact that he undertook the section "Central Italy" in Mr. Murray's Guidebook, a task obviously involving detailed artistic and practical information.

He published, besides his book on the Divine Unity and Trinity, a volume of Retreat addresses on the Magnificat, two short courses of sermons on the Holy Eucharist, preached in Florence, and a book on the Holy Catholic Church. It was his great desire to write one more on the remaining and last clauses of the Apostle's Creed, and for this he had accumulated much material; but during the last two or three years of his life his health failed so much that it was impossible for him to arrange his MSS. and shape them into a whole.

In his lovely home at Fiesole he lay through much of the last year of his life, at the point of death. He rallied to some extent and was able to be moved to Viareggio; but he spent only a day or two among the pine-woods by the sea, then the call came suddenly, and he passed on into the Life beyond.


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Samuel John Jeaffreson, M.D., F.R.C.P.

After graduating in medicine at Cambridge, Samuel Jeaffreson became a member of the Royal College of Physicians, and, settling in Half-Moon Street, essayed to establish himself in Metropolitan practice. But less fortunate in the Western quarter of the town than his cousin, Henry Jeaffreson (of St. Bartholomew's Hospital), in the City, he failed to draw to his consulting-room so numerous a body of supporters as would have induced him to persevere in the struggle for recognition in the Capital. Whilst the physician of St. Bartholomew's Hospital rose to lucrative practice with singular quickness and facility, Samuel Jeaffreson attracted but few patients in the district of the town, where his brother William, the oculist, followed his profession for several years, between his return from Bombay and his early retirement from surgical practice.

Untoward fortune had, however, no injurious effect on the buoyant spirits and kindly temper of the aspirant for medical employment, who no sooner changed the scene of his enterprise than prosperity resulted that fully compensated him for whatever mortification previous failure had occasioned him. Withdrawing from town and establishing himself in Warwickshire, he speedily surrounded himself with congenial and influential friends, and gained all the professional rewards attainable by a physician in so popular and fashionable a town as Leamington. In due course he became a Fellow of the College of Physicians, and physician to the Warneford and Leamington Hospital and to the Warwick Dispensary; and, whilst drawing large emolument from practice amongst the most affluent and cultivated classes, Leamington residents and visitors, made himself no less beloved by the poor who came under his charge than cordially regarded by his professional neighbours.

Though it is probable that no little of his first success in Warwickshire was due to a name which caused him to be confounded in the popular mind with the very successful physician whom he succeeded about 1869-70, it is certain that Samuel Jeaffreson's good fortune and social prominence were the result of his own sterling worth. A man of large intellectual attainments and liberal culture, he combined the pleasant manners and dignified urbanity with the mental qualifications of an accomplished physician.

In comparatively early life Dr. Jeaffreson married a daughter of James Kenney, the dramatic writer.


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William Julius Jeaffreson, M.A. Oxon.

William Julius Jeaffreson began his education at Leamington College. Proceeding thence to Uppingham School, where he was a pupil of the renowned Dr. L. Thring, he eventually won a scholarship at Lincoln College, Oxford, then under the Rectorship of Mark Pattison, whose friendship he won, and who on many occasions bore high testimony to his ability, manly character, and vigorous nature. Here also he made many close and enduring friendships, including Viscount Morley, Dr. Strachan-Davidson, Master of Balliol, and many others.

Shortly after taking his degree, he went to Bombay as Principal of the Elphinstone Institution, though barely 24 years of age. A brilliant career in the Indian Educational Service appeared to be opening before him, when he was struck down by fever, the effects of which he never entirely shook off, and was compelled to return to England, where, acting on medical advice, he resigned his appointment; the Government of India concurred with the Director of Public Instruction in expressing their sense of the great loss to education entailed by his resignation. The splendid work accomplished by him during his tenure of office was amply testified by numerous letters from his superiors, colleagues and pupils. Sir Alexander Grant, then Director of Public Instruction in the Presidency of Bombay, said that "the Elphinstone High School, the most important school in Western India, was then in a half-developed and also somewhat disorganized condition. Mr. Jeaffreson, by his vigorous and able administration, restored the school and put it on so good a footing, that it has continued to flourish ever since."

Later, he took a mastership at Radley College, and thereafter settled at Folkestone, where for a number of years he successfully prepared candidates for the Civil Service, Army, and Universities, at the same time taking an active part in the affairs of the town as a Justice of the Peace, etc., and on all occasions compelling admiration for his fearless and straightforward character. Finally, migrating to London, he occupied the last decades of his life with varied literary newspapers, and editing for several years the Bayswater Chronicle, in which his weekly short Notes expressed his upright, discerning and impartial judgement, and were widely appreciated.


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Christopher Samuel Jeaffreson, M.D., F.R.C.S.

Dr. Christopher Samuel Jeaffreson, the well-known specialist on eye diseases, went to Newcastle in the year 1869 as a partner in the practice of Sir John Fife. He succeeded that gentleman as surgeon of the Newcastle Eye Infirmary, in connection with which institution he was well known to the general public. He took a deep interest in its work, and his efforts contributed largely to make it an agency of great usefulness to the working classes. Dr. Jeaffreson's reputation as a specialist in eye complaints was not confined to that district. He invented a machine for readily testing colour blindness, and two other instruments of great usefulness in his branch of surgery were designed by him.

Amongst the positions held by Dr. Jeaffreson, were membership of the British Medical Association and Northumberland and Durham Medical Society, surgeon of the National Society for the Aid of Sick and Wounded in War, and surgeon registrar of Westmorland Hospital. He was formerly an assistant surgeon of the Newcastle Infirmary, medical tutor and assistant demonstrator of the Anat. Syd. College, Brimingham; senior resident surgeon of the Royal Free Hospital, London; and house surgeon at St. Bartholomew's Hospital.

Dr. Jeaffreson took a warm interest in the volunteer movement. His first connection with the force was in the year 1866, when he joined the Brimingham Rifles as an officer. Removing from that town, he resigned his commission in that regiment. In 1878 he joined the 3rd V.B. Northumberland Fusiliers, which was then termed the 1st N.T.R.V., as a Captain, and he gradually rose to the post of second in command. He had some experience of active service. Shortly after the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War he was appointed one of the surgeons of the English National Aid Society under the Geneva Convention. His experiences during the campaign were published in a series of articles addressed to the Daily Journal, and were re-published in the shape of a small volume entitled Under the Red Cross. This little book attracted much attention, and had a large sale at the time of its publication. Dr. Jeaffreson was also the author of several medical books.


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Marie Therese (Lily) Jeaffreson, L.R.A.M.

Lily Jeaffreson studied singing in Paris and at the Royal Academy of Music. She adopted the name Holcroft Jeaffreson as her professional title, and established herself, on the death of her father, as a teacher of music and singing in the town of Leamington. It was at first an up-hill fight, but with time there came recognition of her abilities, her strength of character, her earnestness and strenuousness of endeavour. During the long period covered by her active life as a professor of music, she had the satisfaction of training many pupils afterwards grateful for her helpful sympathy as a teacher and for the thoroughness of her methods. Her interest in music never waned. She organized concerts and acted as a Member of the Executive Committee of the Leamington and County Musical Festival. She was greatly pleased with the movement, contributed prizes, and had the satisfaction of knowing that on more than one occasion her own pupils were successful competitors. Lily Jeaffreson supported quietly and unostentatiously various philanthropic movements in the town, and was greatly respected for her urbanity of disposition and unvarying goodness.


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Rosa Harriet Jeaffreson (Mrs. Newmarch).

Rosa Harriet Newmarch was born at Leamington and educated chiefly at home. She is well known today as an accomplished musician, a composer, a linguist, and an authority on Slavonic poetry and music. She began literary work about 1885. She visited Russia and studied under the art critic, Vladimir Stassov. She constantly re-visited Russia, and kept in touch with artistic and literary movements there. She has been the writer of analytical notes for the Queen's Hall Orchestra since 1908. Her publications are:- Barodin and Tchaikovsky, 1900; The Life and Letters of Tchaikovsky, edited and translated from the Russian, 1906; Horae Amoris, songs and sonnets, 1903; Songs to a Singer, 1906; Poetry and Progress in Russia (essays and translations), 1907; The Russian Opera, 1914; The Russian Arts, 1916. She edits the Living Masters of Music Series and contributes to reviews, to the Dictionary of National Biography, and Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

Mrs. Newmarch has a son, John Henry Newmarch, B.A., M.B. Cantab., M.R.C.P.; and a daughter, Elizabeth Virginia Newmarch.


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John Jeaffreson, M.R.C.S.

John Jeaffreson MRCS.

There have been three family doctors in Islington - father, son and grandson - each of whom bore the name of John.

John Jeaffreson I. of Islington was apprenticed in his youth to the famous surgeon, John Abernethy, of Bedford Row and St. Bartholomew's Hospital, who conceived a warm affection for him in his boyhood, and lived in cordial friendship with him till death divided them. Bearing a strong personal resemblance to his father and brother, this John Jeaffreson was a tall and remarkably handsome man, and, by his mental endowments and moral excellence, became a social power in Islington and its neighbourhood, where he established himself as a surgeon and apothecary.

Enjoying a lucrative practice at Islington, when it was still a small village separated by an interval of fields and insecure roads from the metropolis, he became more and more prosperous in his vocation, as the village extended its bounds and became a populous suburb of London. He was commended by severe moralists as a bright example of goodness, and beloved by people of all sorts and conditions for his benevolence and courtly manners.

In several respects he differed notably from those of his neighbours, who might be styled the principal gentlefolk of Islington. Whilst they held aloof from the prosperous Jews, who were numerous there and in the neighbouring village of Stoke Newington, he showed his superiority to a cruel predjudice by living socially with those of his Jewish neighbours, who were persons of education and refinement. The surgeon was well aware that this was displeasing to some of his Christian patients, but he was not a man to be deterred by considerations of self-interest from doing what he thought right. John Jeaffreson numbered amongst his friends Isaac D'Israeli, the father of the famous statesman, Benjamin Disraeli, who passed a considerable proportion of his childhood at Islington. According to Lord Beaconsfield's biographers he was born in John Street, Bloomsbury, but John Jeaffreson used to declare that the famous statesman's birthplace was Upper Street, Islington. His story was that Isaac D'Israeli had taken a house next door to his own, in order that his wife might have the benefit of the country air, and that little Benjamin arrived so unexpectedly that Mrs. Jeaffreson, the doctor's wife, had to supply the necessaries. Little Benjamin Disraeli on one occasion distinguished himself by slipping into John Jeaffreson's consulting-room, while he was having a siesta, and with a sharp pair of scissors cutting off the surgeon's queue, without waking him. When John Jeaffreson awoke, he found his queue neatly laid out on the table in front of him, but he took the incident with remarkable mildness, as only a mark of the angelic devilry of the lovely child, who was such a favourite. The hair of the severed queue was made into a bracelet, which one of the ladies of the family preserved. John Jeaffreson's eldest daughter was of the same age as Benjamin Disraeli, and they exchanged vows of affection, which lasted for years, until separation ended the boy-and-girl attachment.


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Henry Jeaffreson, M.D. Cantab., F.R.C.P.

Henry Jeaffreson passed his earlier years under conditions highly favourable to intellectual development and enterprise, and enjoyed from childhood upwards the advantages of a liberal education and daily intercourse with cultivated minds. At an early age he became a scholar of St. Paul's School, at that time under the control of Dr. Sleath. He was very popular with his schoolfellows, and that his time passed there, upon the whole, agreeably and not unprofitably to himself, may be inferred from the pleasure which he manifested in telling anecdotes of Dr. Sleath, and from the personal interest he took in the welfare and life of the school. Just two-and-a-half years before his death he joined in a friendly meeting of old Paulines at a dinner at which the most distinguished of living Paulines, Sir Frederick Polluck, took the chair. On that occasion it was observed how heartily the physician concurred in the acclamations which greeted each of the successive speakers who had contributed to the "eclat" of the school; and this was the more noticeable because, when the dinner committee had suggested that, as the most distinguished doctor in the fraternity of Old Paulines, he should respond to the toast of "The Medical Profession," with that modesty which throughout life characterized his conduct in small no less than great things, he declined the compliment on the ground that "it wasn't in his way to put himself forward in public."

On leaving St. Paul's School with an exhibition, Henry Jeaffreson proceeded to Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he took the three medical degrees, M.B. (1834), M.L. (1836), and M.D. (1838). In 1836 he bacame a Member of the College of Physicians, and a candidate for the post of assistant-physician at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, where he had signalized himself as an indefatigable student and vigilant observer of disease, and, notwithstanding his comparative youth, was so fortunate as to be elected. That he was assisted in his candidature by his father's influence with some of the Governors, and also by his father's close friendship with some of the leading teachers of the St. Bartholomew's school, is probable; but such personal influence would have been of no avail had he not been able to claim the suffrages of the Governors on the ground of sterling merit, or had he not won the respect and support of the teachers by an indisputable display of qualities that, to discerning judges, were predictions of his future success. His election to St. Bartholomew's Hospital was a great step, and that he did not underrate its importance was proved by his exclaiming with grateful enthusiasm, in the full summer of of his renown and prosperity, "I owe everything to my position at St. Bartholomew's." It never crossed his mind that St. Bartholomew's owed anything to him. That he did his duty to the best of his abilities his conscience assured him; but such was the fine modesty of his energetic and chivalrous nature, such the inclination of his mind and temper to think lightly of his own powers, and to magnify the beneficial consequences of auspicious incidents, that he was more ready to thank others than to commend himself for the results of his exertions, and more inclined to attribute the sum of his well-earned success to good fortune than personal merit.

But his anxiety for the future did not cease with his appointment to the Hospital, of which he became a cheif ornament. It is not often that a physician succeeds in London practice without the aid of private fortune to support him during the years when, though work may be abundant, fees are, under ordinary circumstances, few, and of the lowest rate permitted by professional etiquette. And seldom has a physician begun his career with more slender pecuniary resources than those with which Henry Jeaffreson established himself at No. 2, Finsbury Pavement. One of a numerous family, the young assistant-physician had to depend upon himself; and that he succeeded in his ambition was in no way due to the possession of qualities by which adventurers of hard stuff, and no excess of delicacy, sometimes thrust themselves into the first rank of a crowd of competitors. Regarding his circumstances at the outset of his career, if we were speaking of any other man than Henry Jeaffreson, we should say that he forced his way into rapid success; but such an expression would altogether misrepresent the moral texture and spirit of the man, who never acheived anything by force, and gained every position in the battle of life by an irresistable gentleness that in practical effectiveness far transcends the grosser power for which the proper name is force. We must think then of Henry Jeaffreson winning his way over obstacles through which ruder mortals were forcing a path. But while we thus describe the mode of his success, and declare him to have been a rare master of the winning faculty, to prevent misapprehension we must put on record that the earth never owned an honester man, or one more pure of artifice, more incapable of the sort of subtlety that does not endure exposure to the light.

An incident which brightened this period of his career deserves to be commemorated, as it illustrates the faculty of drawing men towards himself which distinguished him in his earlier, no less than his later years. Scarcely had he taken up his quarters in Finsbury Pavement, and made aquaintance with the fears that are the shadows of a young man's hopes, when John Abernethy's son-in-law, Dr. Warburton, in a letter of the most delicate consideration and friendship, pressed upon him a loan of 500 pounds, which sum, ere he wrote the letter, Dr. Warburton had paid to his account at his bankers. This beautiful act of friendship met with the best reward of benevolence. It was of essential service to him whom it was designed to assist, and before the fund was exhausted, Dr. Warburton had the delight of knowing that his friend was quickly gliding into a sound practice. The success thus begun encountered neither diminution or check. In 1839 Henry Jeaffreson became a Fellow of the College of Physicians, in which learned Society he became Third Censor in June, 1849; Second Censor in 1850; Senior Censor in 1857. In 1838 he was elected Physician to the Drapers' Institution; in 1839 he was appointed Physician to the Argus Insurance Company; in 1843 he was gazetted Physician to the Honourable Artillery Company; he became in 1847 Consulting Physician to the Holborn Dispensary; in 1848, the year of his appointment to act as Consulting Physician to the Commercial Traveller's School, the Governors of the Consumption Hospital made him their Consulting Physician; and in 1854, after 18 years of assistant's service, he became a Physician of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. The Northern Assurance Company was another important association that secured his professional counsel.

The work involved by the tenure of these appointments was considerable - he used to go round his wards at St. Bartholomew's at 8 a.m. - but it was in private and consulting practice that he found the greater as well as the more lucrative part of his employment. Chiefly through those attractive qualities, which drew men to him, he gathered about him a numerous body of patients. As years went on the circle of his operations steadily widened, the burden of his duties increased, and he enjoyed for many years a far larger consulting practice than any of his professional contemporaries. The confidence of general practitioners in his judgement, tact, and delicate consideration, was without reserve. One of the subordinate causes of his success and universal popularity was the thorough kindliness of his nature, which made him more quick to think for others than for himself.

In what are called the higher professional grades, Henry Jeaffreson was no less poular. To his rivals he was incapable of jealousy or any kind of ungenerous action; to rising men he was always ready to extend sympathy and assistance. By the students of St. Bartholomew's he was highly appreciated. They were won by his unaffected urbanity and gracious carriage; and even those for whom his winning cordiality and almost feminine softness of address had no special charms, admired him for the vigour of his slight frame and his well known prowess in manly sports. In short, he was a fine type of a highly cultivated English gentleman, whose air and temper were no trivial powers in the moral education of the young men who followed him through the wards. No sketch can do the faintest justice to Henry Jeaffreson's lovable qualities and great usefulness that omits to take notice of his domestic life. His house in Finsbury Square was a common ground whereon men of conflicting views and interests could meet and learn to like each other, and he took the greatest pleasure in contributing to the enjoyment of those he gathered under his roof. There was in him such a cordial and inspiriting vivacity, such a manifest capacity for enjoyment, so long as those around him looked happy, that even despondency was compelled to wear a cheerful face in his presence. One of his chief characteristics was his kindly spirit in judging others, and the pain he evidently felt when any around him spoke unkindly of others. When it appeared as if the actions of others must be unkind, he always said that no one could know their motives or their provocations.

A secondary cause of Henry Jeaffreson's popularity was his keen enjoyment of society. A more social, buoyant, companionable creature never lived. In manly sports he was also a proficient. His autumn holiday was always taken with his gun in his hand, and one of his oldest patients, an enthusiastic sportsman, once raised the laughter of a dinner-table by observing, "The first time I saw Jeaffreson was in a piece of turnips, when we were out after the partridges; and soon after that I went up to London and consulted him about my health, for I was sure that such a good shot must be a first-rate doctor." As a sportsman he found congenial exercise for a frame which, though of slight and even delicate appearance, abounded in vigour, and had been trained from boyhood to delight in athletic exertion. At all periods of his life he was a great walker, and would often begin the day by taking a walk that would have exhausted the strength of a mere lounger. At Cambridge he achieved a knowledge of the fistic art, which towards the close of his career, when garotters infested the town, enabled him to bring within the grip of the law a brace of ruffians who attacked him on his way from St. Bartholomew's Hospital to Finsbury Square, doubtless under the impression that the white-headed doctor, whose grey hairs endowed him with a most deceptive appearance of age, was not the sort of man from whom "mischief" was to be feared.

Dr. Jeaffreson was still an active, athletic man when an attack of typhus fever, caught in the discharge of duty, terminated his existence. His last hours of consciousness were characterised with the same generous feeling and action which he had shown through life. When he perceived the nature of his illness he gave a colleague a letter of introduction to the Life Insurance Companies, whose adviser he was, and desired him to call on them at once. The colleague said, "Oh, but you will get quite well." "No," said Henry Jeaffreson, "a man of my age does not get well of typhus." Having made a final arrangement of his worldly affairs, he set his mind, so long as it remained under his control, towards the better life which he knew he was about to enter. Towards the twelfth day of the fever his extreme exhaustion closed, as he had predicted it would, somewhat suddenly in death. Thus passed, in the 57th year of his age, a physician of rare intellect, and still rarer moral endowments. In those places of the city of London where large numbers of his patients daily congregated for business, the announcement of his decease was received with a concern that may almost be called consternation. His professional colleagues and friends hastened to express their admiration of his character. And amongst the many demonstrations of honour to the physician, and of love for the man, which the event called forth, not the least eloquent and impressive was the long line of mourners who followed him to Highgate, where he was interred in the presence of what may literally be termed a multitude, of which each unit valued him as a personal friend.

He produced no written works to serve as an evidence to posterity of his attainments, and when time has removed from the world those who were so fortunate as to know him, his reputation will have become little more than a name entered in the archives of hospitals and the records of learned societies. But posthumous fame is no sure criterion of the value of human lives, and of Henry Jeaffreson it may be asserted that his influence will be a strong a salutary power amidst the manifold forces which make the life of a great people, long after his name shall have been forgotten.

ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S HOSPITAL.

At a General Court of Governors, held on Thursday, the 20th day of December, 1866.

Present - William Foster White, Esquire, Treasurer, in the Chair. It was Resolved unanimously, -

"That in declaring a Vacancy in the Office of Physician to this Hospital, caused by the lamented decease of Dr. Henry Jeaffreson, this Court feels it is a duty to place upon its Minutes a record of the high sense it entertained of the professional skill, assiduity, earnestness and zeal ever manifested by Dr. Jeaffreson in the faithful performance of his duties during the thirty years of his connection with this Hospital, and particularly to mark the sense entertained of his kindness and gentleness evinced to the poor patients under his care. To all connected with this Hospital he had endeared himself by his urbanity, firmness, and amiable disposition. In him the Governors of this Royal Hospital feel they have lost a friend, as well as a most faithful and efficient officer. This testimony is borne to his merit, and in grateful acknowledgement of his services while living, as also to mark the deep feeling of respect entertained for his memory."

(Signed) WILLIAM FOSTER WHITE,
Treasurer.


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The Rev. Charles Babington Jeaffreson, M.A. Cantab.

Charles Babington Jeaffreson graduated at Pembroke College, Cambridge. He obtained his B.A. degree in January 1841, and M.A. in June 1844. He was ordained Deacon in December 1842, and Priest in March 1844. He was Curate of Winslow, Cheshire, 1842-46, then he had sole charge of Maulden, Bedfordshire, until July of the latter year, when he became the first Rector of Christ Church, Heaton Norris, Lancashire. The Rev. C. B. Jeaffreson did a valuable work in that parish, and was much beloved. At the time of the Cotton Famine he was most generous and sympathetic towards the distressed operatives, obtaining large sums of money weekly, chiefly from his wealthy friends in London and elsewhere, and dispensing the same in food and clothing to all the deserving in his parish. His earnestness in the pulpit and devotion to duty, always brought large congregations to the church. His travels through Europe, Egypt and Palestine prior to his taking a cure of souls, fitted him for expounding the Scriptures, with an interest to his hearers which few congregations are privileged to enjoy. He published two volumes of his sermons, which had a wide circulation. In 1866, when he had been in the parish for 20 years, the parishioners met together to recognize his ministerial labours, and presented him with an address, a purse containing 150 pounds and a silver salver. Babington Jeaffreson had several years of ill-health, and he died, aged 58, having been Rector for 31 years.


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Alfred Ernest Jeaffreson, M.B., B.Ch. Cantab.

On the threshold of a promising career, and within a week of his final M.B. examination at Cambridge, Ernest Jeaffreson made the tragic discovery of tubercle bacilli in his own lungs.

Acting on the advice of his friends, he decided to go out to South Africa, but postponed his departure in order to take his M.B. degree before sailing in February, 1898. He went into partnership with Dr. Cockerton, at Rouxville, in the Orange Free State. Within three months of his arrival his prospects were good, his health had improved, and there seemed every chance of his lung trouble being cured. Then suddenly came the South African War, and he and his partner were comandeered to serve as medical officers with the Boer forces.

Ernest Jeaffreson remained with the Boer Commando for six weeks, when, as there was no fighting, his services were dispensed with, and he returned to Rouxville. In January, 1900, he moved to Aliwal North, which was re-taken from the Boers by the Colonial troops two months later.

In March, 1900, he was sent out from Aliwal to attend to some wounded men belonging to a small force occupying a kopje, and while there was exposed to a strong Boer fire, which lasted for 24 hours with but little interruption. The position, proving untenable, was at length abandoned, and Ernest, left alone in charge of the wounded, fell into the hands of the Boers. He was recognized by some of the men belonging to the very Commando with which he had been compelled to serve at the beginning of the war. A lively debate then followed as to why he should not be summarily shot as a deserter! But his protests as a non-combatant and British subject claiming the protection of the Geneva Convention prevailed, and he was allowed to ride off, thinking himself safe under the flag of truce he carried. However, he had not ridden far before bullets began to fly unpleasantly close from the Boer lines he had just left - whether to harm or only alarm he never stopped to consider, but rode for all he was worth until safe out of range.

At a later period he joined General Brabant's force, and had charge of military hospitals at Thaba N'chu and Harmonia, in the Orange River Colony. Before the close of events he was transferred to Cape Town on plague duty. But the heavy work and privations he had already undergone resulted in a sudden breakdown of his health. By the time peace was declared he had lost almost everything he had, and considered himself lucky to receive compensation from the Government at ten shillings in the pound.

From Cape Town he went back to Aliwal North, where he spent a successful year in practice, but was again invalided with his old complaint. This did not, however, interrupt his work, and though confined to his bedroom he still continued to see his patients. On his recovery he returned to Rouxville in hope of restoring the practice he had lost during the war. Persistant ill-luck followed him. The local Dutch hated him for serving his country, and when the post of district surgeon was made, that country's Government replaced him by a stranger. He then left the Orange River Colony, and moved in 1904, with his old partner, Dr. Cockerton, to Middleton, in the Transvaal. There, for the next year or two, matters prospered, and the practice for the time being proved a success.

Ernest Jeaffreson bought a house and married. His letters at a later date contained most encouraging news of his prospects, and he wrote in high spirits of the birth of a daughter, and the lovely garden he had cultivated, wherein grew "carnations of great beauty, roses of surpassing sweetness, and cauliflowers of amazing whiteness!" All went well until the summer of 1906, which, being an unusually hot and wet one, proved disasterous to him physically and professionally. His health once more gave way, and he went rapidly downhill. Patients became bankrupt, or just omitted to pay their debts, until, at length, he decided to give up his partnership.

Hoping to regain lost ground he again returned to Rouxville in the latter half of 1906, and there, after a brave struggle of ten years against ill-health and varying fortune, he died on December 1st, 1907.


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R. P. Jeaffreson coat of arms.

Sarah Sophia Blackett, wife of John Furrance Jeaffreson.

The Blackett family was seated at a remote period, and for a long time at Wylam, in Northumberland. It was descended from Sir John Blackett, knight, of Woodcroft, one of the heroes of Agincourt. William Blackett, Esq., of Wallington, in Northumberland, was created a baronet by King James II., 23rd January 1685. The baronetcy became extinct 25th September 1728.


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Therese Uzielli, wife of Richard Percival Jeaffreson.

Therese Uzielli was the younger daughter of Clement Uzielli, an Englishman of Italian lineage. The father of Clement Uzielli was a lawyer and one of the most distinguished linguists of the day, being familiarly conversant with thirteen languages, as well as gifted with rare and scholastic attainments. Clement Uzielli's brother was the eminent banker, Matthew Uzielli, of Hanover Lodge, Regent's Park, the projector and principal instrument in carrying out a great many of the Continental railways, whose most important services in this respect were so highly appreciated by our neighbouring European potentates, that they awarded him the following distinguished honours:- the Order du Chene of the Netherlands, the Order of Leopold of Belgium and the Legion of Honour of France.


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Annie Amelia Jeaffreson.

When Bishop Walsham How was Bishop of Stepney, Annie Jeaffreson and her sister Julia, started the "Twenty Minutes Work Society," in connection with the East London Church Fund. By appealing to women throughout the country to devote a few odd minutes of the day to the benefit of the poor by the making of garments for their use, they were enabled to supply most of the poorer parishes in the East End with gifts of clothing year by year. In one year as many as 15,000 articles passed through their hands.

But it was as a Mission Worker that "Sister" Annie made her chief mark. She was not contented to uphold others in their self-sacrificing efforts to win back the masses in London to the service of Christ and His Church, but from an early period in her life she was engaged in active work of some kind which had the good of her fellow-creatures as its object. Perhaps Temperance was the cause which at first claimed her ardent devotion, and to it she gave time and talent and unceasing toil. At Stoke Newington, where she resided with her family for many years, she not only inaugurated a Branch of the Church of England Temperance Society, with its weekly meetings and much aggressive work, but she instituted on Temperance lines a Men's Club known as "The Amethyst," in order to supply the young men of the neighbourhood with a nightly resort where they could meet their friends and enjoy their games without inducements to excess of any kind. But of these beginnings came further developments. The spiritual aspect of the work in which she was engaged more and more unfolded itself before Sister Annie's mind, and took force in the erection of a Church Mission Hall, where, with the sanction and aid of the Parochial Clegy, special mission services were held and classes established of a definite religious character. It may be confidently said that she was the life and soul of all that went on there. Her determination of character, her burning zeal, her cheerful nature, and her untiring kindness, all combined to make her a power wherever she was.

But changes were at hand. Within a short time both mother and sister were taken from her, and, although her trial was borne patiently, she felt after a while that it was necessary for her to seek a change of scene and work, so, after careful consideration, she decided to transfer her residence and labours to a poorer locality, and offered herself to the parish of St. Columba, Kingsland, the Vicar of which had, as Curate of Stoke Newington, learned her value, and now eagerly accepted her proposals to assist him. From that time (1894) until within two years of her death she lived in the very heart of Hoxton, and threw her splendid energies and devotion into the task of alleviating the poverty and sorrows of the poor of St. Columba's parish. It was through her that sufficient funds were raised to keep the day-schools going, and long before Care Committees were started, and free meals were provided out of the rates, Sister Annie for years gave the poor mites of Hoxton substantial meals five days a week. From the Hostel of St. Barnabas, which she founded, various organizations proceeded, notably the medical mission of the Good Shepherd, of which H.R.H. Princess Louise was President. Her sympathies were of the widest and of the most practical character - she could equally well devote herself to the instruction of some seeker after truth, and keep in touch with a multitude of such cases, and deal with wonderful business tact with schemes involving thousands of pounds.

Through overwork, her health gave way in 1908. A severe illness incapacitated her for further work, and she returned to Stoke Newington, waiting patiently for the end, which came two years later. As so often happens, the heart of the people she had loved and served went out to her in the final scenes. Crowds gathered to her funeral, men and women spake with bated breath of all she had been to them, and many a tear was shed for one who had been a "Sister" indeed to the sick, the suffering, and the sad, inspiring them with her own faith and hope and love, in the strength of which she had lived bravely and died "in peace."


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The Great European War, 1914-1918.

Dudley Jeaffreson

War was declared between Great Britain and Germany on August 4th, 1914.

After the first few months of war, seeing that young medical men were in great request, Dudley Jeaffreson arranged with his neighbours to look after his practice in Blisworth, Northamptonshire, and applied for a commission in the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was gazetted Lieutenant R.A.M.C. 4th July 1915. He had been in the Army only two months when he was appointed medical officer in charge of the Cliff Military Hospital at Felixstowe, on the East Coast. This hospital was a large hotel converted for the purpose, and contained 160 beds. He held this appointment for 12 months, and found the work there both varied and interesting, as all the cases from four reserve battalions were taken in. During that time there were frequent raids by Zeppelins and aeroplanes, but no damage was done to the hospital. A short interval was spent on a travelling Medical Board, he was then appointed regimental medical officer in the Harwich Garrison, where he remained a long time.

In June 1918, Dudley Jeaffreson received orders to proceed to Italy, and after a five days' train journey, through lovely scenery, he reached his destination - No. 11 General Hospital at Genoa. Although there was plenty of work to do, he managed to find time to visit all the interesting places in that glorious city. A few months later he was moved to an infection branch of the hospital, situated in a delightful valley, a suburb of Genoa. The walks and climbs just outside the hospital doors were most enjoyable. The weather was hot, and there was no sign of rain for about two-and-a-half months.

In October, when the final push against the Austrians was expected, Dudley managed to get attracted as anaesthetist to a surgical team which was being sent to the front. A surgical team included a surgeon, anaesthetist, sister, and orderly. An attack was being arranged to drive a wedge between the V. and VI. Austrian Armies, and cut the communications connecting the Austrian forces in the mountains with those in the plains. The British 14th Corps, consisting of the 7th and 23rd Divisions, were with the Italian Tenth Army, whose first step was to be the crossing of the River Piave. This was accomplished by two British battalions, which were subjected to very heavy bombardment.

Dudley's surgical team went across Northern Italy by train to Thiene, where they found the Casualty Clearing Station crammed with cases of very bad influenza. After helping there for three days, they got orders at 11 p.m. to start off at once, as the casualties were coming in very fast. In half-an-hour they were packed into two motor ambulances and drove off through the night, about 45 miles, to another Casualty Clearing Station, near Treviso. Arriving there they set to work immediately, and kept hard at it all they next day, then they worked in shifts of 16 hours. In three days most of the British casualties had been dealt with, and they then attended to the Austrian prisoners. These took about another week, and they were treated in every way the same as our own men.


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Norman Henry Jeaffreson

When war was declared, Norman Henry Jeaffreson, being already a member of the Honourable Artillery Company, was immediately called up. His training was carried out with 2/A Battery in London, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Kent, and he quickly rose to be Bombadier, Corporal, and Sergeant. While he was in Norfolk, Zeppelins were continually invading the East Coast, and dropping bombs near the camp. The H.A.C. were warned that spies were directing these air-ships with lights from motor-cars. Orders were given to barricade the roads, and Norman was amongst those picked to keep guard, stop and search all motor-cars. One night a car came along at full speed and tried to rush the barricade, which proved too strong, the car turning a complete somersault. The two occupants, not being seriously injured, began to fire on the guard, one of whom they wounded, but they were soon over-powered and taken prisoners. When there were immediate expectations of an invasion by sea, the Battery often rushed to the coast to place the guns in prepared positions.

In Spetember, 1916, Norman was offered a commission in his own Battery (18-pounder guns), which he accepted, and proceeded to Exeter and Shoeburyness for his training as an Artillery officer. Having passed his examination, he received his commission in the Honourable Artillery Company, and was gazetted, 3rd February 1917, and then sent to the Reserve Battery H.A.C. at Leeds.

Meanwhile, 2/A Battery had been brigaded with 126th Army Field Artillery Brigade (which also included 2/B H.A.C. Battery), and had proceeded to France. On 2nd August Norman received orders to immediately join this Brigade, which was at Poperinghe, in Belgium. The third battle of Ypres was in progress, and, on arriving, he was posted to 2/B Battery, because of recent casualties in that battery, which was in action at Lancaster Farm, in front of Ypres. His next postion during the advance was at Admiral's Road, which a few days previously had been the German front line trench. As the enemy knew the position so well, and had the exact range, shelling was extra heavy. The Battery received a number of casualties and many times the guns had to be replaced. On 11th September Norman went down to the waggon lines for a few day's rest, but the same night received orders to prepare another battery position at Kitchener's Wood. He started at 1.30 a.m. with his groom to ride back to collect a party of men from the Battery to enable him to carry out the order, but because the Germans were heavily shelling the road with gas, the horses could not be taken very far, and he sent them back with his groom, and proceeded on foot alone, wearing his gas-respirator. The Battery at Admiral's Road was within 40 minutes walk, but through the difficulty of finding the way in the darkness over ground riddled with shell holes, the inconvenience of walking in the gas-mask, and many mis-adventures, it was an hour-and-three-quarters before he at last reached the position. He was obliged to wait until 5.30 before he could proceed with his men to prepare the new position. The work there was made more difficult as gas-masks had to be worn the whole time.

On September 17th the Germans gave one of their area-bombardments, which lasted for nine hours. This means that about 2,000 shells fell in one hour on an area of half-a-mile. Two of the guns of B Battery were put out of action, and about 4,000 rounds of ammunition destroyed by an incendiary shell which set fire to the camouflage and caused the ammunition in the gun-pits to explode. In order to prevent further damage, volunteers had to be collected who filled buckets with water from the shell-holes to extinguish the flames. This being carried out under shell-fire, and considering the frequent bursting of ammunition, it was surprising that only one casualty occurred. Next day the guns and ammunition were replaced, and a return bombardment was started by the English, which lasted for 24 hours, preparatory to an infantry attack on the 20th, which was quite successful.

Fighting went on like this until the 16th October, when the Battery was given a fortnight's rest. It then went back and took up a position in front of Passchendaele. The Germans had built concrete emplacements, nick-named pill-boxes, which were bristling with guns, and had to be destroyed before the Infantry could go forward. This work was given to the heavy guns, but Norman's battery of light guns, firing shrapnel, was employed to prevent the escape of men driven out of the these pill-boxes by the heavy shells. Norman was detailed to go up to a shell-hole in no-man's land to observe any movement of the enemy, and direct the fire of his guns. He had to remain in this shell-hole all day, even after the work was completed, as to have left it before nightfall would have meant instant death.

The Battery next took up a position at Poelcapelle, with 1,000 yards of the enemy, where it was a silent battery, owing to its extremely advanced position, until the day of the attack on Passchendaele, when it prepared the advance of the Infantry. The Battery was kept continually in action in the Ypres sector until February, 1918. In January Norman had an attack of trench fever, and was in hospital at Etaples, afterwards being sent to a convalescent home at Mentone. On February 18th he rejoined his Battery on the Bethune front, which was being held by Portugese Infantry, covered by English artillery. It was during March and April that the Germans broke through on this front, and the Battery was moved to different parts of the line to relieve the pressure of the German attacks. About the end of April the Brigade was sent on to the Loos front for a rest, as that was a quiet sector at the time. Though comparatively quiet, the English raided the German trenches on an average of twice a week. These raids were always supported by heavy artillery fire, acting as a barrage for the Infantry. In order to harass the enemy, 2/B Battery H.A.C. was detailed to place an 18-pounder gun on a truck which was run on a light railway. This gun was taken by a small motor-engine in various directions within a few hundred yards of the enemy's front line, and fired from the truck on important spots which could not be reached from the Battery position. This was exciting work which had to be carried out with great rapidity. Fortunately, B Battery sustained no casualties, but another battery doing the same work had the gun knocked out and recieved rather heavy casualties.

Early in July Norman had another attack of trench fever, and was sent to hospital and invalided home on August 5th. On recovery, his health not being good enough to return to France, he was put in the Reserve Battery in England. On November 11th, 1918, the Armistice was signed, and soon afterwards Norman recieved his discharge from the Army.


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Bryan Leslie Jeaffreson

When the Great War started, Bryan Leslie Jeaffreson had just left school and entered St. Bartholomew's Hospital as a student, having chosen the medical profession as his future career. On the completion of his first year's course he enlisted in the Infantry of the Honourable Artillery Company, and was put into the first Battalion. Five months were spent in training with the large Territorial Camp in Richmond Park, he was then sent out with a draft to France, arrived at Havre on January 27th, 1916, and a fortnight later, was sent on to St. Omer to join his battalion. The H.A.C. Infantry was at that time temporarily settled as an Officers' Training Corps, and quartered with the troops at General Head-quarters, here Bryan continued his training.

Late in April, General Head-quarters were moved from St. Omer to Hesdin and Montreuil. Bryan's Company made the journey from Blendecques to Hesdin (about eight hours), standing 36 in a cattle-truck, and then had to march on to Montreuil, carrying all their belongings, including a blanket each, on their backs. After six weeks heavy work they were sent back to Hesdin, this time travelling in motor-omnibuses to an outlying village, where they were billeted in the outhouses of a brick-field, but as the weather was getting warmer they usually slept in the open air. About the end of May they were moved to the town, and were billeted in the stables of the Cavalry Barracks, still doing the usual kind of hard training.

Early in July orders came for the whole Battalion to move in full marching order to an unknown destination. They marched 38 kilometres in two days to the village of La Comte, very near the front line. Bryan's Company did a fortnight's digging, working at night and sleeping by day, in the Bois du Bouvigny, where the Royal Engineers were making a cable trench. They went close to the village of Souchez, well within shell-fire, and got used to the sound of the guns and the shells whistling overhead. The whole Battalion was then billeted in the Wood in huts, and two companies were sent up the line and attached to the Hood Battalion of the Royal Naval Division, they were up there for four days and were then relieved by the other two companies, a few days rest, and then back again. The walk up to the trenches was through Aix Noulette and on to the Arras Road. Bryan's platoon was seen by the enemy entering the communication trench, and a machine gun was turned on to them, but happily no damage was done. The Battalion was next moved on to the village of Calonne, where they pushed right on to the front line in view of Vimy Ridge, and entered the trenches as a Battalion. Again they were four days in the trenches and about a week in billets, a mile behind the line, turn by turn. Here they had a few casualties. Suddenly they were relieved by another division and had three days march in very bad weather to Marquay, where they stayed a fortnight, not resting, but training hard all day and every day - practising attacks in the wave formation. On the last day of September the Battalion entrained for the Somme district, where the second Battle of the Somme was being fought.

After being a good 24 hours in the train the Battalion alighted at the small town of Varennes. Bryan was here put into the Lewis Gun Section. They had not been long in Varennes when they were marched on to Mailly-Maillet, a town within shell-range of the German guns. There, although it was bitterly cold at night, they were encamped in tents in a wood, but in a few days were sent up to the Redan trenches of the Beaumont-Hamel sector. These trenches were in a very bad condition, as the Germans were continually shelling them. A2 Lewis Gun Team - in which Bryan was No. 6 - was put in reserve in a dug-out near the Battalion head-quarters for a couple of days, and whilst there a shell burst in the trench close enough to smother them with dirt, then they were sent up for six days to a post in the front line, which was still more unpleasant. This position was situated about five yards from a trench-mortar, which the Germans were bombarding all day and all night, and Bryan's post came in for all the shells that did not quite arrive at their intended destination. The gun team had a waterproof sheet stretched across the trench, which they huddled under "for protection" when the shells fell too fast, their only other "place of safety" was a dug-out, two steps deep, where bombs were stored. Still, with the greatest good fortune under the circumstances, they all escaped injury. During the fifth night the Germans gave a bombardment with Minnen-werfer. These were trench-mortars firing shells a foot in diameter and about a foot high, which had a terrific explosion, killing by concussion alone anyone near. When these were fired at night they were known by the long bright tail of sparks following in their wake, like the tail of a rocket. It was a fine, though terrible sight, to see eight of these shells in the air at once. Although they fell on all sides of Bryan's little bit of trench, not one came too near. On the last day Bryan went down to guide up the relieving party. When he was bringing them up they all got smothered by a shell explosion, and one of the party lost his rifle and helmet. Being relieved, the left the trenches about noon, and had a tiring march with the guns and ammunition to the spot called Colincamps. There they picked up the hand-carts and horses, and tramped another five miles through Acheux to Lillevillers. They rested there for a night and the next day marched on to Puckvillers. The billets were only leaky and broken-down barns, so they were glad, when, after a week, they marched on to another village nearer the line called Hedauville. There they stayed about a fortnight in canvas huts, awaiting orders to make an attack. The weather at this time was very bad, the rain making the mud inches deep on the roads and round about the camp. On account of the weather the attack was postponed, and the H.A.C. Battalion was sent up the line again to take turn in holding the trenches.

Early in November, the weather showing signs of improvement, they prepared to make the attack. On Sunday the 12th, they were told they were going over the top of the trenches the next morning. They all rested in the ruins of the village of Hamel or in the road for the night. A2 Lewis Gun Team were huddled together in a ditch, trying to keep warm, and get some sleep. Bryan was awakened thoroughly at 4 p.m. by the terrific barrage, which showed that the Battle of the Ancre had begun, November 13th, 1916. The H.A.C. got into their position in the second wave, the Hood Battalion of the Royal Naval Division being in front. The morning was very misty, and the glare of the bursting shells shed a dull red light over everything. The noise was so tremendous that it was impossible to hear anyone, even shouting. The Hoods rushed over, accompanied by three Tanks. The clearing out of the dug-outs was left to the second wave. This was about the first time that Tanks were used, they were great armoured cars, bristling with guns, holding eight or ten men, and run on caterpillar wheels, capable of passing over trenches and knocking down almost any obstacle. The first wave received a lot of casualties from bombs and machine-guns, whilst the second wave came in for sniping and shells. The Sergeant-Major of Bryan's Company was killed by a German who fired behind other men who had put their hands up, in the mouth of a dug-out. By the Captain's order all were killed. Still, about 300 prisoners were taken. After advancing two-and-a-half miles, the Hood Battalion found they could not take the village of Beaucourt, and so dug themselves in just outside it, with the H.A.C. about a couple of hundred yards behind them. In the afternoon one of the H.A.C. Companies was ordered forward to reinforce the first wave. After proceeding about 50 yards along an old communication trench, Bryan and his team, at the head of their platoon, had to get into the open. Immediately, about half-a-dozen snipers opened fire, and the fellows went down like nine-pins. The rest jumped into shell-holes for a few seconds, and then started to go on again. But the fire was too hot to go forward, and they had to remain in shell-holes till dusk, and then return to the trench. At dawn of the 14th they were told to make another attack on Beaucourt. By this time Bryan was the only one left in the gun team, and he had to shoulder the gun for the first time. They were able to join the Hood Battalion without being seen, but the Germans soon opened a murderous fire with their machine-guns. After a few minutes the H.A.C. went over the top and rushed at the Germans, nearly all of whom surrendered. The H.A.C. were able to dig their line the other side of Beaucourt, and then underwent a severe bombardment from 8 a.m. that morning till midnight, when they were relieved. The next week they spent on the march, and eventually reached Nouvion, a large village, eight miles from Abbeville, where they stayed for six weeks, training hard all the time.

On the 13th January, 1917, they left Nouvion, marching back the way they had come in November, covering large distances every day. The weather was vile, snowing all the way. They arrived at Lealvillers on the 20th, and enjoyed there a well-earned week's rest. Bryan had been trying for a month to get his brother Ronald transferred from the 2nd Battalion H.A.C. to the 1st battalion, so that they should be together. On January 21st he heard that the 2nd Battalion was billeted for a couple of days in a small village about three miles away, being down from the trenches for a short rest. Bryan walked over to the camp and spent a few hours with Ronald, and talked over the plans for his transfer, which they were both very keen on getting through quickly, although it would mean the loss of promotion for Ronald. The brothers had not met for 12 months, and they were both so delighted at this chance encounter, which proved to be their last meeting.

The weather continued bitterly cold, bread, meat, and everything else were frozen as hard as nails. A Company went into Reserve for two days at Beaucourt, and then across the shell-strewn ground - full of memories of the preceding November - to the front line. The Lewis Gun Team was sent to some shell-holes far in front of the first line, and quite cut off from it. When they arrived at their position, after crossing open ground under fire, they found that only three of the team were to remain, and the other three to go back to a dug-out to wait their turn the following day. They all wanted to stay, having got there safely, but Bryan and two others went back to the dug-out. The next morning these three received the awful news that the post they had left so unwillingly had been raided by the Germans in the early hours, all the men there (about a dozen) taken prisoners, only one stunned Lewis Gunner left behind as dead, with one dead German, who was peppered with bullets.

On the 5th February they had a long march to another position on the front line, where they relieved the Drake Battalion, Royal Naval Division, who had taken the Ridge the day before. Everyone was expecting a counter-attack, but the Germans contented themselves with a heavy bombardment. They stayed there two days in an open trench in the bitterly cold weather, and on the 7th, went over the top again at 10.15 p.m., behind a terrific barrage. Their objective was Baillescourt Farm, which was on a ridge overlooking Bapaume. The Lewis Gun Team took up their position in a shell-hole, which they tried to deepen all night. When day broke they had to crouch down in this hole, not daring to move lest they should be seen, and so give away their position. The next night they were relieved and sent back to the support line, but instead of resting in a dug-out, they had to stay out in the bitter cold for two days and nights, returning to the shell-hole for two more days and nights, then down for a night in a deep dug-out. By this time Bryan's fingers were all numb and turning black with frost-bite, through continually touching the cold steel of the Lewis Gun. The weather was so bitter that even the usual rifle oil froze on the bolt of the gun, and they could not use it properly for a time, until they were advised to put paraffin on it, and then it worked well.

On the 14th, the Battalion was relieved, but they had a rough time getting away from the trenches, as the Germans had their usual heavy bombardment going on. Bryan now could not walk from frost-bite in his feet, and was sent to a Rest Camp at Lealvillers and then on to Varennes. The doctors examined him there and sent him in an ambulance train to Boulogne, where he was placed in the Australian General Hospital, and, after a week, sent off to a hospital in England, where he arrived on 1st March. In May, 1917, he was discharged from hospital, but not being considered fit for active service again, he was allowed to resume his studies at St. Bartholomew's Hospital.


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Ronald Percy Jeaffreson

Ronald Percy Jeaffreson

Ronald Percy Jeaffreson joined the Honourable Artillery Company as a volunteer in September, 1915, a few weeks before his 18th birthday. He chose the Infantry, as he was very anxious to be with his brother Bryan. He was put into the 3rd Battalion, but hoped later to get a transfer to the 1st Battalion. His first camp was at Blackheath, but he was soon sent to Richmond, where the two battaions were in training together, and for a short time the brothers occupied the same billet, until Bryan, in January, 1916, was drafted to France.

As boys under 19 years of age were found to be not matured enough to endure the strenuous life of active service abroad, Ronald was kept back, doing duty in England, until the following October, when he was sent to join the 2nd Battalion in Flanders. Having crossed the Channel, he spent his 19th birthday (October 5th) travelling for several hours with 40 men in a cattle-truck on the railway to the trenches. He at once took up duty in the trenches, and, before the 15th, was on guard looking out for an attack by gas. On November 12th he wrote - "We have been on the move again, and are a considerable distance from the firing -line. I am very well, and have got used, more or less, to this life. I find a private's life is much harder than I expected, and am sorry for many reasons that I did not take a commission when I had the opportunity."

The 2nd Battalion was following up and doing very much the same work as the 1st Battalion. All December, and until the middle of January, was spent in the trenches, the weather was very trying, cold and wet. Then they had a short rest, which was spent lying in barns, without any fires, in extremely cold weather. It was just at this time that Bryan was near enough to come over to see Ronald for a few hours. This was the only time the brothers met whilst in France, though Ronald was eager to get into the 1st Battalion to be with Bryan, but the exchange had been delayed. At the beginning of February the frost broke and mud took its place, this condition was very unpleasant, but preferable, when the only shelter from the cold was a barn.

In April, Ronald was having hard work and exciting times in the firing-line. The Germans were on retreat, and the H.A.C. were following them up, digging themselves into the earth as they went on, making little shanties to sleep in at night. It was very cold and miserably wet. On April 6th he wrote - "I have never worked so hard in all my life. Being planted in the middle of a field, with no cover, we had to dig furiously to get down into the earth to protect ourselves from the shells and cold wind. I worked hard all night and had to stop at day-break. We were very thankful all the next day for the work we had done during the night, as we had fine cover." About the middle of April he was promoted to be Lance-Corporal, and continued in the firing-line all through the month, sending post-cards almost daily to his anxious parents to say that he was well. The last one received was dated May 1st - then there was silence. Soon the dreadful news arrived that he was "missing."

Thinking that he might have been taken prisoner, exhaustive enquiries were set on foot, but, after some time had elapsed, the following facts were elicited, which destroyed the hope of ever seeing him again. The Battalion was at Bullecourt, in France, and an attack was ordered against a stronghold of the Hindenburg line. On the evening of May 3rd a small advance attack was made to draw the fire of the enemy's guns, in order to find out their position. Ronald's section went over the top of the trenches in the second wave, through a perfect hail of bullets and shells. Before they reached the Germans' second line of barbed wire the casualties were very heavy, but, in the darkness and smoke and general inferno, no one actually saw Ronald hit, only a big gap in the line was noticed. As the two men who were nearest to him were missing also, it was concluded that the three must have been struck directly by a shell or buried by one, as all trace of them was absolutely lost. The whole platoon felt very deeply his loss, as he was universally popular and loved by all.

His was a very lovable character, and a charming personality from earliest childhood. Affectionate, considerate, unselfish and deeply religious, he was a favourite with all who knew him. He was very musical, and as a boy, the possessor of a beautiful voice. For several years he was a member of the choir at St. Mary Magdalene, Enfield, where he generally sang the treble solos in the anthems, and sang with such feeling, that it was easy to realize that he fully meant what he sang. His parents placed a Memorial Stained-glass Window in this church, inscribed, "To the Glory of God, and in ever loving memory of our beloved son, Ronald Percy Jeaffreson, H.A.C., who was killed in action at Bullecourt, France, on the 3rd of May, 1917, aged 19 years." The subject is that of our Lord as a lad in the workshop at Nazareth.


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Kenneth Max Jeaffreson

By the time Kenneth Max Jeaffreson, the youngest of the four brothers, was old enough to take his part in the War, the Conscription Act had been passed. Before he reached his 18th birthday he joined the Artillery of the Honourable Artillery Company, to avoid passing into the Army as a conscript. After a short training in London, he was sent to the Reserve Battery at Leeds, but the armistice being soon afterwards signed, he was not sent out of England, although it was over two years before he was demobilized.


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Samuel Jeaffreson.

Living upon and cultivating his land at Pettistree and Wickham Market, Samuel Jeaffreson let his land in Kettleburgh to a farmer. He married a remarkably pretty girl named Anne Benington, the daughter of a small land-owner. He had lived to look upon the faces of three children, born to him by his charming little wife, when he was killed in his 29th year, by a kick from a horse, and was laid in Pettistree Churchyard on January 22nd, 1790. In the following August the young widow gave birth to her fourth child and second son, in the house in Wickham Market, to which she withdrew from Pettistree soon after her husband's death, and in which she reared her four children. It was not without difficulty that Anne Jeaffreson reared her children in accordance with their parental condition, for she was left in straitened circumstances by her young husband. No one of the widow's numerous friends aided her more cordially with good advice than her husband's cousin, Christopher William Jeaffreson, the Rector of Tunstall-cum-Dunningworth and Iken, grandson of John Jeaffreson of Bawdsey Hall. His cousinly kindness and care for the widow, and her confidence in his goodness, made him in an irregular and informal way the guardian of the orphans, who were reared within three or four miles of his parsonage.


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William Jeaffreson, F.R.C.S., of Framlingham.

Having received his early education at the Bury Grammar School, William Jeaffreson became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in 1812, after studying medicine and surgery for three years at the combined school of Guy's and St. Thomas's Hospitals.

His stature was five feet, eleven inches, and he was remarkable for the dignity of his aspect and bearing. On nearing his 50th year he was so unfortunate as to suffer from an attack of whooping-cough, whose violent paroxysms did him irreparable injury. After that illness he was seldom seen on horseback, and was compelled, in the colder seasons, to use a closed carriage. Fortunately, his mental vigour and spirits were not affected by this impairment of his bodily health, and he preserved his enthusiasm for scientific study, and all the brighter qualities of his charming personality to his 71st year, when his intellectual powers began to decline.

Being human, he was not absolutely faultless. A man of fervid temperament, he suffered throughout his life from a whimsical excitability, that often displayed itself in brief fits of vehement anger at trivial annoyances. But he made no enemies through this infirmity; for his ebullitions of displeasure were not more startling by their suddenness and violence than comical by their brevity, and he was so true a gentleman that even in his fiercest anger he never assailed the object of his disapproval with words likely to provoke passionate and obstinate resentment. Schoolboys sometimes spoke of him as "peppery," but they never feared the capricious storminess of his freakish, but always generous irritability.

With the exception of this solitary and venial infirmity, William Jeaffreson had not a failing. Charitable in his judgements of individuals, he was benignant in his dealings with all men. A romantic worshipper of his friends, he was placable to his enemies. Overflowing with sympathy for the poor he befriended them at every turn, cheering them with kindly words and relieving them with a bountiful hand in the seasons of their urgent distress. He was well mated with his wife, who was not more remarkable for the beauty of her noble countenance than for her intellectual refinement.

As William Jeaffreson, by means of The Lancet, and the scientific literature on which he sometimes spent more money than he could conveniently spare, kept himself well abreast with the leaders of medical science, he steadily improved as a physician from year to year, and it is an affair of scientific history that he was conspicuous amongst the surgical leaders of his period. A skilful lithotomist, he was also a no less successful lithotritist at a time when lithotrity was a new and too generally distrusted operation. Indeed, he was an habitual performer of all the more difficult and hazardous operations; and he became through his own surgical address the chief of a coterie of Suffolk surgeons, whose proceedings were watched with critical interest by the most brilliant operators of the London hospitals. He had won this honourable position in his secluded district of the Suffolk Woodland, and had enjoyed it for several years, when, in 1836, he was so fortunate as to earn for himself an enduring place amongst the Masters of British Surgery, through originating and practising the first successful modern operation of ovariotomy, through a small incision, one-and-a-half inches long. The cyst he removed in this manner is preserved in the museum at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, with a letter from Sir James Paget, acknowledging its authenticity. This operation he performed successfully five times. All that was needful for the universal acceptance of the operation by surgeons throughout the world was that a young London surgeon of adequate judgement and dexterity should make it his speciality; and such a surgeon eventually appeared in the person of Mr. Spencer Wells, whose splendid performance of what might be called his professional mission was in due course rewarded with wealth and a baronetcy.

In consideration of his professional services, William Jeaffreson was, in 1844, made an Honorary Fellow by the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons, a remarkable honour for a country doctor. From that time he went yearly to London for the annual dinner of the Council and Fellows of the College, for the pleasure of regarding the faces and listening to the speeches of the London surgeons. The admiration was not one-sided. The great London surgeons showed their good feeling and good taste in making so much of the fine old fellow from Suffolk, that he always returned in the cheeriest of good spirits to his peaceful and secluded neighbourhood, where he was honoured by rich and poor, as no doctor ever had been or will be honoured in that district.


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William Jeaffreson, M.R.C.S.

William Jeaffreson, of Bexley Heath, was an eccentric, religious and benevolent doctor. When he was still a student at University College Hospital, he would have entered the Roman Catholic Church had not his mother's entreaties restrained him. For a long period after his death he was remembered at Bexley Heath for his readiness to attend the poorest of poor people; and it was in ministering to some of these extremely indigent folk that he caught the fever that killed him.

The brief inscription on his tomb-stone is as follows:- "In Memory of William Jeaffreson, M.R.C.S., who died December 30th, 1846, aged 28. He was the poor man's friend, and sacrificed his life in the arduous performance of his professional duties." Dying quite poor, for it was his use to give his destitute patients every shilling of his earnings, which he did not require for his own necessities, this devout and benevolent man left neither child nor widow.


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John Cordy Jeaffreson, B.A. Oxon.

John Cordy Jeaffreson received his early education at Woodbridge Grammar School, and later at Botesdale Grammar School. In the middle of his 15th year he was apprenticed to his father, in order to qualify himself for the medical profession. After about 16 months of this apprenticeship he found courage to tell his father that he no longer wished to be a doctor, but desired to go into the Army. But the shock of his brother's death and his own very severe illness, which nearly terminated fatally, brought him to the decision to go to college and be a clergyman. In 1848 he matriculated at Oxford, and took his degree in May, 1852, but by that time he had given up his idea of becoming a clergyman, and had decided to be a man of letters, meantime beginning to get his livelihood in London as a tutor.

In 1854, John Cordy Jeaffreson published his first novel, Crewe Rise. This was followed by Hinchbrook and Isabel, the Young Wife and the Old Love. In 1858 he published Novels and Novelists, from Elizabeth to Victoria, a work that was the result of much labour in the reading-room of the British Museum, and which was very favourably treated by the critics; in the same year he began to write in the Athenaeum. In 1859 appeared Miriam Copley, pronounced by the papers as "his best book" and "a very clever novel." It was at this time that he determined to enter the legal profession, and was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn. Whilst waiting for briefs to come, he devoted himself more and more to literature. In 1860 he wrote Sir Everard's Daughter and A Book about Doctors, followed in the next few years by Olive Blake's Good Work; Live It Down; A Story of the Light Lands, and Not Dead Yet, which were very successful novels.

The Life of Robert Stephenson, F.R.S. - the joint work of Professor William Pole, C.E. and F.R.S. and John Cordy Jeaffreson - was published in 1864. A Book about Lawyers in 1866, another novel, A Noble Woman, in 1868; A Book about the Clergy in 1869, and the Annals of Oxford in 1870.

About this time John Cordy Jeaffreson's friend, Sir Thomas Hardy, D.C.L., Oxon., proposed that he should become one of the Inspectors of Ancient Documents under Her Majesty's Commission on Historical MSS., and offered to train him for the work. This offer was accepted, and at the same time as writing A Woman in Spite of Herself, and Brides and Bridals, he studied hard to qualify himself for the office. In 1874 he became an Inspector, and from that time onward was a steady worker on old manuscripts for the advantage of future historians.

In 1878, John Cordy Jeaffreson published A Young Squire of the Seventeenth Century. Made out of the letter-book, letters and papers (A.D. 1676 - A.D. 1686) of the first Christopher Jeaffreson of Dullingham House, the book was designed chiefly for the entertainment and instruction of readers "who, taking an especial interest in the colonial enterprise of the present century, desired a larger knowledge of our colonial activity in previous times." In 1882, he wrote The Rapiers of Regent's Park, a work of prose fiction that was well commended by the critics. In 1883 he produced The Real Lord Byron, in 1885, The Real Shelley, in 1888, Lady Hamilton and Lord Nelson, in 1889, The Queen of Naples and Lord Nelson. In 1893 he published Victoria, Queen and Empress: With Two Portraits, In Two Volumes, a memoir that showed that besides being a reigning sovereign, Her Majesty was, in the fullest and highest sense of the term, a ruling sovereign. He purposely did not ask permission to publish the book, and a paragraph appeared in the St. James's Gazette announcing that the Queen had been pleased to accept a copy of the work that had been written without her sanction, and published without her knowledge. In 1894, he published A Book of Recollections, which was the last book that he wrote, as after that date his health became so feeble that he was no longer able to use his pen, having been in the habit of writing with his own hand the MSS. of all his works, the type-writer not being in general use in those days.

He spent the last six or seven years of his life quietly in his flat in Portsdown Road, Maida Vale, reading, playing backgammon, taking occasional outdoor exercise, leaning on the arm of his wife or daughter, and conversing with his numerous friends, who frequently visited him.


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George Edwards Jeaffreson, M.R.C.S., J.P.

George Edwards Jeaffreson entered University College Hospital as a student, and in 1857 obtained the diplomas of M.R.C.S. and L.S.A. In due course he succeeded to his father's practice in Framlingham, where he practised for over 40 years, and was invariably held in the highest possible veneration and regard by the numerous body of patients who passed through his hands. He represented the East Anglian Branch of the British Medical Association in the Parliamentary Bills Committee from 1883 to 1889, and in 1895 was honoured with the Presidency of the Branch.

George Edwards Jeaffreson was a gentleman of distinguishing characteristics. He filled many public offices in his native town, always with success, and inspired confidence by the keen interest he evinced in everything he undertook, and the clear insight he possessed of the real issues in the subject under discussion; he was a man of very keen perception, never missing a crucial point. He was the Chairman of the first Parish Council for Framlingham, and was the first representative of the Framlingham District on the East Suffolk County Council. He was made Justice of the Peace for Suffolk in 1896, and brought the same thoroughness to bear in this work which had been his characteristic through life. He was a Master of the Framlingham Lodge of Freemasons. For several years he was a Trustee of Thomas Mill's Charity, and also served for some time on the Governing body of the Hitcham School. For a considerable period he acted as surgeon to the "Loyal Star of the East" Lodge of Oddfellows, and in his earlier years he held the rank of surgeon in the old D (Framlingham) Company of Volunteers.

Amongst the benefits conferred by G. E. Jeaffreson on his native town, may be mentioned a public water supply and shelter near his residence, which he provided as a memorial to members of his family.


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Horace Jeaffreson, M.D.

Dr. Horace Jeaffreson spent some years in Australia, and on his return became a physician to the London Fever Hospital, where he nearly lost his life in an epidemic. He was subsequently a very successful consultant in the West-end of London, and his death removed one of the most interesting survivors of literature and medicine in the early Victorian age.


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