Richard Henry Jelf

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Richard Henry Jelf

CMG
Born(1844-02-02)2 February 1844
Oxford
Died13 April 1913(1913-04-13) (aged 69)
Ashbourne, Derbyshire
Service/branchBritish Army
Years of service1865–1901
RankColonel
UnitRoyal Engineers
Commands held
  • Royal Engineers, Eastern District, 1897–1901
Battles/wars
Awards
Spouse(s)
Margaret Blunt
​
(m. 1869)​

Colonel Richard Henry Jelf CMG (2 February 1844 – 26 April 1913)[1] was a British army officer and commandant of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.

Early life[edit]

Jelf was born in Oxford, the third and youngest son of the Reverend Doctor Richard William Jelf (1798-1871), Principal of King's College, London, and canon of Christ Church, Oxford. His older brothers were George Edward Jelf, later canon of Rochester, and lawyer Sir Arthur Richard Jelf.[2]

He was educated at Eton College and King's College, London, before entering the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich.[citation needed]

Military career[edit]

Jelf entered the Royal Engineers in 1865. He was promoted to captain in 1878,[3] to Major and Lieutenant-Colonel in 1885, and Colonel in 1889.[citation needed]

He saw service on the Bechuanaland Expedition (1884-1885), as Director of Military Telegraphs (and was honourably mentioned, Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel). He was later chairman of Sanitary Commissioners, Gibraltar (1893-1897; for which he was invested as a Companion of St Michael and St George).[4] He commanded the Royal Engineers, Eastern District, from 1897 to 1901.[citation needed]

He retired in 1901 but was recalled to employment as temporary Major-General in the same year, becoming Governor and Commandant of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich,[5] a post he retained until 1912.[6] While Commandant, he commissioned the academy's chapel in 1902, an act for which he is commemorated by a brass plaque in the chapel.[7]

He was also a spokesman for the Church of England Soldiers' Institutes Association,[8] and wrote a 1910 biography of his friend Joseph James Curling, a soldier and priest who had also joined the Royal Engineers in 1865.[9] In 1882, Jelf commissioned a bell for St Mary's church in Newfoundland's Bay of Islands, where Curling was priest.[10]

Family[edit]

Jelf lived at Ashbourne, Derbyshire, where, in May 1911, he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant.[11]

With his wife Margaret (nee Blunt, 1839–1921), whom he married on 10 August 1869, he had at least three sons.[12] Wilfrid Jelf and Henry Jelf were both first-class cricketers and military officers.[citation needed] A third son, Richard John Jelf, joined the Royal Engineers and after being invalided home from South Africa shot himself and was buried at sea in June 1900[13] - a plaque commemorating him and his parents is displayed in Ashbourne's St Oswald's Church.[1]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Lt RJ Jelf". War Memorials Trust. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  2. ^ Greenhill, 1892
  3. ^ "No. 24572". The London Gazette. 16 April 1878. p. 2573.
  4. ^ "No. 26947". The London Gazette. 14 March 1898. p. 1680.
  5. ^ "The King's Movements". The Guardian. 23 August 1901. p. 6. Retrieved 13 April 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ Newsome, Sarah; Williams, Andrew (2009). An Archaeological Survey of Woolwich Common. English Heritage. p. 54. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  7. ^ Historic England. "Church of St Michael and All Angels, Royal Military Academy (1390520)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  8. ^ Snape, Michael Francis (2008). The Royal Army Chaplains' Department, 1796-1953: Clergy Under Fire. Boydell Press. p. 143. ISBN 9781843833468.
  9. ^ Cook, Ramsay; Hamelin, Jean (1996). Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Volume 13. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 235–236.
  10. ^ "The Western Star Archived Obits and Tid Bits 1931 to 1940". Newfoundland's Grand Banks. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  11. ^ "No. 28496". The London Gazette. 19 May 1911. p. 3825.
  12. ^ "Marriages". Jackson's Oxford Journal. 14 August 1869. p. 5. Retrieved 13 April 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "TOPIC: Lieutenant Richard John Jelf, Royal Engineers - died at sea 2.6.1900". Anglo-Boer War. Retrieved 21 February 2018.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Greenhill, William Alexander (1892). "Jelf, Richard William". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 29. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

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