Edward Jesse

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edward Jesse
Edward Jesse, 1844
Born(1780-01-14)January 14, 1780
Hutton Cranswick
DiedMarch 28, 1868(1868-03-28) (aged 88)
Brighton
Notable work
  • Gleanings in Natural History (1832)
  • An Angler's Ramblers (1836)
  • Summer's Day at Hampton Court (1st ed. 1839)
  • Anecdotes of Dogs (1846)
  • WIndsor Castle and Its Environs, including Eton College (2nd ed. 1858)
  • Lectures on Natural History (1861)
Spouses
Children
Parents
  • Reverend William Jesse
  • Mary Jesse
RelativesLucy Townsend (sister)

Edward Jesse (January 14, 1780 – March 28, 1868), was an English writer on natural history. As a surveyor for the Office of Works, he was responsible for much of the restoration and presentation of Hampton Court Palace after it was opened to the public in 1838.

Life[edit]

Jesse was born at Hutton Cranswick, Yorkshire, the third son and youngest of four children[a] of Reverend William Jesse (1738-1814) and Mary Jesse.[1][2] Originally the parish vicar for Hutton Cranswick, Rev. Jesse later became a prominent evangelical vicar in West Bromwich and personal chaplain to the 2nd Earl of Dartmouth, a convert of Selina Hastings.[3][4]

Jesse was privately educated, and in 1798 was appointed to a clerkship in the Santo Domingo office.[b] Jesse's command of French recommended him to the 3rd Earl of Dartmouth, who made Jesse his private secretary on his appointment in 1801 as President of the Board of Control (overseeing the British East India Company).[2] Following his promotion to Lord Steward in 1802, Dartmouth commended Jesse to the Royal Household, and Jesse was appointed to the ceremonial post of Gentleman of the Ewry[c] in 1803 (which he held until its abolition in 1832).[5][6] Jesse was also commissioned a lieutenant colonel of the Birmingham Volunteers,[7] and on the corps disbandment[d] the Duke of Rutland appointed Jesse as captain in the Leicestershire Militia in 1805.[2] In 1814 Jesse was made a Commissioner of Hackney Coaches (or 'Jarvies'), which he held until responsibility for coach licensing was transferred to the Stamp Office in 1831.[1][8]

Edward Jesse 1867
Edward Jesse 1867

Jesse was made a clerk in the Office of Woods and Forests by Lord Glenbervie c1821,[2][1] and following the abolition of the posts of Gentleman of the Ewry and Hackney Coach Commissioner, was appointed Itinerant Deputy Surveyor in the Office of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues, with responsibility for Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Castle, in 1834.[9] On the abolition of this office he retired on a pension, and he died in 1868 at Brighton.

Jesse married his first wife, Matilda Morris, daughter of Sir John Morris, 1st Baronet in 1807. Their son, John, born 1809, became a noted court historian. Their eldest daughter Frances, born 1810, married Edward Curwen, a lieutenant in the 14th Dragoons, in 1833.[10] Their youngest daughter Matilda, born 1811, became a noted author and women's rights activist.[11] Following Matilda's death c1851, Jesse married Jane Caroline in 1852, who survived him.[1]

Works[edit]

Natural history[edit]

The result of his interest in the habits and characteristics of animals was a series of pleasant and popular books on natural history. He also edited Izaak Walton's The Compleat Angler. (See Bibliography).

Guide books[edit]

Jesse contributed to the second edition of Leitch Ritchie's Windsor Castle, and edited later editions of Gilbert White's Selborne. He wrote a number of handbooks to places of interest, including Windsor and Hampton Court (see Bibliography).[12]

Bibliography[edit]

Natural history[edit]

Jesse, Edward (1832). Gleanings in Natural History (1st ed.). London: John Murray.

Jesse, Edward (1836). An Angler's Rambles. London: John van Voorst.

Jesse, Edward (1844). Scenes and Tales from Country Life. London: John Murray.

Jesse, Edward (1846). Anecdotes of Dogs. London: Richard Bentley.

Jesse, Edward (1861). Lectures on Natural History. London: L. Booth.

As editor[edit]

White, Gilbert; Jardine, William (1854). Jesse, Edward (ed.). The Natural History of Selbourne. London: Henry G. Bohn.

Walton, Izaak; Cotton, Charles (1856). Jesse, Edward (ed.). The Complete Angler. London: Henry G. Bohn.

Guide books[edit]

Jesse, Edward (1839). A Summer's Day at Hampton Court (1st ed.). London: John Murray.

Jesse, Edward (1841). A Summer's Day at Windsor, and a Visit to Eton. London: John Murray.

Jesse, Edward (1847). Favorite Haunts and Rural Studies; Including Visits to Spots of Interest in the Vicinity of Windsor and Eton. London: John Murray.

Ritchie, Leitch; Jesse, Edward (1848). Windsor Castle, and its Environs (2nd ed.). London: Henry G. Bohn.

Notes and references[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Including abolitionist Lucy Townsend, Jesse's sister.
  2. ^ On the recommendation of noted evangelical and abolitionist William Wilberforce
  3. ^ Michelle Charlotte Houstoun would write later of her father's appointment: "The duties which this post as "Gentleman of the Ewry" entailed were of the slightest, consisting merely of an attendance, in full court dress, at coronations and such-like ceremonies, on which occasions the office of the gentleman "in question was to present on his bended knee a golden ewer or basin filled with rose-water to the sovereign. Into that rosewater the royal fingers were dipped, and subsequently wiped on a fine damask napkin fringed with gold, which the. "Gentleman of the Ewry," for the yearly pay of £300, independently of "perquisites", carried, in hotel-waiter fashion, upon his arm. This absurd and useless office has been happily long since done away with, but whilst it existed its influence over my father's prospects in life was very considerable." Houstoun (1889), pp. 6-7
  4. ^ After the threat of a Napoleonic invasion of England had passed.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Bettany & Goldbloom 2004.
  2. ^ a b c d "Edward Jesse, Esq". The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Review: 682–683. May 1868.
  3. ^ Kirkman Foster, Jacob, ed. (1839). The Life and Times of Selina Countess of Huntingdon. Vol. 1. London: W.G. Painter. pp. 486–488.
  4. ^ "West Bromwich: Churches". A History of the County of Stafford. Vol. 17. London: British History Online. 1976. pp. 50–60.
  5. ^ "The household below stairs: Ewry 1660-1837". Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Court Officers, 1660-1837. Vol. 11. London: British History Online. 2006.
  6. ^ Parker 2009, p. 44.
  7. ^ Houstoun 1889, p. 8.
  8. ^ Houstoun 1889, p. 10.
  9. ^ Thurley 2003, p. 294.
  10. ^ Burke, John (1833). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland, Enjoying Territorial Possessions Or High Official Rank: But Uninvested with Heritable Honours. London: Henry Colburn. p. 577.
  11. ^ "Houstoun [née Jesse; other married name Fraser], Matilda Charlotte (1815–1892), novelist and travel writer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/61562. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  12. ^ Lee, Sidney, ed. (1892). "Jesse, Edward" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 29. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 366–7.

Sources[edit]

Bettany, G. T.; Goldbloom, Alexander (23 September 2004). "Jesse, Edward (1780–1868), writer on natural history.". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Houstoun, Matilda Charlotte (1889). Silvanus Redivivus. London.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

Lipscomb, Suzannah. "Historical Authenticity and Interpretative Strategy at Hampton Court Palace". The Public Historian. 32 (3): 98–119 – via JSTOR.

Parker, Julia (2009). Reinvention and continuity in the making of an historic visitor attraction: control access and display at Hampton Court Palace,1838-1938 (PhD thesis). Kingston University, London.

Thurley, Simon (2003). Hampton Court: A Social and Architectural History. London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0300102232.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Edward_Jesse&oldid=1216174789"