Richard Henry Jelf | |
---|---|
Born | Oxford | 2 February 1844
Died | 13 April 1913 Ashbourne, Derbyshire | (aged 69)
Service/ | British Army |
Years of service | 1865–1901 |
Rank | Colonel |
Unit | Royal Engineers |
Commands held |
|
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.
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]
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]
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]