July 2009 – Edition 52

This article talks about William Jepson and
his
son
George Jepson (Snr). William was my great
great
great great great grandfather (quite a mouthful!), the
same as for our editor Donald and a lot of our other
readers.

I have designated George as “Senior” to differentiate
him from his son George Jepson, whose story
appeared in the July 2009 edition of the Journal
(George was the father of Elizabeth Jepson,
who
married Thomas Clarke Jerrems in Gainsborough
and they and their family migrated to Australia in the
1850s to form the basis of the current Australian and
US Jerrems families).

In simple terms William and George (Senior) are on
the “maternal” side of the Jerrems families.

The exciting part about William and George (Snr) is
that they lived in the 18th Century, which takes us back
to the same era as William Jerom, our earliest
known
ancestor on the “Jerrems” side. The difference is,
of
course, that we now know quite a lot about the Jepson
side and virtually nothing about the Jerrems side.

William Jerom and William Jepson were of course our
direct ancestors and have equal status from a
genealogical viewpoint. It is possible that this will be
the only article which I will be able to write about our
ancestors in this period, so I have gone into some
detail.

Both William and his son George had distinguished
careers in the Church of England. I will deal with them
in chronological order (ie William then George).

WILLIAM JEPSON

Recently I googled references to memorials for a
William and a George Jepson at Lincoln Cathedral.
The Verger of the Cathedral (which is 20 miles/32km
south east of Gainsborough) kindly gave me the texts
of the memorials, leading me to research these men
further.

My research from various sources (combined with the
information shown on his memorial) shows that
William was born on 5/6/1718 (according to a
genealogical website) or 20/2/1718 (the latter being
the date on his memorial, which I prefer) at Broxholme
(8 miles/13km north west of Lincoln) and died
31/12/1792 at Sixhill (20 miles/32km north east of
Lincoln) and married Rebecca (I do not know her
surname). They had 8 other children in addition to
George (Rebecca bc 1740, William bc 1748, Thomas
bc 1751, Charles bc 1753, Hannah Maria bc 1755,
James bc 1756, Catherine bc 1758 and Ann).

Turning to William’s memorial, it is located in the
Cathedral’s Shop, which used to be St. Giles’ Chapel.
Unfortunately the memorial stone is not visible
because a floor has been placed over it. However, a
record has been kept of what is on the memorial (the
slashes show the places where new lines start on the
memorial):
“Near/ Here lieth the body of/ William Jepson One of
the Procurators General/ of the Ecclesiastical Court/
Receiver General/ To The Bishop and Dean and
Chapter Of This Diocese/ And Clerk Of The Fabrick/
Upwards of 40 Years/ He was born at Broxholme/ In
this
County/ The 20th day of February 1718/ And died the
31st day of December 1792.”

A procurator general was a chief law officer, a receiver
general was probably responsible for collection of
church income (for instance from property rental) and
possibly the “Clerk of the Fabrick” looked after the
buildings.

Initially William was a school master in a school near
the Cathedral until he took up his post at the
Cathedral at the age of 31 in 1749. He would
presumably have received his legal training while
working at the Ecclesiastical Court’s office.

If William’s legal training came from a genetic leaning
in that direction then it took a long time to resurface in
the Jerrems family. It took 7 generations because (to
my knowledge) the next people with legal training
were Len Jerrems from Melbourne and myself
(solicitors) and Doug Jerrems, who obtained a law
degree.

ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS

William was chief legal adviser to the diocese’s
Ecclesiastical Court, which had jurisdiction over a
wide range of subjects. This would have occupied
much of William’s time because these courts had
wide jurisdictions.
The Encyclopaedia Brittanica says (in rather technical
terms which I will not attempt to explain) that these
Courts were set up by religious authorities to deal with
disputes among clerics or with spiritual matters
involving either clerics or laymen.

The Encyclopaedia then goes on to say that the range
of spiritual matters dealt with often extended into the
secular area. The ecclesiastical courts had
jurisdiction over sacramental matters that included
anything having to do with marriage, such as
separation and legitimacy. They also had exclusive
jurisdiction over cases involving wills; in England the
ecclesiastical courts, which became Anglican in the
16th century, had complete jurisdiction in matters of
succession to personal property until the 16th century
and then, in competition with the Courts of Chancery
(administered by the Government), until 1857. The
Courts also claimed jurisdiction over clergy accused
of most types of crimes.

The Courts drew
upon a complicated collection of Roman Law and
Canon (i.e. Church) Law.

Photos:
Right: St Botolph’s Church
Left: Verandah

LINCOLN CATHEDRAL

For our purposes the Cathedral’s main claim to fame
is that George and William Jepson are buried there.

Lincoln dates back to the Roman times and is the
major city in the County of Lincolnshire. It is also the
administrative centre of the Anglican Church Diocese
which takes in a large number of surrounding cities
and towns, including some relevant to the Jerrems
family history (eg Gainsborough, Willingham and
Boston).

The Cathedral (its official name is “the Cathedral
Church
of St. Mary in Lincoln”) was built in gothic style and is
one of the finest medieval buildings in Europe. It
towers above Lincoln, being a prominent landmark,
and can be seen from 30 miles away. Its 271-foot
central tower is the second tallest in England. Part of
the Cathedral dates back to 1072 but most of it dates
from the 13th century.

Lincoln Cathedral and its bishops have had a leading
role in the history of England. The Magna Carta was
signed by the Bishop of Lincoln amongst others, and
one of only two remaining copies resides in the
cathedral’s library.

GEORGE JEPSON

My research shows that George Snr was born in
1752,
d31/4/1837 and married Eleanor Gibbeson
(bc1750
Lincoln d15/9.1833) on 22/1/1782. They had 12
children
(seven girls and five boys) in 17 years. The girls had
quite pretty names (Ellen, Ann, Sarah, Maria,
Catherine,
Frances, and Jane). The boys’ names seemed to
boringly follow the names of kings (George, Richard,
William, Henry and Charles).The memorial for George
is on the wall on the North walk of the cloister and
reads as follows:

“Here lies George Jepson M.A./ Prebendary of St
Botolphs,/ Succentor, Sacrist, and Vicar Choral of the
Cathedral Church./ Who died April 30th 1837 in the
85th year of his age./Also/ Eleanor his wife/ Who died
September 15th 1833/Aged 77 years.”

George had obtained his MA (Master of Arts) at
Cambridge. He would have received the usual
classical
training at Cambridge, studying the Greek and Latin
classics. George must have shown a lot of ability to be
sent to Cambridge because this would have been
expensive for his parents.

A prebendary is a clergyman receiving a salary in
connection with a church or cathedral, a succentor is a
precentor’s deputy (a precentor being a person who
leads and directs the singing of a church or cathedral
choir), a sacrist is a person in charge of the sacred
vessels, robes and other property used in the
ceremonies of a church or cathedral, and a vicar
choral
is an assistant to the canons or prebendaries in the
parts of public worship performed in the chancel
choir.

I am not sure how long George spent at Boston but I
do know that he was the Vicar Chorale at Lincoln
Cathedral from 1828 to 1831, so perhaps he returned
to Lincoln in 1828.

These duties, in addition to bringing up 12 children,
must have kept George busy! At least the 12 children
would have guaranteed that he had a ready-made
audience for his church services in Boston.

ST BOTOLPH’S CHURCH

St Botolph’s Church is in Boston, 35 miles/57 km to
the south east of Lincoln, near the east coast of
England. Nicknamed “The Stump” it dates back to
1309. It is one of the largest parish churches in
England, also having the tallest non-cathedral tower in
the world at 272 feet /83m high. Reputedly having 365
steps, the tower has an octagonal lantern on top
which was a guide to mariners, an interesting
combination of Church and lighthouse.

The tower is very unusual from the aspect that it is
more than 3 times higher than the church itself. It is
prominent against the surrounding plains, which were
formerly a mosaic of marshes, swamps and lakes
(known as fenland) until they were drained or filled
during the 18th and 19th centuries. It was used by
Allied airmen returning from sorties over Europe as a
navigational feature during the Second World War (on
the downside, the Luftwaffe found it useful for
navigation also).
If George or his children needed to get fit they could
have found a ready source of exercise climbing the
365 steps to light the lantern.

r is one foot higher
than the tower of Lincoln Cathedral. If William and
George had known this (which is unlikely) then
George would have been able to engage in a
little “one-upmanship” by saying “my Church’s tower is
taller than yours”.
Boston was the major town in the area. Its population
during George’s tenure at the Church was 5,926 in
1801, 8,180 in 1811, and 10,373 in 1821, a small
population (I would have thought) to support such a
large church. However there was a large rural
population as well.

The church was named after Botolph, Botulph or
Botulf (d. c. 680), an English abbott and saint. He is
the patron saint of travellers and the various aspects
of farming.

ARE WILLIAM OR GEORGE’S OFFSPRING STILL
IN THE AREA?

A search of the telephone book for the area showed 6
Jepsons living within 20 miles/32km of
Gainsborough. I sent them the photo of George Jnr,
thinking that perhaps they are related to him and may
be able to tell us more about him.

Some of the Jepsons wrote back to say that their
ancestors had come from Yorkshire. But one said
that it was very likely that her husband’s forbears had
come from Gainsborough, but he had died recently,
leaving a box full of old papers. She promised to go
through them but she has not contacted me again.

CONCLUSION

I have found it interesting to research William Jepson
(my great great great great great grandfather) and
George Jepson (Senior) (my great great great great
grandfather)and compile this article. They had quite
impressive lives. I hope you have enjoyed reading the
article. If you are in the area on a trip then call in at the
Cathedral and say “hello” to William and George.

We have reprinted the context as well.

“The second Jerrems connection -my grandfather
Coming back to the Battle of Villers Bretonneux,
my grandfather (Edward Smith) was a
stretcher bearer in the 13th Field Ambulance. He was
awarded the Military Medal for gallantry occurring on
the 21st April (when the night attack commenced) so
he must have been just behind the first wave of
Australia infantry attacking along the northern side of
the town. The stretcher bearers would have had no
shelter from natural features or from the usual shell
holes and remains of old trenches left
over from previous battles, so they would have risked
being hit by the machine gun fire aimed at the
Australian troops ahead of them, while attempting to
tend the casualties out in the open.

“My grandfather told me that his companions refused
to move from a shelter they had found, waiting for the
fighting to move further on, out of machine gun range.
But he went out by himself simply because the cries of
the wounded “would have sent me mad if I had stayed
behind”, he said. Probably wearing a great coat in the
cold, he said that he later found bullet holes in his
clothes!

Pictured: My grandfather Edward Smith (sitting) and
Alf, his brother (killed in France).