Author: Chris Jefferies

Blast from the past… 37

A photo of William John Jefferies
Jump to 1800s

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September 2025 (3 months before publishing this article)

Small Group got started again after the summer break. This is a discussion group, part of CBC but run by my friends Al and Chris Booth. I’m not part of CBC but I am part of the Small Group and that suits me just fine.

I did a short canal walk with Phil and Al, both friends from the Small Group. The weather was a bit mixed but we enjoyed the walk with coffee and a light lunch at the half way point at Ebley Mill.

Donna and I walked around the centre of Cheltenham as she wanted to do the Lion walk. Some of those lions are amazing!

JHM: I conducted an AI experiment; and wrote about Rachael’s jigsaw. World events: Charlie Kirk was assassinated in Utah; and a UN investigation found that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.

< Aug 2025 – Oct 2025 > (Jump to 2010)

June 2025 (6 months before publishing)

We visited Blenheim Palace, in part to look at the flower show that was on, and in part to explore aspects of the palace that we’d not seen before. We took a good look around the Winston Churchill exhibition (Churchill was born in the palace and spent a lot of time here, it was one of his favourite places).

But we also explored the parkland around the house, a wide expanse and very beautiful too as you can see from the photo.

JHM: I wrote about the apostolic gift; and about the complex water flows in Cirencester. World events: India launched several missiles into Pakistani territory in response to an earlier attack; and the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 was held in Basel, Switzerland.

< May 2025 – Jul 2025 >

December 2024 (1 year before)

Donna ran a 10 km race at Westonbirt School; she was among the final finishers, but she did it. With a large field of experienced club runners, she did really well and deserves plenty of kudos for all the training and effort she put in!

The start date for our heat pump installation slipped to 6th January, so we’ll have to manage without central heating until half way through January. We still have the gas fire in the lounge, of course, and we have several convector heaters too.

A bonus this month was that I got a photo of the kingfisher perching on the barbed wire outside Cirencester’s outdoor swimming pool. Although it’s a little fuzzy, it’s the best image I’ve obtained of the kingfisher so far.

JHM: I wrote about a dark sky in bright sunshine; and our Christmas Cactus in flower. World events:  Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris reopened to the public following extensive repairs after fire damage in 2019; and  a car was driven into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany.

< Nov 2024 – Jan 2025 >

December 2023 (2 years)

Sadly, it was no longer possible to keep Erin alive any longer and I buried her in a carefully recorded spot in the garden (one of her favourite summer sleeping spots).

We visited Chastleton House, partly because we wanted to see the house and grounds, but particularly as we wanted to look at the amazing plaster ceilings for which the old house is so famous. We were not disappointed! The photo shows the largest of these extraordinary ceilings.

Shortly before Christmas a huge lime tree fell across the Gloucester Road between Cirencester and Stratton, demolishing a section of the Cotswold wall on the west side of the road, taking out a big chunk of the hedge on the east side, and almost crushing a passing car. The driver must have had a very narrow escape.

JHM: I wrote about Russia’s war in Ukraine; and about season’s greetings in a puddle. World events:  Google DeepMind released the Gemini Large Language Model which will be integrated into Google’s existing tools, including Search; and in the Gaza war, the death toll passed 20 000.

< Nov 2023 – Jan 2024>

December 2020 (5 years)

Walking in Cirencester Park near Barton Farm, I passed this medieval dovecote, the oldest building still standing in Cirencester apparently. What a delightful and wonderful old structure!

I had a really good phone chat with my friend Jim who lives near St Neots. His daughter Bethany has completed training as a nurse, following in her mum’s footsteps.

During a heavy storm on 23rd, we had leaks through the dining area rooflights, but a local builder, Trevor Rowlands, was exceptionally helpful and covered up the rooflights with waterproof sheeting, weighing it down with heavy timber and brick which worked well as a temporary fix.

Donna and I walked into Cirencester park to look at the elephants. There’s been a whole herd of a hundred of them in London, but three are currently on loan to the park.

JHM: I posted on the ingredients of kindness; and how truth matters. World events: The Arecibo Telescope of the Arecibo Observatory collapsed; and the UK became the first nation to begin a mass inoculation campaign against COVID-19 using a clinically authorised, fully tested vaccine, the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

< Nov 2020 – Jan 2021 >

December 2015 (10 years)

We drove to York to spend some time with Debbie, Beth and their families. As always, it was great to see everyone and exchange presents, now a long-standing tradition. There was the annual Nativity play in Thorganby, Sara was Mary this year.

And, of course, we also drove down to Broadstone to see Donna’s parents and meet Paul and Vanessa with more presents to exchange.

And on 28th, Ele and Jonathan tied the knot in grand style, so December was a really busy month one way and another. Three long journeys for us, but all of them well worth the time and effort.

World events:  OpenAI, a non-profit artificial intelligence research company, was founded; and SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 rocket, the first reusable rocket to successfully enter orbital space and return.

< Nov 2015 – Jan 2016 >

December 2010 (15 years)

On holiday in Gran Canaria, we drove up into the central mountains on 1st December; the scenery was amazing. We were surprised to get a view of Mount Teide about 120 km across the sea on Tenerife.

I finally made the move from Windows to Ubuntu on 13th December. No more Windows licence fees, no more expensive software, everything I need in one free installation – the operating system, office suite, image editing, everything, all at zero cost. I was well pleased. Then, a few days later we had a heavy snowfall.

We set off in the snow to drive to York, but most of the way the roads were completely clear of snow.

The 5th Cornerstone Directors’ Meeting was held on 7th November. It wasn’t clear if Paul wanted to have directors or not, our advice and suggestions seem to cut across his own plans, but he’s in difficulties and could do with help and advice. We decided he needs to be clear about his wishes.

JHM: I wrote about technology for writing on a hair; and about our holiday in Gran Canaria. World events: Comet Hale Bopp was found again around 30.7 AU away from the Sun; and the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring began.

< Nov 2010 – Jan 2011 > (Jump to 1970) (Jump to top)

December 2005 (20 years)

We drove down to Broadstone to Visit Donna’s Mum and Dad just before New Year’s Eve and Paul and Justine who were also there a the time. It was good to see Paul again, he’s always been one of my favourite people.

An extra Unilever Portal page was needed for Colworth, so I was working on that, but also I’d been tasked with managing the spreadsheets involved with the costs of Colworth mobile phone calls and that was proving much more difficult. Not only was I unfamiliar with Microsoft Excel, but the systems for charging departments were not easy either.

I’d been travelling down to visit Mum and Dad, often on a Friday, and not long before Mum’s Hospital admission Dad had asked me to pray with them. I think he knew Mum had little time left. I knelt down between them as they sat in the front sitting room at Churnside and each held one of my hands and we prayed together, I think for safety, blessing, peace and Jesus’ guidance. Then I left to drive home, and that was the last time I saw my Mum while her mind was still active.

Shortly afterwards, Mum had a couple of major strokes and was in Cheltenham General Hospital on 30th December, though she seemed to be no longer conscious or aware. The photo shows the hospital with Cleeve Hill in the background. Dad was of course distressed by this and the entire family rallied round. Donna and I made our way down to join them all. The hospital was very helpful, finding a room we could all rest in and even stay overnight to be with Mum and Dad as much as possible.

World events: Scientists announced the creation of mice with small numbers of human neurons to model neurological disorders; and an extra second was added (23:59:60) to resynchronise calendar time to atomic clock time, last required in 1998.

< Nov 2005 – Jan 2006 >

December 2000 (25 years)

We had a WebForum meeting in Amsterdam. The photo shows Phil Briggs (Briggsy) reading a newspaper on the plane, probably from Cambridge Airport to Rotterdam. We’d have completed the journey by train from Rotterdam to Amsterdam. Pete Keeley also came with us on this trip. My initial development of a temporary WebForum for Unilever Research sites was going to be replaced with a much improved version to be developed for us by INFO NL, a software developer in Amsterdam. INFO NL demonstrated their web site development software and we discussed early mock-ups of the appearance and functionality we would require.

Donna and I both worked for Colworth’s Data Sciences group. I was in the Knowledge Systems Group (KSG) while she was in Statistics. Data Sciences held a Christmas Party each year and anyone working there in 2000 will recognise the people in the photo.

World events: The third and final reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant was shut down and the station was now closed down completely; and the 20th century and the 2nd millennium both ended.

< Nov 2000 – Jan 2001 >

December 1995 (30 years)

This was a difficult month for all of us as Judy became weaker and weaker and was unable to do anything for herself. She was stuck in bed and quite unable to get downstairs, even with considerable help. The exceptions were when Tony, Faith, Paul and Jenny visited for a meeting. Judy protested that we should continue meeting downstairs no matter what, so Tony and Paul carried her down in the wheelchair for the meetings and back up afterwards.

Reading through my journal entries during the last week or two of December reminds me of many details I’d forgotten. Judy tried to hide her pain, not only from me, Debbie and Beth, but also from Dr Boyles and the nurses. But once we understood this Dr Boyles was able to keep her comfortable without knocking her out entirely – a good outcome.

Our friend, Bev Foster agreed to take the coming funeral service at the crematorium when the time came, and Judy was pleased about that. On 26th Judy woke me several times to say she needed the loo, but it was far too late every time. This provoked a decision to insert a catheter. Judy died at two minutes past midnight on 28th December with my Mum and Dad, me, Debbie and Beth all gathered around the bed. In the end she just stopped breathing. I phoned the on-call GP who certified the death, and then called Britten’s Undertakers to collect the body. None of us felt like sleeping, so we watched the newest Wallace and Gromit film, A Close Shave, which Judy would have absolutely loved. we were in bed by 02:00 and slept like logs until the morning.

On 29th I drove into Clevedon to register the death and later began phoning round to make arrangements for the funeral and everything that needed to be put in place. It all came together quite easily and very satisfactorily.

World events: NASA’s Galileo Probe entered Jupiter’s atmosphere; and the Dayton Agreement was signed in Paris, officially ending the Bosnian War,

< Nov 1995 – Jan 1996 >

December 1990 (35 years)

Debbie had a major role in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Backwell School on 15th December.

We spent Christmas Day and Boxing Day with Judy’s parents in Charlton Kings, then on 27th we visited Cirencester to see my Mum and Dad. We tried to ring the changes a bit, sometimes spending Christmas in Cirencester, sometimes in Cheltenham, but rarely at home in Yatton. Before leaving for Cheltenham, on 23rd December we’d spotted goldcrests and bluetits in our back garden in Yatton. Hungry birds in the winter often appear in gardens where food may be more available.

World events:  Channel Tunnel workers from the United Kingdom and France met 40 metres beneath the English Channel seabed; and Slobodan Milošević was elected President of Serbia in the first round of voting.

< Nov 1990 – Jan 1991 > (Jump to 1970) (Jump to 2010)

December 1985 (40 years)

Judy made and decorated a cake for her Mum and Dad’s 40th wedding anniversary and we drove up on the day to give it to them.

Around this time (I’m not sure exactly when) it was clear my gibberellin localisation work was not going anywhere, and Long Ashton management decided I’d be better employed helping with the electron microscopy lab supporting Richard Pring who needed an assistant. My extensive background in light and fluorescence microscopy made me a promising candidate and I was happy and relieved to take on the role. We had a Philips 505 scanning electron microsope (SEM) with a cryo attachment for work with frozen samples, and a Hitachi transmission electron microscope (TEM). Staff from other departments at Long Ashton, and visiting workers would often need microscopy work done and would either want help and advice with using the instruments or perhaps need someone to do the work on their behalf. So it was an interesting job socially as well as technically.

Debbie and Beth remained at school in Yatton and we were living at 80 Stowey Road.

World events: The first Unabomber victim, Hugh Scrutton, died in Sacramento; and the naturalist, Dian Fossey, was found murdered in Rwanda.

< Nov 1985 – Jan 1986 >

December 1980 (45 years)

I couldn’t find anything for December 1980. This photo is believed to date to 1980 based on its position in Judy’s photo albums, it looks like a dull but warm day in summertime. There’s a for sale sign in the garden which is puzzling because we moved house in August 1985 and Beth looks far too young. In summer 1980 she would have been two. Perhaps the sign was for Mike and Mary Low’s house next door at the end of the terrace. I’m pretty certain they moved some years before we did.

As with all the shops in Cirencester, John Jefferies and Son’s would have been busy leading up to Christmas with customers buying gift vouchers, pots of Hyacinths forced for Christmas flowering, and Christmas wreaths for front doors, and of course, the essential bare-rooted Christmas trees in a range of sizes, also local people ordering Interflora deliveries to far-flung friends and relatives.

Judy and I were busy collecting suitable things to put in Debbie and Beth’s tights to hang up on Christmas Eve. We didn’t pretend that Father Christmas was real, we explained that it was all a bit of fun, and it was mums and dads who filled the children’s socks; but we also told the girls that some of their friends might think he was real and they shouldn’t disappoint them as that was OK too.

I remember being about three or four myself and walking along the footpath between Queen Anne’s Road and St Mary’s Road with Dad and my younger sister Cindy. I said to Dad, ‘Father Christmas isn’t real, is he Daddy?’ Dad just put his finger to his lips and said, ‘Shh, we’ll talk about it later’, and we did. It didn’t occur to me to ask, ‘So… who eats the mince pies and the carrot, and drinks the sherry, then?’

World events:   Four American Catholic missionaries were murdered in El Salvador; and Mark David Chapman was arrested following the murder of John Lennon.

< Nov 1980 – Jan 1981 >

December 1975 (50 years)

Debbie turned 9 months old and by now we were well settled in our home in Rectory Drive, Yatton. We bought a twin tub washing machine that could be rolled out from under the kitchen worktop (it made washing nappies far easier), and our old cooker, fridge and double bed came with us from the flat in Bristol.

We were in Cirencester visiting my Mum and Dad on the day after Boxing Day (27th December). Probably we had been in Cheltenham on Christmas Day with Judy’s parents, perhaps splitting Boxing Day between the two families.

I have no photos for December 1975, but the two shots here in Cirencester’s Abbey Grounds were filed by Judy in one of her photo albums around that time. But, as Debbie pointed out to me, they must be a few years later than 1975.

World events: Wreck of HMHS Britannic (sunk by a German mine in 1916) was discovered by Jacques Cousteau; and  six people kidnapped delegates of an OPEC conference in Vienna.

< Nov 1975 – Jan 1976 >

December 1970 (55 years)

Judy began her temporary work at a Bristol department store during the Christmas/New Year rush when they needed additional help. The photo shows Broadmead as it was in 2005, the two large buildings near the top were Jones’s (left) and Lewis’s (centre) in 1970.

By this time we were well settled in our bedsit in Linden Road and saving as much as possible so we’d be able to buy some furniture once we moved to an unfurnished flat. We would need quite a lot, dining table and chairs, a sofa, easy chairs, a cooker, fridge, washing machine, kitchen stools, a TV and something to stand it on, the more we thought it through the more it seemed to add up. Most of it would have to be second-hand.

At work I was looking into the possibility of starting on a higher degree. It seemed possible I could do an MSc by research and write it up as a thesis; and one of the most promising lines would be pollination of a fruit tree other than apples which were already well-covered by Ray Williams and his team. One early contender seemed to be plum. My boss, Ken Stott was beginning to reduce his willow and poplar work in favour of helping with the pollination studies and it seemed we were going to buy an ultraviolet fluorescence microscope similar to the one being used to track apple pollen tubes growing in compatible and incompatible apple flowers. That would be perfect.

World events: The U.N. General Assembly supported the isolation of South Africa over its apartheid policies; and Paul McCartney sued to dissolve The Beatles legal partnership in the UK.

< Nov 1970 – Jan 1971 > (Jump to 1950) (Jump to 1990)

December 1965 (60 years)

The 6th Form went carol singing around the town. Judy and I shared a hymn book (the photo shows a similar version) so we could both keep one hand warm in a pocket. Judy put her school hymn book in my right jacket pocket and I held mine in my right hand so we could both see the words in the lamplight.

At the end of the event we all made our way home, but Judy forgot to recover her hymn book. I found it, of course, immediately after setting off for home (as soon as I put my hands in my pockets). I ran after her to hand it back but in the distance saw her disappear through the front door of her parent’s home at 69 Chesterton Drive. I walked on down and rang the doorbell. Her Dad answered the door, I explained that I was returning Judy’s Hymnbook, he thanked me, and I headed home. This was my introduction to Judy’s Dad; I already knew he was in the Police and had been a sergeant in Filton but was now newly promoted to Inspector, he seemed approachable and very matter-of-fact.

World events: The Glasnost Meeting in Moscow became the first spontaneous political demonstration in Russia; and Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 performed the first controlled rendezvous in Earth orbit.

< Nov 1965 – Jan 1966 >

December 1960 (65 years)

December saw the end of my first term in Class 2B at Cirencester Grammar School. Mum and Dad would have been preparing for Christmas, the cake was probably baked by now and it would have been undergoing regular drenching from below with sweet sherry (aided and abetted by numerous holes created by one of Mum’s knitting needles. Dad would have selected a well-balanced Christmas tree. Bonfire night had long since come and gone, the end of the school term would come next, and then it would be Christmas followed by New Year and then in January the second term in my second year at the Grammar School.

World events: A Soviet satellite containing the dogs Pcholka and Mushka, other animals, and plants was launched into orbit. Due to a malfunction, it burned up during re-entry; and Peter Pan was presented as a two-hour special on NBC in the United States. Rather than being presented live, it was shown on videotape, allowing repeats.

(If you really want to, you can watch this version of Peter Pan in its entirety.)

< Nov 1960 – Jan 1961 >

December 1955 (70 years)

I was in the third year at Querns School (my junior school). I was excited as I was seven-years-old and Christmas was getting close. Christmas was always fun, a decorated tree, presents from parents and grandparents, Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, sausages wrapped in bacon, a holiday from school. And, if you were lucky … snow!

The tree in the image was decorated in typical 1955 style. Tinsel hanging down like icicles, coloured balls, and early designs of electric lights, small but not tiny like today’s LEDs, often with moulded coloured glass in shapes of Father Christmas, reindeer, little pine trees, lanterns. And the presents stacked below – what would be inside those paper wrappers?! So exciting!

World events: The Montgomery bus boycott took place in Alabama; and sixteen nations join following the UN Security Council Resolution 109.

< Nov 1955 – Jan 1956 >

December 1950 (75 years)

Approaching 2½-years-old, Christmas must have been a huge surprise for me. I would not have retained many memories of the previous Christmas, and my understanding of all sorts of things would have improved dramatically as well. Christmas 1948 would have effectively passed me by, but Christmas 1950 would have been a revelation; presents to unwrap, the sound of tearing paper, the stickiness of sellotape, the smells of fruit cake, sherry, and the sounds of Christmas carols outside the front door must have been really striking! A tree with lights on it, tinsel, shiny balls hanging on the tree with miniature reflections. All the adults chatting and laughing would have seemed very different from their usual serious calmness.

World events:  Isaac Asimov published his science fiction short story collection I, Robot; and  Richard Nixon took office as a U.S. Senator from California.

< Nov 1950 – Jan 1951 > (Jump to 1930s) (Jump to 1970)

December 1945 (80 years)

December was a busy month. In addition to writing and receiving many letters and cards to and from family, friends, and of course Lilias, Mike watched some ENSA shows, and also films. Meanwhile he was taking part in an amateur Christmas play. He had a collision with an Indian army truck on 3rd and also was able to drive an Austin 10 Staff Car.

He went to communion on Sunday 9th and heard a service broadcast by the BBC from Cirencester Parish Church! He was picking up some local words in the Marathi language spoken in the Mumbai area, gadi sounds like ‘garry’ and was the word for a lorry, pani gadi sounded like ‘parny garry’, pani meaning water, and pani gadi was a boat (literally a water lorry).

By 18th December they were rehearsing their Christmas play ‘Round the Bend’ right through from beginning to end and everything was coming together. He had a chance to examine an American B-24 Liberator bomber with his friend Paddy. Christmas dinner was served by the CO and other officers. On 30th December he went swimming at Juhu Beach with Paddy, noting in his diary ‘water lovely and warm’.

World events: The United States Senate approved the entry of the USA into the United Nations by a vote of 65–7; and twenty-one nations ratified the articles creating the World Bank.

< Nov 1945 – Jan 1946 >

December 1940 (85 years)

There’s not enough information to write something for every month in the 1940s. Mike’s diaries start in January 1943, so for January 1940 to December 1942 I’ll write about things I know, or draw on dated photos and documents. Sometimes I might use a photo or document with a guessed date.

The top floor of John Jefferies & Son’s shop and office in the Market Place was entirely occupied by the Landscape Design Department. It was the domain of my Uncle John, born in 1907. I remember it in the 1960s as a large, open space filled with beautifully drawn plans of proposed gardens, some pinned on drawing boards, and many more rolled up and stored in cardboard tubes. John, and his assistant Desmond Walker, did the survey and design work, while a team of practical workers converted the designs into real gardens. Each site had to be cleared, the hard landscaping done first (building walls, laying paving, fitting gates, constructing rockeries), then trees, shrubs and herbaceous borders planted, lawns seeded and so forth.

From 1939 until 1945 or later, this work would have stopped. John joined the army as an officer and was away from home for a number of years. World War II was an unavoidable interruption for British businesses of all kinds. The armed forces required a great number of men and women, and inessential things like building gardens had to wait.

John was thirty-two-years-old in 1939 so he’d have done some garden design work before the war began, perhaps enough to become competent but not an expert. I remember helping him build a rockery somewhere south of Cirencester, probably in the Blunsdon/Highworth area north-east of Swindon from what I recall. This was much later, perhaps during a summer holiday while I was a Sixth Form student. I had thought for a time that I might consider the Landscape Architecture course at Pitville Pump Room in Cheltenham, but in the end studied Horticulture at the University of Bath instead. I remember the care and precision with which Uncle John manouevred large blocks of Costwold stone so that they aligned just so with their neighbours to give the impression of being part of an underlying natural outcrop. The angle of repose had to be just right.

I also remember that at one point his left wrist got trapped between a stone we were moving and one that was already in place. His watch glass was shattered though he was unhurt.

World events: British forces in North Africa began their first major offensive, attacking Italian forces at Sidi Barrani, Egypt; and Plutonium was first synthesised in the laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley.

< Nov 1940 – Jan 1941 >

1930-1939 (95 to 86 years ago)

Anything that appears in this section will have some connection with the 1930’s but may extend beyond the decade to follow a meaningful topic more fully.

This time we’ll take a look at an aspect of the town rather than my family history. This is Barton Mill in the 1930s according to the OldCiren Facebook group where I found a copy of this photo. The mill burned down in 1926 and I had assumed it was never replaced, although the mill pound still exists in 2025.

This photo taken 95 years later in December 2025 is seen from the same angle. I thought there’d have been no mill here in the 1930s, but the photo was made from a footbridge that’s still there and is in daily use as part of Riverside Walk. There is no mill here today, though, so there’s a fuller story to discover if and when anyone has the time and inclination to dig a bit deeper.

World events (December 1935): The German Lebensborn program in support of Nazi eugenics was founded by Heinrich Himmler. (December 1930): All adult Turkish women were given the right to vote in elections.

<< 1930s >> (Jump to 1800s) (Jump to 1950)

1900-1929 (125 to 96 years ago)

As with the 1930s material, everything in this section will have a connection of some kind with these two decades.

In 1900, Watermoor was a recently but rapidly growing industrial area. It included the Cirencester Arm of the Thames & Severn Canal ending at Cirencester Wharf, Watermoor Railway Station, and an ironworks with its blast furnace, noted for its ability to cast large iron structures without cracks forming on cooling. Famously, the huge gear wheel for the rotating stage at the London Palladium was cast here. I wonder how they moved it to London?

The photo shows Watermoor Church in astonishingly open countryside. In the photo, the road ahead points the way north to Cirencester, becoming Cricklade Street at or near the junction with Lewis Lane and Querns Lane. In the other direction, it rejoined the old Roman route of Ermin Street heading towards Cricklade, Blunsdon near Swindon, and on to Marlborough. In this view Ermin Street would be a few tens of metres out of sight to the right

World events (December 1900):  Max Planck presented his groundbreaking paper on quantum theory to the German Physical Society in Berlin. (December 1905): In a Moscow Uprising a Bolshevik-led revolt was suppressed by the army. (December 1910): The second 1910 United Kingdom general election was the last to be fought with an all-male electorate and resulted in a majority for the Liberal Party. (December 1915): The 1 millionth Ford car rolled off the assembly line in Detroit. (December 1920): The confectionery company Haribo was founded in Bonn, Germany.

<< 1900-1929 >>

1800-1899

This time we’ll take a look at William John Jefferies, born in Cirencester 0n 8th June 1844 and my great-great-Uncle William. He married his wife Frances in 1894 and died in 1929 at the age of 84.

William had a huge role in building and expanding the family business he inherited from his father, John Jefferies. He was a real entrepreneur, someone with considerable drive, determination, and focus. He was a businessman through and through and he developed what was already a locally respected nursery business into a nationwide and even internationally renowned company. I suspect it might have been William who requested and obtained the title ‘Royal Nurseries’ This was a forerunner of the later ‘By Appointment to’ designation denoting high status businesses approved by and supplying royalty. It may also have been William who built the Warehouse (now flats) on what was then Tower Street Nursery and much later became the Forum Garden Centre. And it was likely William who developed the Garden Design Department and was behind the company’s presence at both local and national flower shows.

William built two houses in the Avenue. They were a semi-detached pair, he and Frances (Fanny) lived in the left half and his sister Julia in the right half. There was an interconnecting door between the two homes. On William’s death, Fanny moved in with her sister-in-law Julia. The houses still exist, William’s half is now The Avenue Surgery, part of Cirencester Medical Practice, the right hand property remains a private residence.

As William and Frances (Fanny) had no children, he took on his nephew, Edward Arthur Jefferies as his main assistant in running the company and Edward (often known as ‘The Governor’ or just Guv) continued managing the company on his Uncle William’s death.

Family connections

Father (John Jefferies) Mother (Alice [Freeth] Jefferies)
Siblings
Children – None

World events (December 1800): The 1800 United States presidential election was a tie requiring a contingent election that selected Thomas Jefferson.
(December 1820): James Monroe was re-elected as US President, virtually unopposed. (December 1840): David Livingstone left Britain for Africa. (December 1860): Charles Dickens published the first installment of Great Expectations. (December 1880): The Battle of Bronkhorstspruit resulted in a Boer victory over the British.

(No earlier info) 1800-1899 >> (Jump to top) (Jump to 1930s)

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Blast from the past… 36

Similar exchange to The General Office
Jump to 1930s

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August 2025 (3 months before publishing this article)

Kevin, Lariana, and her son Ruben (friends from St Neots) came to stay with us for a few days. They wanted to visit ‘The Farmer’s Dog’, so we sat outside and ate some of their excellent burgers.

We visited some of the Cotswold sights, walking in Cirencester, looking around Lower Slaughter and Bourton-on-the-Water.

Later in the month we spent a week on our family holiday in the Lake District. We had a grand, old house in Braithwaite just west of Keswick and enjoyed the local countryside and some lovely places to eat and drink coffee right in some of the best spots in this lovely part of England. And towards the end of the month we stayed near Tiverton with Isobel for a week – it was a busy August with a lot of holiday one way or another.

JHM: I wrote about some very small Police stations; and added a fifth part to the series on my journey to faith. World events: OpenAI’s  GPT-5 was released; and Donald Trump met Vladimir Putin in Alaska, to discuss a plan for resolving the conflict in Ukraine.

< Jul 2025 – Sep 2025 >

May 2025 (6 months before publishing)

It was Fern’s 16th birthday in May, and she’s our youngest grandchild. Sara expects to begin A level courses in September. They are all so grown up now! At the end of term, Mero will complete her first year at university, and Aidan took a year out to travel in South America and will start at York University when the autumn term begins.

At the end of the month we visited Donna’s brother Paul and his wife Vanessa in Weston-super-Mare, taking Isobel with us for the day. The entire summer seemed to have been fine and sunny, and sometimes just a little bit too warm.

It seemed like a good idea to rearrange my family history files by date instead of by topic, so I reordered everything and created virtual file and folder links for everything so that the data can be viewed in both ways. This seems to work well and will make it easier for other members of the family to find everything.

JHM: I wrote about crossing a bridge and continued the story of how I came to follow Jesus. World events: Friedrich Merz was elected Chancellor of Germany; and Robert Francis Prevost was elected Pope Leo XIV.

< Apr 2025 – Jun 2025 >

November 2024 (1 year before)

With colder weather on the way we needed to keep frost out of the greenhouse, so we ran an extension cable from the cabin to the greenhouse, put a plastic bucket over the reel to prevent water reaching it, and connected a heater set to just a few degrees above zero. This worked really well and even the more sensitive plants survived through the winter.

Donald Trump won the US Presidential Election, we found this hugely depressing and annoying. It seemed to us that at best he’s a loose cannon, and at worst he might become dictatorial. It’s not a great prospect so now we await February with some trepidation.

And we had water getting into our loft space from a leak around the chimney. It only happened in heavy, driving rain during storms from the south-west, at other times the roof space remained dry.

JHM: I wrote about the curious Spilhaus map projection; and a beautiful rose in the rain. World events:  Justin Welby announced his resignation as Archbishop of Canterbury; and  the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) was rediscovered in southeast Egypt, 5,000 years after it had been though to have died out.

< Oct 2024 – Dec 2024 >

November 2023 (2 years)

We drove over to Cotswold Airport for lunch at AV8, always a fun thing to do!

Ken Hudson’s funeral was on 15th, Ken was Donna’s Uncle, her Dad’s older brother. It was quite an occasion with a lot of family members turning up on the day.

SpaceX’s Starship had a good second test flight. It made significant progress over the first flight, with all 33 booster engines firing successfully for the full expected duration.

Donna’s cat, Erin, suffering with cancer, was still doing well on a second slow-release dose of steroids; this gave her a good and normal life for the time being. She was very much her old self, coming and going through the cat flap, and even play fighting with Donna again. A remarkable (and very welcome) thing to see.

JHM: I wrote about Chuck Pfarrer’s reporting on Russia’s war in Ukraine; and about Yaroslava Antipina’s very personal writing on the same topic. World events: The first AI Safety Summit was held in the United Kingdom, with 28 countries signing an agreement on how to manage the riskiest forms of artificial intelligence; and  The Beatles released ‘Now and Then‘, the band’s last ever song.

< Oct 2023 – Dec 2023 >

November 2020 (5 years)

We returned Tom Holme to Rugby for a scheduled MRI scan (he’d been living with us for a while) and we visited Westonbirt Arboretum on 12th, a sunny wintery day with some lovely autumn colours.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden was elected President of the USA.

Phil Reynolds and I did a long circular walk from Sapperton, taking in a nature reserve site where large blue butterflies are breeding successfully. I got a pretty photo of frost on stinging nettle leaves, and we also visited the Sapperton Portal of the Thames and Severn Canal tunnel.

World events: Safe and effective vaccines for COVID-19 began appearing; and an AI was developed to predict protein folding from an amino acid sequence.

< Oct 2020 – Dec 2020 >

November 2015 (10 years)

We took a short holiday in Somerset in late October and early November We stayed in ‘Ian’s Cottage’, visited Tyntesfield House near Clevedon (and recently given to the National Trust) and the lovely old town of Frome. We visited Bristol as well.

Our back fence blew down in strong winds, despite being sturdy and in quite good condition.

Over the weekend of 27th-29th I was at a Newforms Gathering in Lichfield’s Whitemoor Lakes Centre where I had a chance for a brief chat with Alan Hirsch. I don’t think I took full advantage of the opportunity, but he was kind and helpful despite being a bit jet-lagged (in the photo he’s just exiting on the right).

JHM: I wrote about science and religion. World events: Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet on the Turkish–Syrian border; and  COP21 was held in Paris.

< Oct 2015 – Dec 2015 >

November 2010 (15 years)

The 4th Cornerstone Directors’ Meeting was held on 1st November. We considered ways to reduce food waste and increase profits. We decided to increase customer numbers in the mornings and afternoons, and advertise the meeting rooms. Paul reported gross takings of £2000 per week, he also feels the kitchen is too small and volunteer staff are leaving, the reasons being the cramped and dirty kitchen and the tiring workload. I agreed to make documents available in a single place and our MP, Jonathan Djanogly would unveil the plaque on 12th November.

The Circus arrived in St Neots on 3rd (see the photo above taken through the window from Cornerstone).

We visited Yorkshire to see the family on 6th and 7th, going along to the fireworks display in Thorganby

JHM: I wrote about a wind-up torch; and fireworks and soup. World events: The G-20 summit was held in Seoul, South Korea. South Korea became the first non-G8 nation to host a G-20 leaders summit; and the European Union agreed to an €85 billion rescue deal for Ireland from the European Financial Stability Facility.

< Oct 2010 – Dec 2010 >

November 2005 (20 years)

Unilever Colworth’s Knowledge Systems Group (KSG) had moved to a new office upstairs in the New Foods Building. As I was part of KSG I had a desk in the new office, inside the glass partition on the right of this photo. It was a lovely place to work, the main entrance at the front opened onto a short, paved road and a view onto the park’s lawn and trees with the rear of the old house visible on the far side. It was like working in a modern office on a National Trust site!

At this time, KSG was in the throes of migrating all our websites to pages and portlets on Unilever’s new Portal intranet site.

I began moving my blog from Google’s Blogger platform to Squarespace, but in the end I didn’t get on well with the new software and reverted to Blogger. I redesigned the appearance in Blogger and was content with that new version until I made the switch to WordPress in July 2016. I was keeping up with current PC developments by buying PCW every month. Twenty years later all I need is a web browser!

I spent some time reading about Cirencester’s post-Roman history in the book ‘Town Origins and development in Early England’ by Daniel Russo. It seems that Romanised life might have continued here well after Roman forces were recalled from Britain.

JHM: I wrote about the house church phenomenon; and getting started with the new blog. World events: Andrew Stimpson was the first person cured of HIV; and the UN climate conference was held in Canada.

< Oct 2005 – Dec 2005 >

November 2000 (25 years)

On 19th we visited our friends Geoff and Dawn for dinner, other good friends were invited too, including Ken and Gayna seen in this photo. Geoff and Dawn were always very hospitable, and Geoff cooked amazing roast dinners.

We were both working for Unilever Research at their Colworth Laboratory in Sharnbrook, north of Bedford. Here, Pete Doe from the IT team is fixing something on my work desktop computer in Building 27, demolished later during my time at Colworth. My mobile phone and Psion palmtop are both visible on my desk, typical items of turn-of-the-century technology.

World events: The USA recognized the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; and Expedition 1 flew to the International Space Station (ISS).

< Oct 2000 – Dec 2000 >

November 1995 (30 years)

It was clear to all of our family and friends that Judy was nearing the end of her life. During November she was finding it hard to get downstairs, even with help. And her mind was being affected by the doses of morphine she was starting to take to control pain. This was sometimes quite amusing. One day I walked into the bedroom to find her tracing patterns of stems and leafy shapes on the duvet cover, talking about how they went round and round. Beth took her Oxford entrance exam on 13th, and when she had a letter confirming that she had a place as an undergraduate, Judy didn’t believe it, thinking instead that it had been forged by some of her school friends!

We had a lot of help from our friends, Tony and Faith, and Paul and Jenny, but also increasingly from our parents; my parents and Judy’s were both coming for a day once a week, making it far easier for me to get to work more often at Long Ashton.

Scott Russell at the University of Arizona, set up a mirror of my Microsopy web site on a sever there to reduce the load on the LARS server. I gave him FTP access to the folder on the LARS Windows NT box so he could set up a daily automatic file transfer.

At Long Ashton, we were considering a move to PC-TCP for networking our desktop PCs.

World events: The Indian government officially renamed the city of Bombay, restoring the name Mumbai; and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated at a peace rally in Tel Aviv.

< Oct 1995 – Dec 1995 >

November 1990 (35 years)

Judy’s Mum and Dad visited us on 10th November and we exchanged Christmas presents. We gave her Dad a copy of the giant book ‘Chronicle of the 20th Century’ and he said he’d ‘look forward to reading it in bed, a day a night’!

Our computing system at home was a Sinclair QL with a Sony green screen monitor, a basic ink-jet printer, and a twin 3½ inch floppy-disk drive. This was Sinclair’s follow-on from the Spectrum, it came with with a quite capable office software suite of word processor, spreadsheet, a functional database and a graphics package. I used it for programming and keeping track of finances, and we all used it for word processing.

World events:  There was a shake up in British satellite broadcasting; and Mary Robinson defeated odds-on favorite Brian Lenihan, becoming the first female President of Ireland.

< Oct 1990 – Dec 1990 >

November 1985 (40 years)

I was working in the Plant Science Division at Long Ashton Research Station in a rather futile attempt to locate the plant hormone gibberellin in frozen sections of plant tissue. It had been my idea to make the attempt, but I’d made little or no tangible progress. Judy was thriving as a biology teacher at Cotham Grammar School in Bristol (now Cotham School), especially enjoying teaching A Level and running field trips, often to Slapton Ley National Nature Reserve.

Debbie was 10 and Beth was 7, and both were doing well at school in Yatton where we were living at 80 Stowey Road.

World events: U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev met for the first time; and Microsoft released Windows 1.0 in the USA.

< Oct 1985 – Dec 1985 >

November 1980 (45 years)

John Jefferies & Son published their Christmas Hyacinth Gift Pack leaflet and order form (one of the last few years before closing the shop and selling the garden centre to Country Gardens). Here’s the order form that was circulated with the leaflet.

We were living at 22 Rectory Drive, Yatton. Debbie was five and Beth was two. Judy was at home with the girls on weekdays and I was still researching pollen and pollen tube growth at Long Ashton Research Station. We still had no car at this stage and I was cycling or motor cycling to work during the week.

World events:   Ronald Reagan of California defeated incumbent President Jimmy Carter and was elected the 40th President of the United States; and the NASA space probe Voyager I made its closest approach to Saturn.

< Oct 1980 – Dec 1980 >

November 1975 (50 years)

This photo of Debbie was taken on 1st November 1975. You can also see one end of the basketwork crib Judy made before Debbie’s birth, and the toys include film canisters, other jars, boxes and bottles, and some interlocking plastic shapes from Mothercare.

By this time, I was typing up the Horsecastle Chapel newsletter using waxed stencil sheets, and duplicating them on a hand-cranked Gestetner copying machine. This was a job previously done by one of our friends, Joe Stickland, and eventually we moved the machine to our loft to save moving it backwards and forwards.

Later, I began buying extra wax stencils and A4 paper and printing off copies of our own newsletter, ‘Community Spirit’, with announcements about Fountain engagements at local churches, larger meetings in the area that we wanted people to know about, and so on.

Judy often made her own clothes by buying patterns, buying the fabric and cutting out and sewing dresses to save money. In the photo she’s making curtains for our lounge/diner at 22 Rectory Drive in Yatton.

The photos are in black and white because colour film was expensive, but I could buy 35 mm B&W film in bulk, cut it to length, fit it into old film cassettes, and develop it myself to produce negatives. Then at work there was a darkroom with an enlarger so I could also buy photographic printing paper, processing chemicals and stay at Long Ashton in the evening after work to make enlargements at very little cost.

World events: The Treaty of Osimo was signed between Italy and Yugoslavia, resolving their dispute over Trieste. A majority of the land area and residents became Italian; and  in the Madrid Accords, Spain agreed to hand over power of the Spanish Sahara to Morocco and Mauritania by the end of February 1976.

< Oct 1975 – Dec 1975 >

November 1970 (55 years)

Dad’s radio and B&W TV licence fell due on 2nd November and I still have a copy of the new one. They wrote down his name incorrectly as Mr E J Jefferies, but the address is correct and the large fee of £6 was received (around £83 today). A colour TV licence would have been a lot more expensive.

During November we left Long Ashton and moved into our newly acquired bed-sit at 59 Linden Road in Bristol. It was a lovely part of the old city, an easy stroll from the front door to the glorious open spaces of the Downs. The bedroom had a comfortable double bed but I don’t recall what else was in that room. Presumably there was a wardrobe and a chest of drawers, and maybe some bedside cabinets.

Ken Stott was helping Ray Williams with his work on apple pollination, and I was interested in the fluorescence microscopy this entailed, so I started to take every opportunity to help with this where possible.

I mentioned the sitting room last month with its curious cupboard-cum-kitchen. I think there was a B&W TV set and Judy had brought along her reel-to-reel tape recorder so we could listen to music.

Opening the big cupboard doors in the sitting-room revealed the kitchen sink, a Baby Belling stove, and a range of storage cupboards as well as shelves in the doors themselves, so opening the doors until they stuck out into the sitting room at right angles provided a kitchen with ‘walls’ on three sides and a rectangular work area with a tiny worktop between the cooker and the sink. It was adequate – just. It was also fun because it was so weird.

The loo and bathroom were shared with the people in the bed-sit the other side of the stair well. We used the loo because, well, you have to. But we avoided the bath because the gas geyser puffed smutty blobs of soot into the bath. Instead we resorted to all-over flannel washes at the kitchen sink. It was not a great place to live, but it was all we could afford and we planned to move to an unfurnished flat as soon as we could afford it. Also in November, Judy began work at one of the department stores at Broadmead. This provided additional income and our finances began to improve little by little.

Our savings had all but vanished so the first week’s rent was a struggle and we had little to eat, but Judy was paid weekly while I was on a monthly salary so we survived on Judy’s income for four weeks and then the bank balance improved dramatically at the end of November with my first full month’s salary, and after that everything was hunky-dory.

At Long Ashton I was appointed in the first instance as an Assistant Scientific Officer (ASO) to help with growth studies in tree and basket willows. I worked with Christine Jago, (so two Chris Js doing the same work which was rather amusing). Mostly we took annual measurements of breast-height girth and height of the trees as these were standard forestry commission measures from which timber volume could be calculated. Our boss, Ken Stott, was interested in finding the willows and poplars that would put on the most volume annually. There were possibilities for using dried wood chips as a green energy source for electricity generation.

World events: The Soviet Union landed Lunokhod 1 (a surface rover) on the Moon; and The six European Economic Community prime ministers met in Munich to begin a programme of European Political Cooperation (EPC),.

< Oct 1970 – Dec 1970 >

November 1965 (60 years)

Judy and I were completely devoted to one another by this time. We used to agree to meet up in town on Saturdays, often in Woolworths in Cricklade Street (now split in two as Mountain Warehouse and another shop next door). We would just happen to turn up at about the same time and would soon be in conversation while vaguely looking at gloves or possible Christmas presents for family members. The photo shows the famous PicknMix in 1975, ten years later than our visits.

I had not met Judy’s family yet, but she would often pop in to Churnside for tea and a biscuit after school before heading home on her bike. Sometimes she’d push the bike (or I would) and we’d walk up to Chesterton Park where she lived at number 69 with her parents and younger brother, Frank. I was never invited in at this stage though, I think she knew her Dad would joke about us and wanted to put that moment off as long as possible.

Granny’s 86th birthday was on 6th November, she seemed really old but was still fit and could walk from her flat to the Market Place or round to Churnside and back with no problem at all. As she walked back to her flat in The Avenue she would always turn round and wave at the corner between Victoria Road and The Avenue.

I was 17, Cindy was 14, Ruth and Rachael were 9 and 8 respectively, and I was becoming more confident driving except in heavy town traffic. At the time, Dad had use of an Austin Countryman belonging to the family business. It had a steering column gear shift which was unusual but not a problem to learn on.

World events: Martial law was announced in Rhodesia. The UN accepted the British intention to use force against Rhodesia (if necessary) by a vote of 82 to 9; and Craig Breedlove set a new land speed record of 600.6 mph (966.6 km/h).

< Oct 1965 – Dec 1965 >

November 1960 (65 years)

Granny was had her 81st birthdy on 6th November, Mum and Dad were 32 and 34 years old, I was 12, Cindy was 9, Ruth was 4 and Rachael just 3. I was learning Latin for several lessons a week, definitely not my favourite subject. I was now in my second year, in Class 2B at Cirencester Grammar School. My favourite subjects at this time were maths, history, English grammar, chemistry and physics. Major dislikes in addition to Latin were English literature and PE.

There’s really little more to say about this month in my life. I took no photos that I’m aware of, and there are no diary entries or other documents in my collection.

World events: The US Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy was elected to become, at 43, the second youngest man to serve as President of the United States; and Belgium threatened to leave the United Nations over criticism of its policy concerning the Republic of the Congo.

< Oct 1960 – Dec 1960 >

November 1955 (70 years)

Granny turned 76 and seemed to me to be very old indeed. As I write this I’m well on the way to 77½! I was aged 7 in 1955 and was in my second term of the third year at Junior School. We were living at 17 Queen Anne’s Road on the Beeches Estate.

Although I have no photos or documents, I can write about some things that happened regularly in those days. The Corona lorry came round once a week with bottles of brightly coloured fizzy drinks. You could hand in empty bottles to get a small reward, perhaps just a penny, and we often bought three or four new bottles, especially in the summer months. I well remember the captive porcelain stoppers with a red rubber seal that hinged out on a spring steel wire mechanism and could be reconnected with a strong push at just the right angle. And I remember the ‘pop’ emitted when a new bottle was opened. (Later, bottles with screw caps replaced the captive porcelain stoppers. Also, I recall the glass hemispheres covering the upper, sloping part of the bottles, these always fascinated me as a child.

World events: C. Northcote Parkinson propounded ‘Parkinson’s law‘; and the British Governor of Cyprus declared a state of emergency on the island.

< Oct 1955 – Dec 1955 >

November 1950 (75 years)

I’m sure I would have enjoyed my second Bonfire Night on 5th November. Maybe some of the loud bangs might have made me nervous, but the brightly coloured lights in the sky would have seemed amazing.

World events:  There was an attempt to assassinate U.S. President Harry S. Truman; and a U.S. Air Force B-50 Superfortress bomber jettisoned and detonated a Mark 4 nuclear bomb over Quebec, Canada. The bomb was not fitted with its plutonium warhead.

< Oct 1950 – Dec 1950 >

November 1945 (80 years)

Although Mike had been assigned to a lorry driving job, he also writes that he had a chance to operate a Type 22 mobile radar and took photos of an Avro Anson twin-engined RAF plane. He also watched a number of films and attended an ENSA show. Letter writing to and from the family in Cirencester continued, as well as regular letters to and from Lilias in Coagh, and some to his friend Joe.

There was an Armistice Day church parade on 11th November. He received his driving licence and was glad to hear the news that Joe and Dorothy were to be married.

On 15th he drove to Bombay and back, and he began meeting with others about the Christmas entertainment on the base. He got a 1½ hour flight in an Avro Anson near the end of the month.

World events: The first clock radio was marketed, the model 8H59 Musalarm; and the foundation of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) was agreed at a meeting in London.

< Oct 1945 – Dec 1945 >

November 1940 (85 years)

There’s not enough information to write something for every month in the 1940s. Dad’s diaries start in January 1943, so for January 1940 to December 1942 I’ll write about things I know, or draw on dated photos and documents. Sometimes I might use a photo or document with a guessed date.

This time we’re going to take a look at the top floor of the Jefferies shop in Cirencester’s Market Place. This entire floor was the Landscape Design Office, it was led and managed by my Uncle John, the oldest son of my Grandpa, Edward Arthur Jefferies. My Dad, Mike, was the youngest son. John was born on 9th March 1907

This time we should take a look at Siddington Nursery, just a few miles south of Cirencester and very close to a short ladder of locks on the old Thames & Severn Canal. It’s actually quite likely that trees and shrubs from Siddington Nursery would have been despatched to more distant customers by canal in the early 1800s before Cirencester’s railways became available.

You can see from the map (click it to enlarge) that the nursery was divided into three parts by wide east to west avenues and divided again roughly at right angles by three smaller tracks. The northernmost wide avenue was planted with large specimen ornamental trees. It’d badly overgrown in 2025, but some of these trees still live and can be identified. In the 1950s and 60s when I was a child much of the original planting was still clearly visible, not just trees and shrubs, but also large clumps of bamboo and spring-flowering fruit trees too.

The central north-south track was originally planted with demonstration beds of smaller shrubs and other specimen plants, beautifully maintained. When I was young it was just a workaday route for tractors and other equipment.

There was a packing shed with a phone extension to the company shop and offices in Cirencester Market Place and I recall a large store of straw reaching up high, almost to roof level. My sister Cindy and I used to climb up this stack and slide back down. No doubt it was intended as packing material for the bare-rooted trees and shrubs that were produced at Siddington Nursery. And at the far end of the track at the southern end of the site was another shed for the grey Ferguson 35 tractor, a hand-guided ‘Hayter’ for cutting down long grass and weeds, as well as harrows and discs and a rotovator for connection to the tractor for cultivating land before planting.

World events:   In the Battle of Elaia–Kalamas at Epirus, outnumbered Greek forces repelled the Italian Army; and the Royal Navy launched the first aircraft carrier strike in history, on the Italian battleship fleet anchored at Taranto.

< Oct 1940 – Dec 1940 >

1930-1939 (95 to 86 years ago)

Anything that appears in this section will have some connection with the 1930’s but may extend beyond the decade to follow a meaningful topic more fully.

Dad’s brother Richard had the final office on the first floor, next to the General Office. His office was quite small, and the old wooden desk was large. Richard (my Uncle Dick) kept paperwork, his basic filing system was that older items were stacked below newer ones, and as he never cleared his desk, a wall of old paperwork grew higher and higher. Eventually, opening the door to see if Dick was in his office became utterly pointless as he would be hidden by the high stacks of paperwork!

Read last month’s entry for more details of the switchboard. The browser’s back arrow will return you here afterwards.

World events (November 1935): After 11 years in exile, George II returned to Greek soil as King of Greece. (November 1930): a pathologist at the Sheffield Royal Infirmary in England, achieved the first recorded cure (of an eye infection) using penicillin.

<< 1930s >> (Jump to top)

1900-1929 (125 to 96 years ago)

As with the 1930s material, everything in this section will have a connection of some kind with these two decades.

Perhaps it’s time to meet some of the Cirencester Jefferies family from the first couple of decades of the 20th century.

John Jefferies was born and baptised in Somerford Keynes in 1818 and grew up there as a child. I suggest this photo was taken in the late 1800s, perhaps when he was in his mid to late 60s. His older brother, Bradford, would have taken on the family farm in Somerford; so John needed to find work and he took a position with Richard Gregory in Cirencester. Richard Gregory’s father started the Nursery business in Cirencester in 1795, and John was appointed to help with the practical management. Richard Gregory lost money over a bad debt and had to leave the area; John Jefferies, seeking legal advice, was told he should continue running the business and wait to see what would happen. It turned out that he not only continued running the business, but also became the new owner.

John married Alice Freeth and they had a number of children. William John was born in 1844 in Cirencester, John Edwin in 1845, Alice Mary was born in 1847 at 7 Dyer Street, Edward was born on 13th May 1849, and Julia Anne was born on 2nd January 1851. John retired in 1892 and died in 1904; you can read his obituary online (click your browser’s back button to return here). His son, William John Jefferies, ran the business after John’s retirement and inherited it after his father’s death.

The story of John Jefferies does belong partly in 1900-1929 since he died in that period. But next month I’ll add a new section to cover 1800-1899.

Family connections

Father () Mother ()
Siblings
Children – William John, John Edwin, Alice Mary, Edward, Julia Anne

World events (November 1900):  Herbert Kitchener succeeded Frederick Roberts as commander-in-chief of the British forces in South Africa.  (November 1905): In a Moscow Uprising a Bolshevik-led revolt was suppressed by the army. (November 1910): The first air flight for commercial freight delivery took place in the USA. (November 1915):  Albert Einstein presented part of his theory of general relativity to the Prussian Academy of Sciences. (November 1920): In London, The Cenotaph was unveiled and The Unknown Warrior was buried in Westminster Abbey.

<< 1900-1929 >>

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