James William Webb-Jones
Welsh choral conductor and educator
James William Webb-Jones (1904–1965) was a Welsh choral conductor.
Family and early life
James William, who was born in Cowbridge, Glamorgan, Wales ,[ 1] was the only child of the trans-European steamship agent [ 2] [ 3] [ 4] Ernest William Jones [ 5] [ 6] (1870 – 1941),[ 7] who was the owner of M. Jones and Brothers (est. 1856)[ 2] [ 8] and who was a first-class cricketer.[ 7] James William's mother was Aimée Elizabeth Parson (1873 – 1913),[ 5] who was the French-born daughter of James Holmes Parson who was a British merchant banker in Italy .[ 9] James William's parents were married at the British Consulate in Rouen, Haute Normandie , on 10 September 1900.[ 9]
James William's uncles included the gynaecologist Arthur Webb-Jones ,[ 10] and Edwin Price Jones, who was Vice-Consul for Chile [ 11] and Secretary to the Chamber of Commerce.[ 2] James William was (through his cousin William (Bill) Wynn Jones [ 12] who was Anglican Bishop of Central Tanganyika )[ 13] [ 14] a cousin of the National Party conservative Naomi Wilson OAM (b. 1940).[ 15] James William was (through his maternal grandmother Jessy Tyndale Burton) a great-great grandson of the London property-developer James Burton , and a relation of the architect Decimus Burton .
Education
James William was educated at Cranleigh School ,[ 5] [ 16] for which he played cricket,[ 17] and at Worcester College, Oxford ,[ 5] [ 16] where he was Captain of Cricket.[ 5] [ 16] He later attended the University of Grenoble in France ,[ 5] [ 16] where he received the Diplôme de Hautes Études.[ 5] [ 16]
Worcester College, Oxford
James William's father Ernest , and his cousin William , and his son-in-law Peter , were members of the Jesters Cricket Club,[ 1] which was founded in 1928 by John 'Jock' Forbes Burnet (1910 - 1980) of St. Paul's School, London .[ 18] James William played for the Jesters, alongside his father, against the Eton College Servants, in 1931, and, alongside his cousin William, against Chertsey , also in 1931.[ 1]
Career
Assistant Headmaster of St George's School, Windsor Castle , from 1928 to 1934.[ 5] [ 16]
Headmaster of St George's School, Windsor Castle , from 1934 to 1942.[ 19] [ 5] [ 16]
He left St George's School in 1942, to serve in the Royal Air Force during World War II , from 1942 to 1945.[ 5] [ 16] [ 20]
Housemaster, Wellington School, Somerset , from 1945 to 1950.[ 5] [ 16]
Headmaster of Vanbrugh Castle School from 1951 to 1955.[ 5] [ 16]
Headmaster of Wells Cathedral School from 1955 to 1964,[ 5] [ 16] where Peter Stanley Lyons was Director of Music from 1954 to 1960.[ 21]
Marriage
James William married, at the Parish Church, Windsor , on 20 December 1930,[ 6] [ 16] Barbara Bindon [ 22] Moody[ 16] [ 5] (1903 - 1973),[ 22] of Emperor's Gate, South Kensington ,[ 6] who was the daughter of Colonel Richard Stanley Hawks Moody CB and the granddaughter of Major-General Richard Clement Moody (who was the founder and the first Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia ). James Webb-Jones and Barbara Moody had only one child, Bridget (b. 5 September 1937),[ 5] [ 23] who married the chorister Peter Stanley Lyons [ 23] [ 16] at Wells Cathedral in 1957.[ 21] [ 24] The godmother of Bridget Webb-Jones was Lady Walford Davies,[ 25] who was the wife of the composer Sir Henry Walford Davies KCVO OBE, who had been Master of the King's Music at St George's Chapel, Windsor , when James Webb-Jones had been Headmaster of St George's School, Windsor Castle . Lady Walford Davies later married Julian Harold Legge Lambart, who was Vice-Provost of Eton College , for which Witham Hall School became a preparatory school.[ 25] [ 26]
Retirement and death
James William and his wife, Barbara, retired to Witham Hall ,[ 16] where his son-in-law Peter Stanley Lyons was Headmaster of the School.[ 25] [ 21] [ 16] Webb-Jones's hobbies were cricket, and fives, and fishing,[ 5] and wine.[ 16] Webb-Jones kept a wine store in the basement of Vanbrugh Castle ,[ 16] [ 27] and died, possibly as a consequence of alcoholism ,[ 16] at Witham Hall in 1965, and is buried at The Church of St. Andrew, Witham on the Hill .[ 16] His wife lived at Witham Hall until her death in 1973, after which she was buried next to her husband.
References
^ a b c "James William Webb-Jones, Profile, Cricket Archive" .
^ a b c "Entry for M. Jones and Brother, Steamship Agents, 1914 Who's Who in Business" .
^ "No. 27514" . The London Gazette . 9 January 1903. p. 191.
^ "No. 35525" . The London Gazette . 14 April 1942. p. 1665.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p "WEBB-JONES, James William (1904–1965)". Who's Who, Oxford Index . Oxford University Press.
^ a b c "Engagement Announcement of James William Webb-Jones and Barbara Bindon Moody". Engagements. The Times . London. 3 July 1930.
^ a b "Ernest Jones Profile, England Players, Cricket Archive" . Archived from the original on 26 June 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2017 .
^ "No. 27514" . The London Gazette . 9 January 1903. p. 191.
^ a b Archives of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, 1900, British Consulate, Rouen, Haute Normandie .
^ 1851–1901 inc. Wales Census. Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851–1901 inc. Kew, Surrey, England: Records for Ernest W Jones: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO)
^ "No. 28726" . The London Gazette . 6 June 1913. p. 3991.
^ "JONES, Rt Rev. William Wynn". Who's Who, Oxford Index . Oxford University Press.
^ "Entry for 'WYNN JONES, WILLIAM (BILL) (1900 - 1950)', Australian Dictionary of Evangelical Biography" . Evangelical History Association. Retrieved 25 April 2022 .
^ "The Diocese of Central Tanganyika, Mission and History, Historical Background" . The Diocese of Central Tanganyika. Retrieved 25 April 2022 .
^ "Former Members" . Parliament of Queensland . 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015 .
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t "Entry for James William Webb-Jones , Headmasters of Vanbrugh Castle School, Vanbrugh Castle School" .
^ "JWW Jones, Profile, Cricket Archive" .
^ "The Jesters Cricket Club: Club History" .
^ Wridgway, Neville (1980). The Choristers of St George's Chapel . Chas. Luff & Co.
^ "Administrative and Special Duties Branch" (PDF) . The London Gazette . 15 August 1942. Retrieved 10 June 2016 .
^ a b c "Entry for Lyons, Peter Stanley (1948)". Register of Twentieth Century Johnians, Volume I: 1900-1949 . St John's College, Cambridge. 2004. p. 279.
^ a b "Entry for MOODY, Colonel Richard Stanley Hawks, in Who Was Who (A & C Black, Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016)" .
^ a b "Profile for James William Webb-Jones , Vanbrugh Castle School" .
^ Lyons, Peter Stanley, The Eagle , St John's College, Cambridge, December 2006
^ a b c Peter and Bridget Lyons and Witham Hall, Lincoln, Rutland & Stamford Mercury, Friday, 8 February 1985
^ Tatler, Guides, Schools Guide 2014, Prep, Witham Hall School
^ "Residential Staff, Vanbrugh Castle School" .
Further reading