Bernard appears to have been the only Jellen sibling who supported himself, at least partially, with his music. He was a self-employed Musical Director/ Bandmaster and also gave private music lessons.
Bernard was called up for service and enlisted in the military on March 13, 1917 and served with the Gordon Highlanders and the 40th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers. He was discharged on March 9, 1919 and applied for naturalization on March 28th, 1919. The fact that he could enlist without being a citizen, while Jack could not in 1914 leads me to believe Great Britain changed the rules of enlistment as the WWI continued to drag on and was willing to accept the enlistment of non-citizens. The fee for applying for naturalization was waived since he had served in the Army. When Bernard enlisted he had lived since 1913 with his mother Rachel (Rosa) in Edinburgh. On his application for naturalization he was described as “rather an aggressive self assertive musician”.
He married late in life on June 20, 1939 at the age of 47 to Edith Latter who was 36 years old and her first marriage as well. They were married at Langside Synagogue in Glasgow. Prior to his marriage Bernard had been living with his brother Charles in Edinburgh and was employed as a clerk for an Advertising agent. (could this have possibly been his brother Charles?) Edith’s father was a clothing manufacturer and she worked outfitting ladies – possibly with clothes made by her father’s firm.
Bernard also appears to have tried his hand at being a playwright as evidenced by the following advertisement which appeared in the January 24, 1948 edition of The Scotsman: “To Amateur Societies – Author has several new one-act plays, one Full Length. Inquiries Invited. B. Jellen, 10 Kirkhill Ter. Edingburgh, 9.”
In April of 1950, he conducted the Edinburgh Opera Company orchestra in the production of Maritana. A review that appeared in The Scotsman stated “Bernard Jellen was the conductor, who kept an unostentatious and clear control over his forces.” The article ended with the statement, “But was all this effort, patience and hard work really worth expending on Maritana? It must surely be one of the most trifling and commonplace operas ever to strike the public’s taste.” I have not be able to find any other mention of other performances or venues where he was the conductor.
Bernard died on December 10, 1971 at the age of 79 in the Fairmile Nursing Home in Edinburgh. He was survived by his wife Edith.
Bernard was called up for service and enlisted in the military on March 13, 1917 and served with the Gordon Highlanders and the 40th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers. He was discharged on March 9, 1919 and applied for naturalization on March 28th, 1919. The fact that he could enlist without being a citizen, while Jack could not in 1914 leads me to believe Great Britain changed the rules of enlistment as the WWI continued to drag on and was willing to accept the enlistment of non-citizens. The fee for applying for naturalization was waived since he had served in the Army. When Bernard enlisted he had lived since 1913 with his mother Rachel (Rosa) in Edinburgh. On his application for naturalization he was described as “rather an aggressive self assertive musician”.
He married late in life on June 20, 1939 at the age of 47 to Edith Latter who was 36 years old and her first marriage as well. They were married at Langside Synagogue in Glasgow. Prior to his marriage Bernard had been living with his brother Charles in Edinburgh and was employed as a clerk for an Advertising agent. (could this have possibly been his brother Charles?) Edith’s father was a clothing manufacturer and she worked outfitting ladies – possibly with clothes made by her father’s firm.
Bernard also appears to have tried his hand at being a playwright as evidenced by the following advertisement which appeared in the January 24, 1948 edition of The Scotsman: “To Amateur Societies – Author has several new one-act plays, one Full Length. Inquiries Invited. B. Jellen, 10 Kirkhill Ter. Edingburgh, 9.”
In April of 1950, he conducted the Edinburgh Opera Company orchestra in the production of Maritana. A review that appeared in The Scotsman stated “Bernard Jellen was the conductor, who kept an unostentatious and clear control over his forces.” The article ended with the statement, “But was all this effort, patience and hard work really worth expending on Maritana? It must surely be one of the most trifling and commonplace operas ever to strike the public’s taste.” I have not be able to find any other mention of other performances or venues where he was the conductor.
Bernard died on December 10, 1971 at the age of 79 in the Fairmile Nursing Home in Edinburgh. He was survived by his wife Edith.
3 comments:
There us important information to add to Bernard's story if anyone is interested in this family connection.
Bernard jellen was my grandfather
Not sure who left these comments, but Margaret, if it's you, I'm glad to see you found this very old blog that I started, with unfortunately, not much input from the family so it's all pretty much what I have uncovered.
Since no one else was contributing to it, I pretty much stopped posting.
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