Am I the only one who had never heard that our grandmother Cecile had a brother Jack? I wonder if my mother even knew that he existed because when I had asked her some years ago about the names of her maternal aunts and uncles, Jack’s name was not mentioned. Ironically, I now know more about Jack than any of the other Jellen siblings, including my very own grandmother. I found a wealth of information in Jack’s application for British citizenship, plus being a journalist and writer, I have been able to find a lot about him.
Jack was born Jacob on July 22, 1888 in Antwerp, Belgium. He went by the name Jacques after the move to Brussels, and upon moving to Glasgow became Jack. He then enrolled at the Glasgow Atheneum of Music and attended that school for 3 years. (More about the musical Jellen’s in a future post!)
In 1910, at 22 years of age, he left to visit his brother in Brussels and worked at Fischer Freres (Fisher Brothers). It’s possible that the brother was Simon as his wife’s maiden name is Fisher. Jack didn’t stay very long in Belgium and returned to Scotland after only two months.
Later that year, in August, 1910, he changed careers and became a junior reporter for the Spectator and moved to County Down, Ireland. He returned to Glasgow in April of 1911 and became a reporter for the Shetland Times for 10 months. In January of 1912 he moved to Edinburgh and joined the Evening Dispatch and moved to London to serve as their Parliamentary Representative at the House of Commons.
In 1914, Jack applied for naturalization so he could serve in the British Army during WWI. Character and morality are qualities that are researched as part of the naturalization process. This yields a number of interesting observations and comments about Jack. Here are some of them:
“Memorialist (Jack) appears to be a respectable man, and produced five testimonials testifying that he is a capable reporter, thoroughly trustworthy, and invariably shows the Scotsman tenacity of purpose when assigned a difficult or apparently hopeless enterprise”. One of his references said that Jack was “…born in Belgium, but was brought up and educated in this country, and is an Englishman to all intents and purposes excepting for the accident of his birth”.
Jack became a naturalized British subject on December 14, 1914 and as expressed in his application, joined the Royal Army Service Corps before the year was out, serving in the Ypres Salient. While a Private, Acting Staff Serjeant, he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in October, 1916 by the King of England. In 1919, he received the Medaille d’Honneur avec Glaives en Bronze from France for distinguished services rendered during the course of the campaign. He rose in rank to that of staff sergeant-major and was mentioned twice in war dispatches. I was able to obtain a copy of an article that Jack wrote in 1960 about his WWI experiences. The article was entitled “A Clerk in the First World War” and appeared in the August 1960 issue of the Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. This article goes into much detail about his war experiences and includes his observations on the various military commanders he came in contact with, along with descriptions of the action and everyday activities, including the time he held the King George V’s hat, while he was attending a dinner near the front.
After the war, Jack returned to the London staff of The Scotsman. His knowledge of French and German was the impetus for specializing in writing about foreign affairs and eventually became a diplomatic correspondent for the paper.
On December 20, 1924, at the age of 36, Jack married Lilian Dorothy Ely, a widow one year younger than himself. Lilian had a son Gerald who was 8 years old when Jack and Lilian married. Jack and Lilian later had a son, Alan on March 3, 1927.
Jack served in the Home Guard during World War II from its inception and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel as an assistant advisor on the Home Guard to the GOC, London District. During WWII, Jack was in charge of the Home Guard for the Houses of Parliament.
Jack was elected chairman of the Parliamentary Press Gallery in 1945. This mostly ceremonially post, entailed presiding over the annual luncheon. As Chairman, he was responsible for sending a message from the Press Gallery to Winston Churchill to salute him as the “architect of victory”. The Chairman’s gavel, made of oak from the bombed House of Commons, was used for the first time by Jack. The Press Gallery, adjacent to the House of Commons was also severely damaged by bombing during the Blitz of 1941.
According to his obituary, oil painting had been a long-time interest of Jack’s. An article published in The Scotsman on October 23, 1948 reviewed an art show at the Imperial Institute put on by the Army Art Society. It read, in part, “If Lieut.-Colonel J. Jellen, for example, had painted his tiny unpretentious ‘Pagham Rife’ on the scale of a Van Gogh he might have given even greater pleasure than he has done with his calm study of peaceful river under a friendly sky.”
His wife, Lilian, died on March 29, 1961 at the age of 72. 3 Jack died eleven years later of a heart attack on April 29, 1972 in Surrey, England.3 He was just 2 months shy of his 84th birthday.
Jack was born Jacob on July 22, 1888 in Antwerp, Belgium. He went by the name Jacques after the move to Brussels, and upon moving to Glasgow became Jack. He then enrolled at the Glasgow Atheneum of Music and attended that school for 3 years. (More about the musical Jellen’s in a future post!)
In 1910, at 22 years of age, he left to visit his brother in Brussels and worked at Fischer Freres (Fisher Brothers). It’s possible that the brother was Simon as his wife’s maiden name is Fisher. Jack didn’t stay very long in Belgium and returned to Scotland after only two months.
Later that year, in August, 1910, he changed careers and became a junior reporter for the Spectator and moved to County Down, Ireland. He returned to Glasgow in April of 1911 and became a reporter for the Shetland Times for 10 months. In January of 1912 he moved to Edinburgh and joined the Evening Dispatch and moved to London to serve as their Parliamentary Representative at the House of Commons.
In 1914, Jack applied for naturalization so he could serve in the British Army during WWI. Character and morality are qualities that are researched as part of the naturalization process. This yields a number of interesting observations and comments about Jack. Here are some of them:
“Memorialist (Jack) appears to be a respectable man, and produced five testimonials testifying that he is a capable reporter, thoroughly trustworthy, and invariably shows the Scotsman tenacity of purpose when assigned a difficult or apparently hopeless enterprise”. One of his references said that Jack was “…born in Belgium, but was brought up and educated in this country, and is an Englishman to all intents and purposes excepting for the accident of his birth”.
Jack became a naturalized British subject on December 14, 1914 and as expressed in his application, joined the Royal Army Service Corps before the year was out, serving in the Ypres Salient. While a Private, Acting Staff Serjeant, he was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in October, 1916 by the King of England. In 1919, he received the Medaille d’Honneur avec Glaives en Bronze from France for distinguished services rendered during the course of the campaign. He rose in rank to that of staff sergeant-major and was mentioned twice in war dispatches. I was able to obtain a copy of an article that Jack wrote in 1960 about his WWI experiences. The article was entitled “A Clerk in the First World War” and appeared in the August 1960 issue of the Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. This article goes into much detail about his war experiences and includes his observations on the various military commanders he came in contact with, along with descriptions of the action and everyday activities, including the time he held the King George V’s hat, while he was attending a dinner near the front.
After the war, Jack returned to the London staff of The Scotsman. His knowledge of French and German was the impetus for specializing in writing about foreign affairs and eventually became a diplomatic correspondent for the paper.
On December 20, 1924, at the age of 36, Jack married Lilian Dorothy Ely, a widow one year younger than himself. Lilian had a son Gerald who was 8 years old when Jack and Lilian married. Jack and Lilian later had a son, Alan on March 3, 1927.
Jack served in the Home Guard during World War II from its inception and rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel as an assistant advisor on the Home Guard to the GOC, London District. During WWII, Jack was in charge of the Home Guard for the Houses of Parliament.
Jack was elected chairman of the Parliamentary Press Gallery in 1945. This mostly ceremonially post, entailed presiding over the annual luncheon. As Chairman, he was responsible for sending a message from the Press Gallery to Winston Churchill to salute him as the “architect of victory”. The Chairman’s gavel, made of oak from the bombed House of Commons, was used for the first time by Jack. The Press Gallery, adjacent to the House of Commons was also severely damaged by bombing during the Blitz of 1941.
According to his obituary, oil painting had been a long-time interest of Jack’s. An article published in The Scotsman on October 23, 1948 reviewed an art show at the Imperial Institute put on by the Army Art Society. It read, in part, “If Lieut.-Colonel J. Jellen, for example, had painted his tiny unpretentious ‘Pagham Rife’ on the scale of a Van Gogh he might have given even greater pleasure than he has done with his calm study of peaceful river under a friendly sky.”
His wife, Lilian, died on March 29, 1961 at the age of 72. 3 Jack died eleven years later of a heart attack on April 29, 1972 in Surrey, England.3 He was just 2 months shy of his 84th birthday.
No comments:
Post a Comment