Joshua Jebb

Early life He was born at Chesterfield on 8 May 1793, the eldest son of Joshua Jebb of Walton Hall, Derbyshire and his wife Dorothy, daughter of General Henry Gladwin of Stubbing Court. His father, a grand-nephew of Samuel Jebb and John Jebb (Dean of Cashel), belonged to a family who produced a number of distinguished descendants, and had once had property in England and the West Indies, but he largely lost his wealth. His sister Frances married William Miles (1797–1844), a shipowner and West India merchant, and bought the estate of Firbeck Hall which was later inherited by his descendants.

After passing through the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, Jebb was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 1 July 1812. He was promoted to first lieutenant on 21 July 1813, and embarked for Canada in the following October.

Jebb served with the army under the command of General Francis de Rottenburg on the frontier of Lower Canada until the summer of 1814, when he joined the army of Lieutenant-general Sir George Prevost in the United States, and took part in the campaign of the autumn of 1814. He was present at the Battle of Plattsburgh, 11 September 1814, and was thanked in general orders. His route, however, was not followed by Colonel By in building the Rideau Canal; he had chosen a way between Ottawa River and Kingston where Lake Ontario flows into Saint Lawrence River.

Jebb returned to England in 1820, after an extended service in Canada. He was stationed at Woolwich and afterwards at Hull until December 1827, when he embarked for the West Indies. He was promoted second captain on 26 February 1828, and was invalided home in September 1829. Having recovered his health he was sent to Chatham. Jebb was appointed adjutant of the royal sappers and miners at Chatham on 11 February 1831, and promoted first captain on 10 January 1837. On 29 June 1843 he was made a commissioner for the government of Pentonville Prison.

Later life Jebb retired from the army, leaving military service on full pay retirement on 1 January 1850; his successor as Survey General of Prisons was Major Edmund Henderson. He subsequently received the honorary rank of colonel on 28 November 1854. He was made a KCB for his civil services on 25 March 1859. In 1861 and 1862 he served on commissions appointed to consider the construction of embankments of the River Thames, and of communications between the embankment at Blackfriars Bridge and the Mansion House, and between Westminster Bridge and Millbank.

Jebb died suddenly on 26 June 1863 in Charing Cross, London, coming off the omnibus from Parson's Green, where he resided, and was buried in Brookwood Cemetery.

Major works Jebb's works included: The 3rd edition of his treatise on siege warfare was published in 1860. Observations on the Defence of London, with Suggestions respecting the necessary Works, London, 1860. Reports and Observations on the Discipline and Management of Convict Prisons, edited by the Earl of Chichester, London, 1863.

Family Jebb married twice; firstly, on 14 June 1830 Mary Legh Thomas, daughter of William Burtinshaw Thomas, of Highfield, Derbyshire, who died in 1850. They had a son and three daughters. The children were:

Captain Joshua Gladwyn Jebb of Barnby Moor House, born 1839. He was father of Captain Sydney Gladwyn Jebb JP, of Firbeck Hall, and grandfather of Gladwyn Jebb of the United Nations. Mary Dorothy, married 1854 the cleric Henry Ellison. Emily Sarah, married 1860 Basil Charles Boothby of the 95th Regiment. Frances Beatrice, married the cleric William Edmund Batty, and was mother of De Witt Batty.

Jebb married, secondly on 5 September 1854, Lady Amelia Rose Pelham, daughter of Thomas Pelham, the Earl of Chichester, who survived him.