Everything about Joshua Jebb totally explained
Sir Joshua Jebb (
8 May 1793 –
26 June 1863) was a military engineer and the
British Surveyor-General of convict prisons.
He participated in the
Battle of Plattsburgh in Canada during the
War of 1812, and surveyed a route between
Ottawa River and
Kingston where
Lake Ontario flows into
Saint Lawrence River. However, his route wasn't followed by
Colonel By when he built the
Rideau Canal.
Jebb was also involved in designing prisons and related buildings, including
Pentonville Prison
He 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.
In 1837 inquiries conducted in America by
William Crawford (1788-1847) led to the adoption of the
separate system of prison discipline. Jebb was appointed Surveyor-General of prisons, in order to provide the home office with a technical adviser on the construction of prisons. He was employed in designing county and borough prisons, and was associated with the inspectors, Crawford and the Reverend
Whitworth Russell, in the design and construction at Pentonville of
the
Model Prison. Jebb continued in his military duties, and was quartered at
Birmingham until he was seconded on
20 September 1839, and his services entirely devoted to civil work.
On
10 March 1838 he'd been appointed by the Lord President of the council to hold inquiries on the grants of charters of incorporation to
Bolton and
Sheffield, and on
21 May of the same year he was made a member of the commission on the municipal boundary of
Birmingham. On
23 November 1841 he received a brevet majority for his past services, and on
29 June 1843 he was made a commissioner for the government of
Pentonville prison.
The evils of the system of transportation led to the adoption of a progressive system of prison treatment at home. Commencing with a period of strict separation at Pentonville, the convicts were passed to one of the prisons specially constructed with a view to their employment upon public works. For this purpose Jebb designed the prison at
Portland. Similar prisons were subsequently erected at
Dartmoor, Chatham, and Portsmouth.
In 1844, Jebb was appointed a member of a royal commission to report on the punishment of military crime by imprisonment. The commission recommended the establishment of prisons for the exclusive reception of military prisoners, and to be under the supervision of an officer to be termed inspector-general of military prisons, who should also supervise provost and regimental cells. Jebb was appointed to this office on
27 December 1844 in addition to his other duties, and since that date it has been held by the officer at the head of civil prisons, who has always been an officer of royal engineers.
Jebb was promoted
lieutenant-colonel on
16 April 1847. On
1 May 1849 his appointment as commissioner of Pentonville prison was renewed. In 1850, a board, called the Directors of Convict Prisons, was formed to replace the various bodies which had hitherto managed the different convict prisons. Jebb was appointed chairman of this board, and under his government the progressive system was adopted generally and developed. Having served ten years uninterruptedly in the civil employment of the state, Jebb had, in accordance with regulations, to return to military duty, or retire from the army. He chose the latter alternative, and left military service on full pay retirement on
1 January 1850. He subsequently received the honorary rank of colonel on
28 November 1854. He was made a K.C.B. 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. He died suddenly on
26 June 1863.
Family
Jebb married twice; first, on
14 June 1830, to Mary Legh, daughter of
William Burtinshaw Thomas, of
Highfield, Derbyshire, who died in 1850, and by whom he'd a son, Joshua Gladwyn, and three daughters. He was remarried on
5 September 1854, to Lady Amelia Rose Pelham, daughter of
Thomas Pelham, the Earl of Chichester, who survived him.
Major works
- 'A Practical Treatise on Strengthening and Defending Outposts, Villages, Houses, Bridges, Chatham, 1836.
- Modern Prisons : their Construction and Ventilation, with plates, London, 1844.
- Notes on the Theory and Practice of Sinking Artesian Wells, 1844.
- Manual for the Militia, or Fighting made Easy : a Practical Treatise on Strengthening and Defending Military Posts in reference to the Duties of a Force engaged in Disputing the Advance of an Enemy, London, 1853.
- A Flying Shot at Fergusson and his " Perils of Portsmouth," " Invasion of England, pamphlet, London, 1853.
- A practical treatise on the Duties to be performed ... at a siege, 3rd Edition, Lonon, William Clowes and Son, 1860, London
- 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.
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