Author: DUNSTAN, Jeffery
Biography:
DUNSTAN, Jeffery (d 1795: ancestry.co.uk)
The dates usually given for Dunstan are 1759?-1797 and his first name is sometimes given as Jeffrey. However, the sources relied on for details of his life all date from some years after his death when he had acquired legendary status: they should be treated with caution. Dunstan is said to have been a foundling named for the London workhouse, St. Dunstan in the East, in which he was raised. Apprenticed to a grocer, he ran away to Birmingham to work in the factories. On returning to London he set up business as a hawker, dealing in second-hand wigs. In the 1780s he was elected mayor in the mock elections held in Garrett, a hamlet in Wandsworth, Surrey. The elections, held after every general election, promoted eccentric characters who served the hamlet as a lord of misrule. As mayor, Dunstan was known as “Sir Jeffery” and he became a well-known figure in the city. Described as being about four feet tall, with a large head, and knock knees, he is usually shown in drawings as carrying a large sack containing his wares. Sources for his life state that he died in 1797 after a bout of heavy drinking and—to thwart body snatchers—was buried in a deep grave in the churchyard of St. Mary’s, Whitechapel. In fact the parish records for St. Mary’s show that Dunstan of Bucks Row (Durward St.) in Whitechapel died of consumption and was buried on 24 Feb. 1795, aged 66. This gives a likely birth date of about 1729, which fits with his marriage to Mary Warner (or Warrer) at St. Mary’s in Aug. 1762 (banns were read on 1, 8, and 15 Aug.). A son, Jeffrey Dunstan, died aged two weeks of “convulsions” and was buried at the same church on 9 Sept. 1765. Records have been located for one daughter, Sarah, who was born on 3 Jan. 1772. Mary Dunstan survived her husband, continued living in Bucks Row, and was said to be in her 101st year when she was buried at St. Mary’s on 15 Nov. 1818; newspaper announcements of her death describe her as “the lady of Sir Jeffrey Dunstan.” (ODNB 9 Aug. 2024; ancestry.co.uk 9 Aug. 2024; findmypast.co.uk 9 Aug. 2024; historyofparliamentonline 9 Aug. 2024; Henry Wilson, Wonderful Characters [1826]; James Caulfield, The Lives and Portraits of Remarkable Characters [1819]; The Star 17 Nov. 1818) SR