Author: Jesse, John Heneage
Biography:
JESSE, John Heneage (1808-1874: ODNB)
Born 26 Dec. 1808 (not 1809 as in ODNB), he was baptised 15 Mar. 1809 at West Bromwich, Staffordshire, the only son of Edward Jesse (1780-1868, ODNB) and his first wife, Matilda (Morris) Jesse. His sister was the novelist and travel writer Matilda Charlotte Jesse (1815-1892, ODNB). The family’s residence at West Moseley, Surrey, exposed him in early age to royalty and senior politicians, including First Secretary of the Admiralty John Wilson Croker (q.v.). He was educated at Eton (upper school 1820) and at Brasenose College (matriculated 1827, no degree). A person familiar with his character described him in boyhood as having “the most singular passion for boyish freaks and fantastic frolics, practical jokes, and ludicrous recreations.” Through Croker’s influence, in Oct. 1829 he was appointed third class clerk at the Admiralty where he worked until his retirement in 1867. He was promoted senior clerk in March 1825, then first class clerk in June 1850, from which time he was head of the Commission Branch. In 1863, he gave knowledgeable and detailed testimony before a House committee on promotion and retirement in the navy. Additional to the poems recorded in this database, he published London: A Fragmentary Poem (Sanders and Otley, 1847), dedicated to Samuel Rogers (q.v.), and The Mind of Albret; or, The First Love of Henry of Navarre (privately printed, 1850). He had a gift for story-telling. Contemporary readers greatly admired his books, no longer read, on archbishops, kings, royal courts, Etonians, literary and other London celebrities, and the politician George Selwyn. He died, unmarried, in his rooms at the Albany, Piccadilly, on 7 July 1874. At probate, his effects were valued under £1,500. Count D’orsay’s portrait of him is said to be a good likeness. (ODNB 8 Nov. 2023; Alumni Oxonienses; The Collector 5:13 [May 1804], 197; R. H. Madden, Literary Life and Correspondence of the Countess of Blessington [1855], 3:401; Parliamentary Papers. Report from the Select Committee on Navy (Promotions and Retirement). [1864], 10:1-10; J. C. Sainty, Admiralty Officials 1660-1870 [1975], 134) JC