George Henry JEANS (1888-1970)

George’s plaque in Christ Church
Photograph by Roger Morgan © 2019

The bronze plaque pictured above is fixed to the north wall of the Chancel at Christ Church Epsom Common. It was originally fixed to the choir stalls where, as the plaque notes, George was a Choirman from 1928 to 1970, the year of his death. (As we shall see, however, he was other things as well.) The plaque was refixed as near as possible to its original site when the choir stalls were removed as part of the 1990s “reordering” of Christ Church’s effectively unchanged Victorian interior.

George Henry Jeans was born on 3 December 1888 at 30 Kneller Road, Brockley, London SE4. He was about the middle of 16 children (five of whom died young) born to John Charles Jeans and Mary Ann (née Ives – they had married Q3 1876, registered in the St Saviour Southwark District). The 1891 Census records the 2 year old George as the seventh of eight children at the home in Kneller Road. His parents were in their mid-30s, and his father is listed as a “Joiner & Carpenter”.

The 1901 Census records the family still at Kneller Road – with 12 year old George as the fourth of nine children at home, and his father is now listed as an “Engineer’s Joiner”. By the time of the 1911 Census, the parents had moved quarter of a mile to 26 Adelaide Road, Brockley. The 55 year old father is now listed as a “Carpenter & Joiner for Jobbing Builder”. 22 year old George was one of eight children still living at home and shown as an “Assistant Clerk (new class) HM Customs”. (One of the other children at home was George’s 34 year old now-widowed brother John – listed as a “Printer’s Traveller” – with his two young children.)

During WW1, George was conscripted into the Army (but did not, it is understood, serve in a combatant role). In April 1918, he transferred to the newly formed Royal Air Force and, promoted to Flight Sergeant, worked in the Central School of Instruction until transferring to the RAF Reserve in August 1919. His RAF duties took him to Hastings where he was involved in the training of cadets. In a fateful off-duty moment at the sea front, he gallantly retrieved a young lady’s hat which had blown into the sea. The young lady was Daisy Dorothy Levens, born on 27 December 1985 as third of the four children of Charles Levens and Amelia (née Trowell). The 16 year old Daisy (a “Type Writer”) and her family (her 50 year old father being a “Grocer”) had been recorded in the 1911 Census at home in 120 South Park Road, Wimbledon.

On 16 August 1919, the 30 year old George and married 23 year old Daisy got married. (The marriage was registered in the Kingston District, which included Wimbledon.) They went on to have three children:

• Margaret Frances Mary, whose 5 July 1920 birth was registered in the Wimbledon District;
• Richard, whose 7 June 1923 birth was registered in the Lewisham District; and (perhaps as something of a surprise)
• Nicholas, who was born in Epsom in Q3 1940.

George, Daisy and their two daughters had moved to Epsom in the 1920s. This was probably in 1928 (George’s start date in the Choir at Christ Church) – and probably also to 28 West Hill Avenue, which is where the not quite complete family were recorded in the September 1939 Register.

After leaving the RAF in 1919, George had returned to the Civil Service, and the 1939 Register records this 50 year old as an “Intelligence Officer in the Department of Overseas Trade”. 43 year old Daisy is listed there with the conventional “Unpaid Domestic Duties”.

George was clearly an able singer and musician. From 1938 to 1941, he served as Choirmaster alongside the then Organist, Leslie Brown. (Most of Christ Church’s organists – like the long-serving first, George Good – have done both jobs.)

In addition to his music, he was active elsewhere in Christ Church. Soon after his arrival at Christ Church, he was elected to the Church Council, on which he served for some 30 years – for much of that time as Secretary and Treasurer of the Committee which managed the old Christ Church Hall at foot of West Hill.

George (on the left) and fellow Committee member (Donald Ensom)
outside the old Christ Church Hall
Photograph from the Christ Church archives © 2019

George died, aged 81, on 4 July 1970. The Probate records show that his address was still 28 West Hill Avenue (as was the widowed Daisy’s when, aged 93, she died on 31 May 1981).

In addition to the plaque which began this article, George is commemorated on a processional cross donated in his memory. (Made of oak, this is a lighter alternative to the original and rather unwieldy metal and wood processional cross.) The cross’s small brass plate has the following inscription which, again, mentions only George’s time as a chorister: “IN LOVING MEMORY OF G. H. JEANS / CHOIRMAN CHRIST CHURCH 1928-70 / CARVED BY PETER KILNER ”

Roger Morgan © 2019