Joshua Jebb
696535
212423913
2008-05-14T19:44:05Z
Tesscass
3089075
/* Life */ disamb Portland
{{Infobox Person
| name = Sir Joshua Jebb
| image = JoshuaJebb.jpg
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_date = 1793<ref name=dnb>[[Dictionary of National Biography]] now in the public domain</ref>
| birth_place = [[Chesterfield]], [[Derbyshire]]
| death_date = 1863<ref name=dnb>[[Dictionary of National Biography]] now in the public domain</ref>| death_place =
| education =
| occupation = military engineer and the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Surveyor-General]] of convict prisons
| spouse =
| parents =
| children =
}}
'''Sir Joshua Jebb''' ([[8 May]] [[1793]] – [[26 June]] [[1863]]) was a military engineer and the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Surveyor-General]] of convict prisons.
He participated in the [[Battle of Plattsburgh]] in Canada during the [[War of 1812]],<ref name=can>[http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=38634 Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''] accessed [[28 October]] 2007</ref> and surveyed a route between [[Ottawa River]] and [[Kingston, Ontario|Kingston]] where [[Lake Ontario]] flows into [[Saint Lawrence River]]. However, his route was not followed by [[Colonel By]] when he built the [[Rideau Canal]].
Jebb was also involved in designing prisons and related buildings, including [[Pentonville Prison]]<ref name=sg/>, [[Broadmoor Hospital]], a secure [[mental hospital]] in Crowthorne in Berkshire, and [[Mountjoy Prison]] in the centre of [[Dublin]].
==Life==
Jebb was the eldest son of Joshua Jebb of [[Walton, Derbyshire|Walton]], [[Derbyshire]] and his wife Dorothy, daughter of General [[Henry Gladwin]] of [[Stubbing Court]] in the same county. Joshua was born at [[Chesterfield]] on [[8 May]] [[1793]].
[[Image:Jebb-map2-e002342777-print 1816 Survey.jpg|Jebb's route which he surveyed for the [[Rideau Canal]]. Eventually an alternative route was chosen.<ref name=rid/>|left|thumb]]
After passing through the Royal Military Academy at [[Woolwich]] he 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. He served with the army under the command of [[General 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 Plattsburg]], [[11 September]] [[1814]], and was thanked in general orders.
In 1816, he completed a survey for a canal which was designed to allow access to the Canadian heartland.<ref name=rid>[http://www.rideau-info.com/canal/engineered/synopsis.html The Rideau Canal's Transformation of a Wilderness Waterway, Ken W. Watson] accessed October 2007</ref>
He returned to England in 1820, after an extended service in Canada. He was stationed at [[Woolwich]] and afterwards at [[Kingston upon Hull|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 had 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]].
[[Image:Pentonvilleiso19.jpg|thumb|left|An isometric drawing of Pentonville prison from an 1844 report to J.Jebb<ref name=sg>Report of the Surveyor-General of Prisons, London, 1844 reproduced in Mayhew, Criminal Prisons of London, London, 1862</ref>]]
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 [[Isle of Portland|Portland]]. Similar prisons were subsequently erected at [[Dartmoor prison|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.
[[Image:ModernSiege.gif|thumb|The 3rd edition of his treatise on siege warfare was published in 1860.]]
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 had a son, Joshua Gladwyn, and three daughters. He was remarried on [[5 September]] [[1854]], to Lady Amelia Rose Pelham, daughter of [[Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester|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<ref name=siege>[http://civilwarfortifications.com/library/jebb-3/index-frame.html ''A practical treatise on the Duties to be performed ... at a siege'', 3rd Edition, Lonon, William Clowes and Son, 1860, London]</ref>
# ''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.
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
== External links ==
{{commonscat}}
*[http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=38634 Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'']
* [http://archives.lse.ac.uk/dserve.exe?dsqServer=lib-4.lse.ac.uk&dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=Overview.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo='jebb') Catalogue of the Jebb papers] at the [http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/archive/Default.htm Archives Division] of the [[London School of Economics]].
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jebb, Joshua}}
[[Category:1793 births]]
[[Category:1863 deaths]]
[[Category:Royal Engineers officers]]
[[Category:British army personnel of the War of 1812]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:People from Derbyshire]]