Basic Biographical Details Name: | Andrews Jelfe | Designation: | | Born: | | Died: | 26 April 1759 | Bio Notes: | Andrew Jelfe was the son of William Jelfe of South Weald, Essex and his wife ___Andrews. He was apprenticed to Edward Strong, mason (Colvin) or John Keene (Dictionary of Sculptors) on 2 August 1704 and was made free of the London Mason's Company in 1711 by service with Strong or Keene. He subsequently formed a partnership with Edward Strong junior and Christopher Cass until December 1728 at which point Strong withdrew. Jelfe continued in partnership with Cass until Cass died in 1734. Jelfe later formed a partnership with George Mercer who succeeded Cass as Master Mason to the Board of Ordnance.
Jelfe held a Board of Ordnance post, Clerk of the Works at Newmarket from 1715 to 1718 and the post of Clerk Itinerant from 1715 to 1728. In January 1719 he was appointed ‘Architect and Clerk of Works of all buildings erected or to be erected in the several garrisons, forts, castles, fortifications etc. belonging to the Office of Ordnance in Great Britain’. He travelled to Scotland to begin the construction of Ruthven Barracks and those at Bernera as well as to continue the work already begun at Kiliwhimen and Inversnaid already begun by his predecessor James Smith. While he was in Scotland he was made a burgess of Edinburgh. The following year he was transferred to Plymouth to supervise work on the new Gun Wharf or Ordnance Yard. As architect to the Ordnance he was succeeded in 1727 by James Gibbs.
In England Jelfe mainly worked as a mason-contractor. As such he worked on some of the Fifty New Churches built in London under the Act of 1711. He also received contracts for masonry work on the Hermitage, Richmond (1730), where he was employed by Henry Flitcroft; on the Royal Mews, Charing Cross (1733); the library at St James’s Palace (1737); the treasury in Whitehall (by 1737); Hampton Court (1732/3) and the Horse Guards in Whitehall, where he worked with his nephew William Jelfe and John Carr (1751). He was evidently in high demand, which is no doubt why he paid a fine to be excused serving as sheriff in 1744. He also undertook monumental sculptural work and his letter-book shows that he also had a practice in church monuments and provided decorative carving. He made the black marble tombstone commemorating Nicholas Hawksmoor in the churchyard at Shenley. His largest contract (in partnership with Samuel Tufnell, master mason to Westminster Abbey) was the building of Westminster Bridge to the designs of Charles Labelye (1738-47). He overcame some structural problems through the innovative ideas of his friend the antiquarian William Stukeley. Some architectural designs by Jelfe are preserved among Stukeley’s papers. He made measured drawings of ‘Arthur’s O’on’, a Roman monument, which Stukeley subsequently had engraved.
The Court House or Town Hall at Rye (1743) in Sussex is considered to be Jelfe’s most important architectural work. This is a competent design but slightly old-fashioned. In 1741 he built thirteen houses on the north side of New Palace Yard and on the south side of Bridge Street, Westminster. His yard and wharf were in New Palace Yard where he also had a stone-built house.
Jelfe had aspirations to be a gentleman and purchased his own residence Pendell House at Bletchingley, Surrey where he formed the entrance courtyard. Jelfe died on 26 April 1759. His elder son, Andrew, who he had set up as a naval officer, inherited Pendell House on his death. His daughter inherited his yard at New Palace Yard (at his death the business was being run by his nephew William with whom he had formed a partnership). His daughter and second son who were ‘idle and extravagant’ also inherited £10,000 each.
A portrait of Jelfe by Stukeley of 1722-23 is preserved in the Bodleian Library. | Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | New Palace Yard, London, England | Business | | | | | Pendell House, Bletchingley, Surrey, England | Private | 1747 | | |
Buildings and DesignsThis was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details): | | Date started | Building name | Town, district or village | Island | City or county | Country | Notes | | 1719 | Bernera Barracks | | Bernera | Inverness-shire | Scotland | | | After 1719 | Inversnaid Barracks | Inversnaid | | Stirlingshire | Scotland | Continued work begun by James Smith | | After 1719 | Ruthven Barracks | Newtonmore | | Inverness-shire | Scotland | |
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Colvin, Howard | 2008 | A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840 | | London: YUP. 4th edition | | | DNB | | Dictionary of National Biography | | | | | Lambert, U | 1921 | Bletchingley | i | | pp316-7 | | Roscoe, I, Hardy, E and Sullivan, M G | | A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851 | | | | | Walker, R J B | 1979 | Old Westminster Bridge | | | p185 etc |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this : | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | Architectural Review | 1926 | lx | | pp76-7 | | Gentleman's Magazine | | xiv | | p333 | | London Magazine | 1771 | | | p472 | | Notes & Queries | 1939 | 177 | | p11 (article by L A Vidler) |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this : | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | Bodleian Library | Gough Maps and Documents | 40, ff. 6v, 7v | | | Bodleian Library | Manuscripts | MS Eng Misc. e136, f.30 | | | Bodleian Library | Manuscripts | MS. Top. Gen. d.14, p59 | | | British Library | Add MSS | Add MS 27587 | | | British Library | Add MSS | MS 27587, f.106v | | | Edinburgh City Archives | Edinburgh Town Council Minutes | volume 48, 011 | | | PRO | Wills | PCC 173, Arran | | | PRO (Public Records Office) | Ordnance Files | WO 47/32, ff21, 83, 105, 270 | wo 47/33, ff16, 17, 36, 58, 158; 51/101, ff.4, 41; 55/490 |
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