The Darling of all Fair Traders

Gertrude Jekyll’s great great grandfather was John Jekyll (1674-1732), a nephew of Sir Joseph Jekyll (1663-1738), a distinguished lawyer, who was Master of the Rolls. After travelling widely in Europe, he settled in America; he married Hannah Clark of New York, who bore him nine children. John Jekyll was a respected Collector of His Majesty’s Customs for the Port of Boston, Massachussetts, from 1707 until his death in 1732. Commenting on his life, The Boston Weekly Newsletter wrote: ‘He was publicly conspicuous of his office for his faithfulness and application in his Duty to the Crown; by his courteous Behaviour to the Merchant, he became the Darling of all Fair Traders’.

 

His son, Captain Edward Jekyll (1720-76), pictured, Gertrude’s great grandfather, returned to England and became a naval officer. His career was stunted by his support of the colonies, on the eve of the American Revolution; in 1775, it was reported that: ‘Giving free scope to his opinions as a native American, he incurred the wrath of Lord Sandwich’, who was then the First Lord of the Admiralty. It was he that invented the sandwich, when he called for a piece of beef between two slices of bread during a 24 hour gambling session.

 

Edward’s son, another Joseph Jekyll (1754-1837), Gertrude’s grandfather, was British Whig Member of Parliament and a lawyer. He was described as ‘a Gentlemen conversant with various Branches of Literature’, when elected to the Royal Society. He was a notable wit, a ‘man about town’ and prolific writer of letters to his father, relatives and friends, some collected and published by John Murray; they are available through second hand book dealers. In 1824, he inherited a property in Wargrave, where Gertrude was to be spend a significant part of her youth.

 

The Jekyll name survives as a place name in the USA. Jekyll Island (originally spelled Jekyl Island, with only one l) was the name given to Whale Island, off the coast of Georgia, when the colony of Georgia was founded in the early years of the 18th century. The name came from Sir Joseph Jekyll who contributed to the colony’s financing and was much admired by its founder, General Oglethorpe. In 1886, it became an exclusive club, where an event of extraordinary importance took place in 1910 – the foundation of the Federal Reserve (the central bank of USA) in a secret meeting of America’s most powerful industrialists and financiers. This link Federal Reserve 1910 describes what happened. Today, it is a tourist resort.