404
NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. vm. NOV. 22, 1913.
A Hundred Years of Conflict: being some Records of the Services of Six Generals of the Doyle Family, 1756-1856, by A. Doyle, 8vo, 208 pp. London, Longmans, 1911.
The O'Danerons of Cahermacnaughton, by Dr. G. V. MacNamara, in Journal of the North Munster Archaeological Society, Limerick, 1912.
The History of the Blacker Family of Carrickblacker.
Mac Firbiss MS. Book of Irish Pedigrees and Genealogies.
County Records of the Surnames of Francus, Francis, and French, by A. D. W. French.
Irish Pedigrees, by J. T. O'Hart.
Hy-Many Tribes (O' Kelly and others), by John O' Donovan (LA. Society).
A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Ireland, by Sir Bernard Burke. (Vide Historical Pedigrees of the MacCarthys. )
The Succession of the Celtic Chiefs, by The O'Morchoe. Dublin.
The Rise and Fall of the Geraldines (Fitzgeralds), by Rev. C. P. Meehan. Dublin.
The O'Beirne Clan, by O'Toole.
The O'Connors, by O'Connor.
JEZREEL'S TOWER.
For many years a strange, massive building has formed a conspicuous landmark round Rochester. This is Jezreel's Tower, which after twenty-five years' curious history is now to be converted into a picture hall. The Jezreelites, calling themselves "The New and Latter House of Israel," were a religious sect founded by James White, a British soldier in a regiment in India, who was addicted to drink and had suffered from sunstroke. One day White announced that he had received a revelation, and having purchased his discharge, he sailed for England and adopted the name of James Jershom Jezreel. He claimed to possess a "flying roll" of the 144,000 people who were to be saved; Christ (they believed) by His death redeemed only souls, and those souls who have lived since Moses. For the salvation of the soul belief in the Gospel was sufficient; the body must be saved by belief in the Law. When Christ comes to reign He will be greeted by the 144,000 (Rev. vii. 5-8), who will be endowed with immortal bodies, and to this chosen band the members of this sect aspired to belong. Having collected various sums of money, White made Gillingham his head-quarters, and commenced to build "Israel's Sanctuary and Assembly Rooms," with accommodation for 5,000 of the elect, who should gather there at the time of the destruction of the world. The Jezreelites never cut their hair; they also believed that their founder would live for ever; but he died before the temple was finished, and his widow (a Chatham girl, named Esther Rogers) died a few years later. After her death the sect decayed.
Afterwards the building became a wholesale grocery and provision store, rented by "Queen Esther's" father, Edward Rogers; and in 1906 it passed into the hands of owners who reduced it from six to two floors. It was afterwards occupied by an American Jezreelite, who called himself "Prince Michael," and threatened to complete the building of the Tower. "Prince Michael's" real name was Michael Keyfor Mills; his title was opposed by the founder's father-in-law, and Michael was evicted by order of the High Court. Early this year the temple was put up to auction at Tokenhouse Yard, and was withdrawn at 3,900l.
When the building is viewed from the Rainham Road, about a mile and a half from Chatham, the hieroglyphic designs on the outside —rossed trumpets, crossed swords and lilies—are visible. One of the inscriptions reads:—
This corner stone
was laid on the 19th day of
September, 1885,
by Mrs. Emma Cave,
on behalf of the
144,000.
Revelations [sic] 7th 4.
The following auctioneer's notice gives a good description of the building:—
"Massive, unfinished building, known as Jezreel's Tower, designed and erected by a community called the New and Latter House of Israel at a cost of 40,000l. The building is an imposing castellated structure, one hundred and twenty feet square by about one hundred in height, with an elevated tower at each corner, and of the most massive construction. It is situated on the tableland on the summit of Chatham Hill, and forms a conspicuous object in the landscape for many miles round. The interior above the ground floor is arranged for a circular assembly hall to seat 5,000 people, with numerous offices, reception, dining, and bed rooms, kitchen, &c., in the space between the square walls and the circular hall……The dome, roof, flooring, and window sashes have not been completed. The ground floor forms an enormous room occupying the whole of the interior of the building, and was intended for the printing department of the society."
It is also described as "a colossal, unfinished building, convertible for a brewery, factory, or other purposes." Any further particulars will be welcomed.
In connexion with picture theatres, it may be interesting to record that the Rochester Corn Exchange, mentioned by Dickens in
