Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jebb, Joshua

by Robert Hamilton Vetch ‎

JEBB, Sir JOSHUA (1793–1863), surveyor-general of convict prisons, eldest son of Joshua Jebb of Walton in the county of Derby, by his wife Dorothy, daughter of General Henry Gladwin of Stubbing Court in the same county, was born at Chesterfield on 8 May 1793. 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 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 Sept. 1814, and was thanked in general orders. He returned to England in 1820, after a lengthened service in Canada. He was stationed at Woolwich and afterwards at Hull until December 1827, when he embarked for the West Indies. He was promoted second captain on 26 Feb. 1828, and was invalided home in September 1829. Having recovered his health he was sent to Chatham. He was appointed adjutant of the royal sappers and miners at Chatham on 11 Feb. 1831, and promoted first captain 10 Jan. 1837.

In 1837 inquiries conducted in America by William Crawford (1788–1847) [q. v.] 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 Crawford and the Rev. Whitworth Russell, inspectors, in the design and construction at Pentonville of the ‘Model Prison.’ Jebb continued to do military duty, and was quartered at Birmingham until he was seconded on 20 Sept. 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 Nov. 1841 he received a brevet majority for his past services, and on 29 June of the following year he was made a commissioner for the government of Pentonville Prison.

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 Portland. Similar prisons were subsequently erected at 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 Dec. 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.

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 quitted the military service on full pay retirement on 11 Jan. 1850. He subsequently received the honorary rank of colonel on 28 Nov. 1854, and of major-general 6 July 1860. 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.

Jebb was twice married; first, on 14 June 1830, to Mary Legh, daughter of William Burtinshaw Thomas, esq., of Highfield, Derbyshire, who died in 1850, and by whom he had a son, Joshua Gladwyn, and three daughters; secondly, on 5 Sept. 1854, to Lady Amelia Rose Pelham, daughter of Thomas, second earl of Chichester, who survived him. His principal works are:

1. ‘A Practical Treatise on Strengthening and Defending Outposts, Villages, Houses, Bridges,’ &c., 8vo, Chatham, 1836.
2. ‘Modern Prisons: their Construction and Ventilation,’ with plates, 4to, London, 1844.
3. ‘Notes on the Theory and Practice of Sinking Artesian Wells,’ 4to, 1844.
4. ‘Manual for the Militia, or Fighting made Easy: a Practical Treatise on Strengthening and Defending Military Posts, &c., in reference to the Duties of a Force engaged in Disputing the Advance of an Enemy,’ 12mo, London, 1853.
5. ‘A Flying Shot at Fergusson and his “Perils of Portsmouth,” “Invasion of England,”’ &c., 8vo, pamphlet, London, 1853.
6. ‘Observations on the Defence of London, with Suggestions respecting the necessary Works,’ 8vo, London, 1860.
7. ‘Reports and Observations on the Discipline and Management of Convict Prisons,’ edited by the Earl of Chichester, 8vo, London, 1863.

[Corps Records; Home Office Records; Porter's History of the Royal Engineers.]

R. H. V.