JEFFERYS, THOMAS (d. 1771), map engraver, carried on his business in St. Martin's Lane, Charing Cross, London, and became geographer to the Prince of Wales, afterwards George III. He died on 20 Nov. 1771 (Gent. Mag. xli. 523). By his wife Elizabeth he left two sons and two daughters (will registered in P.C.C. 444, Trevor).
Jefferys published:
- ‘The Conduct of the French with regard to Nova Scotia … In a Letter to a Member of Parliament’ [anon.], 8vo, London, 1754, translated into French in 1755, and answered by ‘Le Sieur D. L. G. D. C.’ in ‘La Conduite des François justifiée,’ 12mo, 1756.
- ‘Explanation for the new Map of Nova Scotia’ [anon.], 4to, London, 1755.
- ‘A Collection of the Dresses of different Nations, antient and modern … after the designs of Holbein, Vandyke, Hollar, and others,’ 4 vols. 4to, London, 1757–72, with descriptions in English and French.
- ‘The Natural and Civil History of the French Dominions in North and South America … illustrated by Maps and Plans … engraved by T. J.,’ 2 pts. fol. London, 1760.
- ‘A Description of the Maritime Parts of France,’ oblong fol. London, 1761, with maps and plans.
- ‘Voyages from Asia to America for completing the Discoveries of the North-West Coast of America … Translated from the High Dutch of G. F. Mueller, with three new Maps … by T. J.,’ 4to, London, 1761; another edit., 1764.
- ‘A Description of the Spanish Islands and Settlements on the Coast of the West Indies, compiled from authentic Memoirs,’ 4to, London, 1762.
- ‘A Geographical Description of Florida,’ in William Roberts's ‘Account of the first Discovery and Natural History’ of that country, 4to, London, 1763.
- ‘The great Probability of a North-West Passage; deduced from Observations on the Letter of Admiral de Fuentes … with three explanatory Maps by T. J.,’ 4to, London, 1768.
- ‘The North American Pilot … being a Collection of … Charts and Plans … chiefly engraved by T. J.,’ fol. London, 1775, a work issued under the auspices of Captain James Cook.
[Brit. Mus. Cat.]
JEFFREY. [See also Geoffrey.]
JEFFREY, ALEXANDER (1806–1874), Scottish antiquary, born in 1806 near Lilliesleaf, Roxburghshire, was fourth son of a farm steward or bailiff, who belonged to the antiburgher branch of the secession church. He was a studious youth, but left school at an early age, became a solicitor's clerk at first in Melrose and afterwards in Edinburgh, and was later an assistant in the town-clerk's office at Jedburgh. In 1838 he obtained admission as a practitioner in the sheriff court of Roxburghshire, and subsequently became the most popular and successful agent, especially in criminal cases, in the sheriff courts of Roxburgh and Selkirk. He lived at Jedburgh, and died there on 29 Nov. 1874. His wife had died in 1872.
Despite his professional industry Jeffrey was well read in general literature, and as an enthusiastic archæologist was elected a member of the Scottish Society of Antiquaries. In 1836 he published a history of Roxburghshire in an octavo volume. In 1853 he began rewriting it on a larger scale. The first volume of the new venture—his chief work—was issued in 1853, and the fourth and last in 1864. Although the works of the Record Commission published since disclose information with which Jeffrey was not acquainted, his history, despite occasional defects in style and arrangement, is on the whole well written, and remains a recognised authority (cf. review in Edinburgh Review, cxii. 489 seq., and ib. July 1887). To the ‘Transactions’ of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, of which he was a member, he contributed two topographical papers on Jedburgh and Ancrum respectively. He also published a small guide to the scenery and antiquities of Jedburgh (12mo, n.d.)
[Scotsman, 30 Nov. 1874; private information.]
JEFFREY, FRANCIS, Lord Jeffrey (1773–1850), critic, born 23 Oct. 1773, in Charles Street, St. George's Square, Edinburgh, was the son of George Jeffrey, depute-clerk in the court of session, by Henrietta, daughter of John Louden, a farmer near Lanark. The family consisted of Margaret (died in childhood); Mary, married, 21 April 1797, to George Napier, writer to the signet; Francis; John, who became a merchant, was settled for some years before 1807 in Boston, Mass., as partner of his father's brother, who had married a sister of John Wilkes, and afterwards led a secluded life in Scotland; and Marion, married, 7 June 1800, to Dr. Thomas Brown, a physician in Glasgow. She died in 1846. The father, a high tory, was sensible and respectable, but of gloomy temper. The mother, who was much loved by her family (the more so ‘from the contrast between her and her husband’), died in 1786. Francis was healthy, though diminutive. He learnt dancing before he was nine, but was never good at any bodily exercise except walking. In October 1781 he was sent to the high school at Edinburgh, where his first master
