James William Webb-Jones

James William Webb-Jones (1904–1965) was a Welsh choral educator and founder of the English Jesters Cricket Club.

James William, who was born in Cowbridge, Glamorgan, Wales,^[1] was the only child of the trans-European chartered shipbroker^[2][3][4][5] Ernest William Jones^[6][7] (1870 – 1941),^[8] who was the owner of M. Jones and Brothers (est. 1856),^[3][4] who was a first class cricketer.^[2][8] James William's paternal uncle was the prominent gynaecologist Arthur Webb-Jones.^[9] James William's paternal grandfather was Lieutenant-Colonel William Matthew Jones VD (b. 1838).^[10]

James William's paternal cousins included Edwin Price Jones who (after a lauded pupillage in classical literature and English at the Royal Masonic School, Wood Green)^[11] was Vice-Consul for Chile^[12] and Secretary to the Chamber of Commerce;^[3] and William (Bill) Wynn Jones,^[13] who was Anglican Bishop of Central Tanganyika,^[14][15] through whom he was a cousin of the National Party conservative Naomi Wilson OAM (b. 1940).^[16]

James William's mother was Aimée Elizabeth Parson (1873 – 1913),^[6] who was the French-born third daughter of James Holmes Parson^[10][17] and Jessy Burton.^[18][19] James William's parents were married at All Saints' Church and at the British Consulate in Rouen, Haute Normandie, on 10 September 1900.^[10][17]

James William's maternal aunt was Jessie/Jessy Sarah Parson (later Endall)^[20][21] (d. 22 April 1941)^[22] who had been selected by Crown Princess Sofia of Greece to be from 1898^[23] Lady Superintendent and Matron^[24][25] of the First Military Hospital at Athens,^[26] for which she received the Commemorative Medal of the Red Cross from Queen Olga of Greece.^[27] Jessie/Jessy Sarah Parson had been previously Lady Superintendent of the English Hospital at the Piraeus during the war between Greece and Turkey of 1897,^[28] and was latterly, as Jessie/Jessy Sarah Endall, Matron of the Children's Hospital at Athens.^[21]

Through his maternal grandmother^[10] Jessy Burton,^[18][19] who was the daughter of William Warwick Burton^[29] and the granddaughter of William Ford Burton,^[30] James William was a great-great-great grandson of the eminent London property developer James Burton, and a relation of the architect Decimus Burton.

James William was educated at Cranleigh School,^[6][31] for which he played cricket,^[32] and at Worcester College, Oxford,^[6][31] where he was Captain of Cricket.^[6][31] He later attended the University of Grenoble in France,^[6][31] where he received the Diplôme de Hautes Études.^[6][31]

James William was a co-founder, with John 'Jock' Forbes Burnet (1910 - 1980) of St. Paul's School, London,^[33] of the Jesters Cricket Club,^[34] of which his father Ernest, and his cousin William, and his son-in-law Peter, were members. James William played for the Jesters, alongside his father, against the Eton College Servants, in 1931, and, alongside his cousin William, against Chertsey, also in 1931.^[1]

He was a member of the Confraternity of St. Andrew.^[34]

• Assistant Headmaster of St George's School, Windsor Castle, from 1928 to 1934.^[6][31]
• Headmaster of St George's School, Windsor Castle, from 1934 to 1942.^[35][6][31]
• He left St George's School in 1942, to serve in the Royal Air Force during World War II, from 1942 to 1945.^{[34][6][31][36]}
• Housemaster, Wellington School, Somerset, from 1945 to 1950.^[6][31]
• Headmaster of Vanbrugh Castle School from 1951 to 1955.^[6][31]
• Headmaster of Wells Cathedral School from 1955 to 1964,^[6][31] where his son-in-law Peter Stanley Lyons was Director of Music from 1954 to 1960.^[37] James William also worked as a sidesman at Wells Cathedral and a member of the Friends of Wells Cathedral.^[34]
• Teacher at All Hallows Preparatory School, Cranmore, Somerset, during 1964 and 1965.^[34]

James William married, at the Parish Church, Windsor, on 20 December 1930,^[34][7][31] Barbara Bindon^[38] Moody^[31][6] (1903 - 1973),^[38] of Emperor's Gate, South Kensington,^[7] who was the daughter of Colonel Richard Stanley Hawks Moody CB^[34] and the granddaughter of Major-General Richard Clement Moody (who was the founder and the first Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia). James William and Barbara Moody had only one child, Bridget (b. 5 September 1937),^[6][39] who married the chorister Peter Stanley Lyons^[39][31] at Wells Cathedral in 1957.^[37][40]

The godmother of Bridget Webb-Jones was Lady Walford Davies,^[41] who was the wife of the composer Sir Henry Walford Davies KCVO OBE (who had been Master of the King's Music at St George's Chapel, Windsor, when James William had been Headmaster of St George's School, Windsor Castle). Lady Walford Davies later married Julian Harold Legge Lambart, who was Vice-Provost of Eton College, for which Witham Hall School became a preparatory school.^[41][42]

James William and his wife, Barbara, retired to Witham Hall,^[31] where his son-in-law Peter Stanley Lyons was Headmaster of the School.^[41][37][31] James William's hobbies were cricket, fives, fishing,^[6] reading,^[34] and wine.^[31] He kept a wine store in the basement of Vanbrugh Castle,^[31][43] and died, possibly as a consequence of alcoholism,^[31] during 1965 at Witham Hall,^[34] and is buried at The Church of St. Andrew, Witham on the Hill,^[31] where his funeral was held.^[34] His wife died in 1973 and is buried next to her husband.

• "WEBB-JONES, James William (1904–1965)". Who's Who, Oxford Index. Oxford University Press.
• Obituary for James William Webb-Jones, The Cheddar Valley Gazette, 7 January 1966
• "Entry for James William Webb-Jones, Headmasters of Vanbrugh Castle School, Vanbrugh Castle School".
• "Profile for James William Webb-Jones, Vanbrugh Castle School".