Arthur Tilden Jeffress (21 November 1905 – 21 September 1961) was an influential gallery owner, collector, and patron of the arts in post-World War II Britain.The Burlington Magazine, vol. 151, no. 1270, pg 31 In the 1920s and 1930s he was conspicuous mostly as a rich playboy and socialite. He died in 1961, leaving his art collection to the Tate and Southampton City Art Gallery.
Early life Arthur was born in Brentford, Middlesex on 21 November 1905, the second son of Albert and Stella Jeffress of Charlotte, Virginia, U.S.A. His older brother, Joseph Randolph Jeffress, was born in 1900.
Albert Jeffress was in the tobacco business and in 1902 helped to form the British American Tobacco (BAT) company, a joint venture between the UK's Imperial Tobacco and The American Tobacco Company. Albert became a director of the company at its formation and later become Deputy Chairman.Ford, Bacon and Davis, Engineers, Poor's Manual of Industries, Second Edition,1911, page 682 BAT was headquartered in London and Albert moved his family to England so that he could help run the new company.
The Jeffress family lived at Kenton Grange, a 27-acre estate at Kenton, Middlesex.RS Brown, Kenton Hamlet and District Volume9, 1979 page 10-13 Arthur was educated at Harrow and Pembroke College, Cambridge.University of Cambridge Register, ed. Sir Thomas Gery Cullum, University of Cambridge, 1926, p. 346
In 1925, Albert unexpectedly died while returning from a business trip to China. He left the majority of his estate to his wife, two sons and his sister, Anita Jeffress Hill of Berkeley, California.Bulk of Manufacturer's Estate goes to Wife and Sons," New York Times, 31 August 1926 The family continued to live at Kenton Grange until well after the Second World War.Mr Joseph Jeffress sold Kenton Grange in 1952 to Middlesex Country Council, Woodcock Park and Kenton Grange Record, London Park & Garden Trust. https://londongardenstrust.org/conservation/inventory/site-record/?ID=BRE042
The Bright Young People/ Things period Jeffress and his brother Randolph were both interested in cars; Randolph, who owned a Bugatti and 1929 Supercharged Alfa Romeo, became an amateur racer.Motor Sport, "The 500-Mile Race, November 1930, Page 4; Club News, July 1931, Page 33 Jeffress's own interest was mainly in automotive aesthetics, leading to his ownership of first a Kissel, then, aged 28, his first Rolls-Royce, a two-seater 20/25 convertible (GGA29) with coachwork by the Carlton Carriage Company. He subsequently acquired another 20/25, GAE80 bodied by Thrupp & Maberly.Tom C. Clarke, "The Rolls Royce 20/25 HP, Second Edition A Complete Classics Publication, Page 178
After leaving Cambridge, and before the Second World War, Jeffress's enthusiasm for the arts led him to enter artistic social circles; he was an acquaintance of the Sitwells, playing a role in Osbert and Sacheverell's play "First Class Passengers Only" at the Arts Theatre in 1927.JP Wearing, The London Stage 1920-1929 - A Calendar of Productions and Performers, and Personnel, Rowmann & Littlefield, 2014, 27.333, page 551 The Sitwells' artistic salon at their Carlyle Square home regularly hosted eminent writers, artists, critics and patrons; Jeffress thus came into contact with this world.Philip Ziegler, “Osbert Sitwell,” Alfred A. Knopf New York, 1999, Page 99 Jeffress's friend, André Ostier, was at this time running a gallery in Paris; another friend, Henry Clifford, would become head curator of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.Gill Hedley, “Arthur Jeffress for Painting,” Gill Hedley – Curator & Contemporary Art Consultant, April 2013, http://www.gillhedley.co.uk/txt/Arthur-Jeffress-for-Painting.html With the guidance of these artistically-knowledgeable friends, Jeffress began collecting art by the mid-1930s. At around this time, he bought de Chirico's "The Painter's Family", a Picasso, and a number of other works.
Jeffress was one of the numerous Bright Young People, young bohemian artists, aristocrats, and socialites, during the 1920s and 30s. This group was famous for its dedication to modernism, the arts, and throwing extravagant parties; on 21 November 1931, Jeffress hosted the last great so-called "Monster” balls, the "Red and White Party".D. J. Taylor, “Bright Young People – The Lost Generation of London’s Jazz Age,” Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 2007, Page 254 This was held at the west wing of Holford House in Regent's Park. This- considered a grand address- was the home of the famous dancer Maud Allan.John Montgomery, “The Twenties,” George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London 1970, Page 199Philip Hoare, “Oscar Wilde’s Last Stand, Decadence, Conspiracy and the Most Outrageous Trial of the Century” Arcade Publishing, New York 1998, Page 86 Although 250 people were invited, four hundred attended. The party's name was reflected in the request that guests dress only in red and white costumes- these included sailor suits, nun's habits, evening dress, sashes, wigs and gloves. The rooms were extravagantly decorated in red velvet and white silk, and the food and drink consisted of red caviar, lobster, salmon, champagne, wine, and gin. Jeffress greeted his guests attired in a white angel-skin sailor suit with red trimmings, a ruby necklace, two diamond clips and a spray of white star orchids. The party continued until dawn, but represented, with the arrival of the depression, the end of the heyday of the Bright Young Things.Alec Waugh, “A Year to Remember; A Reminiscence of 1931” Bloomsbury Reader, 1975
During much of the 1930s, Jeffress's boyfriend was John Deakin, an "acid-tongued... wit",Francis Bacon in the 1950s, ed. Michael Peppiatt, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Milwaukee Art Museum, Albright-Knox art gallery (Buffalo, N.Y.), 2006, p. 153 later a photographer of Soho in the 1950s who also influenced Arthur's art collecting.
World War II With the onset of war in Europe, Jeffress became a non-combatant ambulance driver. His childhood enthusiasm for motor vehicles had led him to become a skilled driver and knowledgeable about vehicle maintenance.
Jeffress put his art collection into storage and closed up his house, offering its use to the military.Stewart, James W., “Sinking of the Zam Zam – Diary of James W. Stewart with the British American Ambulance Corps., January – September, 1941” iUniverse, Inc., Bloomington, 2012, Page 20 In 1940, he applied to join the American Field Service; and in time he was assigned to its British American Ambulance Corps as a driver. Reporting for duty on 27 January 1941 at the BAAC office in New York, he was assigned to a unit of 24 men; at 34, he was one of the elder members of the unit, the youngest being 19.Stewart, James W., “Sinking of the Zam Zam – Diary of James W. Stewart with the British American Ambulance Corps., January – September, 1941” iUniverse, Inc., Bloomington, 2012, Page xiv His unit was assigned to the Middle East and North African Campaigns after one month of training, shipping out on board the SS Zam Zam for Mombasa, Kenya. They were to travel overland to Lake Chad, where they would support de Gaulle's Free French Forces.Stewart, James W., “Sinking of the Zam Zam – Diary of James W. Stewart with the British American Ambulance Corps., January – September, 1941” iUniverse, Inc., Bloomington, 2012, Page 24
The voyage to Africa was undertaken alongside US missionaries and their families,“Zamzam: the story of a strange missionary odyssey,” by the Augustana Synod passengers, edited by S. Hjalmar Swanson DD, University Of Wisconsin Press, 1941 a group of French Canadian Catholic Brothers, and a group of tobacco businessmen.Stewart, James W., “Sinking of the Zam Zam – Diary of James W. Stewart with the British American Ambulance Corps., January – September, 1941” iUniverse, Inc., Bloomington, 2012, Page 263-268 The S.S. Zam Zam, being an Egyptian ship, was neutral in the war, and was taking a "safe" route to avoid more dangerous supply routes; although the US was not at war, the Nazis attacked supply ships heading to Britain. The ship was to sail down to South America before crossing the Atlantic to Africa.Stewart, James W., “Sinking of the Zam Zam – Diary of James W. Stewart with the British American Ambulance Corps., January – September, 1941” iUniverse, Inc., Bloomington, 2012, Page 109 However, in the early morning of 17 April, the German raider Atlantis opened fire on the Zam Zam, which, critically disabled, began to sink. With the loss of many lifeboats in the attack, and lack of coordination when abandoning ship, many life boats departed only partially full; most of the BAAC men, including Jeffress, were stranded on the sinking ship.Charles Murphy and David Scherman, “The Sinking of the Zamzam” Life, Vol.10 No. 25, 21 June 1941Stewart, James W., “Sinking of the Zam Zam – Diary of James W. Stewart with the British American Ambulance Corps.; January – September, 1941” iUniverse, Inc., Bloomington, 2012, Page 63. Bernhard Rogge, captain of the Atlantis, observed the number of women and children in the lifeboats and, concluding that the sinking ship had not been an Allied supply ship, sent out boats to rescue the survivors.“Zam Zam: A Missionary Odyssey” Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Video, 23 May 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHFrX3nwF0U The German sailors gathered the lifeboats and boarded the "Zam Zam", rescuing all remaining passengers and crew. All passengers and crew members were saved, with only a few injured in the attack.Stewart, James W., “Sinking of the Zam Zam – Diary of James W. Stewart with the British American Ambulance Corps.; January – September, 1941” iUniverse, Inc., Bloomington, 2012, Page 70. After a few days of captivity, the Atlantis rendezvoused with another German ship, the Dresden; the captured passengers and crew were transferred to this ship, where conditions were difficult- all the men were confined to a cramped space below deck (108 men in a 50x50 ft space), and food was scarce and poor. As a result many became ill. They were kept captive whilst Berlin decided how to deal with the diplomatic situation.