Flight lieutenant James William Webb-Jones (1904–1965) (RAF nickname 'Bub Jones') was a Welsh choral educator, and co-founder of the English Jesters Cricket Club, and officer of the RAF Administrative and Special Duties Branch.
Named after his ancestor James Burton Senior (developer of Regent Street, Regent's Park, and Hyde Park), he led numerous historic musical schools, including St George's School, Windsor Castle, Vanbrugh Castle School, and Wells Cathedral School.
He was the son of the international chartered shipbroker and first-class cricketer Ernest William Jones, and the nephew of the prominent gynaecologist Arthur Webb-Jones, and the brother-in-law of the surgeon Major-General James Fitzgerald Martin.
Family Paternal family James William, who was born on 12 February 1904 in Cowbridge, Glamorgan, Wales, was the only childThe Western Mail, 17 September 1941, p. 3 of the international chartered shipbroker Ernest William JonesThe Western Mail, 6 August 1930, p.10 (1870 – 1941), who was the owner of M. Jones and Bro. (1856 - 1942), who was a first class cricketer. James William's paternal uncle was the prominent gynaecologist Arthur Webb-Jones.1851–1901 inc. Wales Census. Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851–1901 inc. Kew, Surrey, England: Records for Ernest W Jones: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO) James William's paternal grandfather was Lieutenant-Colonel William Matthew Jones VDThe Herald of Wales, 20 September 1941, 'Well-Known Docksman and Cricketer', p.3 (1838 - 1921).The Cambrian, 14 September 1900
James William's paternal cousins included the fellow polyglot Edwin Price Jones (1855 - 1924) who (after a lauded pupillage at the Royal Masonic School, Wood Green)The Freemasons' Magazine and Masonic Mirror, Vol. 23, June to December 1870, Published for The Freemasons' Magazine Company, Strand, London, 1870, pp. 53-54The Freemasons' Magazine and Masonic Mirror, December 1869, pp. 73-74 was Vice-Consul for Chile and President of the Swansea Chamber of Commerce; and William (Bill) Wynn Jones, who was Anglican Bishop of Central Tanganyika, through whom James William was a cousin of the National Party conservative Naomi Wilson OAM (b. 1940).
Maternal family James William's mother was Aimée Elizabeth Parson (1873 – 1913), who was the French-born third daughter of James Holmes Parson of Le HoulmeThe Warwick and Warwickshire Advertiser, 26 September 1903, p. 8 and Montville, Seine-Maritime,The Western Mail, 13 September 1900, Births, Marriages, and Deaths. and Jessy Burton.
James William's eldest maternal aunt was Jessie/Jessy Sarah Parson (later Endall)The Warwick and Warwickshire Advertiser, 26 September 1903, p. 8The Royal College of Nursing, The British Journal of Nursing, 7 May 1921, 'A Nurses' Unit for Greece', p.262The Royal College of Nursing, The British Journal of Nursing, 14 January 1922, 'The Greek Nursing Unit', p.26 (d. 22 April 1941)Entry for Endall, Jessy Sarah, England & Wales Probate Index, 1858-1995 who had been selected by Crown Princess Sofia of Greece to be from 1898The Royal College of Nursing, The Nursing Record & Hospital World, 25 August 1900, p.154 Lady Superintendent and MatronThe Royal College of Nursing, The British Journal of Nursing, 18 February 1922, 'The Greek Nursing Unit', p.104The Royal College of Nursing, The British Journal of Nursing, 12 November 1921, 'The Greek Nursing Unit', p.308 of the First Military Hospital at Athens,The Royal College of Nursing, The Nursing Record & Hospital World, Volume 21, 3 December 1898, 'The Silver Lining', p.452 for which she received the Commemorative Medal of the Red Cross from Queen Olga of Greece.The Royal College of Nursing, The Nursing Record & Hospital World, Volume 22, 22 April 1899, p.314 Jessie/Jessy Sarah Parson had been previously Lady Superintendent of the English Hospital at the Piraeus during the Greco-Turkish War (1897),The Royal College of Nursing, The Nursing Record & Hospital World, 16 July 1898, Volume 21, 'Nursing Pioneers in Greece', p.49 and was latterly, as Jessie/Jessy Sarah Endall, Matron of the Children's Hospital at Athens.
Through his maternal grandmother Jessy Burton,Entry for Helen Burton Parson (b. 15 February 1885), Archives de Seine-Maritime, Reference Number: EC76452-1885-N-005905-0000000033Entry for Helène Burton Parson (d. 14 November 1909), Archives de Seine-Maritime, Reference Number: EC76217-1909-D-026625-0000000610 who was the daughter of the solicitor William Warwick Burton and the granddaughter of William Ford Burton, James William was a 3rd-great grandson of the eminent London property developer James Burton, and a 2nd-great grandnephew the architect Decimus Burton.
Education James William was educated at Cranleigh School,The Wells Journal, 7 January 1966, p. 2 for which he played cricket, and where he received distinctions in French, Ancient Greek, Latin, and Mathematics, and was a School Prefect.
He was then educated at Worcester College, Oxford, at which he matriculated on 13 October 1923 to read classical moderations and Spanish under Arthur Wallace Pickard-Cambridge, and was rusticated for the Michaelmas term of 1925 for lack of academic diligence. He was Captain of Cricket at Worcester College, Oxford.
He spent a fourth year at the University of Grenoble between August 1926 and July 1927,Files for Webb-Jones, James William, Matriculated 1923, Archives of Worcester College, Oxford. where he received the Diplôme de Hautes Études in June 1927, before he returned to Worcester College, Oxford, to graduate with a BA on 17 December 1927 and an MA in 1930.
Co-founder of the Jesters Cricket Club James William during 1928 was a co-founder, with John 'Jock' Forbes Burnet (1910 - 1980) of St. Paul's School, London, of the Jesters Cricket Club, of which his father Ernest, and his cousin William, and his son-in-law Peter, were members.
Career Private tutor to the son of the Dean of Windsor, from 1927 to 1928. Assistant Headmaster of St George's School, Windsor Castle, from 1928 to 1934. Headmaster of St George's School, Windsor Castle, from 1934 to 1942. He left St George's School in 1942, to serve in the Royal Air Force during World War II, from 1942 to 1945, as a flight lieutenantThe Liverpool Daily Post, 14 May 1945, 'North Wales Matches', p.3 of the Administrative and Special Duties Branch and a member of the Royal Air Force Education Service stationed at RAF North Luffenham.The Stamford Mercury, 7 January 1966, 'Witham Head's Wife Bereaved', p.9 His RAF nickname was 'Bub Jones'. Housemaster, Wellington School, Somerset, from 1945 to 1950. Headmaster of Vanbrugh Castle School from 1951 to 1955. Headmaster of Wells Cathedral School from 1955 to 1964, where his son-in-law Peter Stanley Lyons was Director of Music from 1954 to 1960. James William also worked as a sidesman at Wells Cathedral, and a member of the Friends of Wells Cathedral, and a member of the Confraternity of St. Andrew. Teacher at All Hallows Preparatory School, Cranmore, Somerset, during 1964 and 1965.
He was fined during February 1959, at Shepton Mallet Magistrates Court, for driving a car without due care and attention.The Cheddar Valley Gazette, Friday 06 February 1959
Personal life Marriage James William married, at the Parish Church, Windsor, on 20 December 1930,The Western Mail & South Wales News, 10 December 1930, p. 10 Barbara Bindon Moody (1903 - 1974),The Grantham Journal, 28 June 1974, p. 19 of Emperor's Gate, South Kensington, who was the daughter of Colonel Richard Stanley Hawks Moody CB and the granddaughter of Major-General Richard Clement Moody (who was the founder and the first Lieutenant-Governor of British Columbia). They had only one child, Bridget (b. 5 September 1937), who married the choral musician Peter Stanley Lyons at Wells Cathedral in 1957.Lyons, Peter Stanley, The Eagle, St John's College, Cambridge, December 2006
The godmother of Bridget Webb-Jones was Lady Walford Davies,Peter and Bridget Lyons and Witham Hall School, Lincoln, Rutland & Stamford Mercury, Friday, 8 February 1985 who was secretary of the Windsor and Eton Choral Society,Obituary of Julian Harold Legge Lambart, Eton College Chronicle, 28 January 1983, No. 3801 and 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 Castle, when James William had been Headmaster of St George's School, Windsor Castle). Lady Walford Davies subsequently married Julian Harold Legge Lambart,The Caernarvon and Denbigh Herald and North Wales Observer, 14 May 1948, p. 4 who was Vice-Provost of Eton College, for which Witham Hall School is a preparatory school.The Tatler, Schools Guide 2014, Witham Hall School
Retirement and death James William and his wife, Barbara Bindon, retired to Witham Hall, where his son-in-law Peter Stanley Lyons was Headmaster of the School from 1961 to 1989. James William's hobbies were cricket, fives, fishing, reading, and wine. He kept a wine store in the basement of Vanbrugh Castle, and died from kidney failure, possibly as a consequence of alcoholism, during 1965 when he was aged only 61 years.Obituary for James William Webb-Jones, The Cheddar Valley Gazette, 07 January 1966, p.2 He is buried at The Church of St. Andrew, Witham on the Hill, where his funeral was held, and had a memorial service at Wells Cathedral.The Shepton Mallett Journal 21 January 1966 His wife Barbara Bindon died on 18 October 1974 and was buried next to her husband.
Ancestry
References
Further reading
Obituary for James William Webb-Jones, The Cheddar Valley Gazette, 7 January 1966