Richard Henry Jelf

Jelf entered the Royal Engineers in 1865. He was promoted to captain in 1878,^[4] to Major and Lieutenant-Colonel in 1885, and Colonel in 1889.^{[citation needed]}

He saw service on the Bechuanaland Expedition (1884-1885), as Director of Military Telegraphs (and was honourably mentioned, Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel). He was later chairman of Sanitary Commissioners, Gibraltar (1893-1897; for which he was invested as a Companion of St Michael and St George).^[5] He commanded the Royal Engineers, Eastern District, from 1897 to 1901.^{[citation needed]}

He retired in 1901 but was recalled to employment as temporary Major-General in the same year, becoming Governor and Commandant of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich,^[6] a post he retained until 1912.^[7] While Commandant, he commissioned the academy's chapel in 1902, an act for which he is commemorated by a brass plaque in the chapel.^[8]

He was also a spokesman for the Church of England Soldiers' Institutes Association,^[9] and wrote a 1910 biography of his friend Joseph James Curling, a soldier and priest who had also joined the Royal Engineers in 1865.^[10] In 1882, Jelf commissioned a bell for St Mary's church in Newfoundland's Bay of Islands, where Curling was priest.^[11]

Jelf lived at Ashbourne, Derbyshire, where, in May 1911, he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant.^[12]

With his wife Margaret (nee Blunt, 1839–1921), whom he married on 10 August 1869, he had at least three sons.^[13] Wilfrid Jelf and Henry Jelf were both first-class cricketers and military officers.^{[citation needed]} A third son, Richard John Jelf, joined the Royal Engineers and after being invalided home from South Africa shot himself and was buried at sea in June 1900^[14] - a plaque commemorating him and his parents is displayed in Ashbourne's St Oswald's Church.^[1]