Canon John Eric Gethyn-Jones MBE FSA (9 October 1909 – 9 November 1995) ^[1] was a clergyman and historian of Gloucestershire. He served in the Royal Army Chaplains' Department during the Second World War for which he was awarded the MBE in 1945. ^[2] Later he was vicar of St Mary of the Virgin's Church, Berkeley, and rose to the position of Canon. He wrote a number of works including books on the history of Dymock and Berkeley, Gloucestershire.

Early life

John Eric Gethyn-Jones was born on 9 October 1909 in Wales. His father, Daniel Gethyn-Jones was a man of the cloth and his mother, Edith Gethyn-Jones (née James), the daughter of a vicar. ^[3] He attended The Crypt School, Gloucester, and went on to study at the University of Oxford ( Pembroke College, Oxford) and Queen's College, Birmingham. ^[1] His thesis on English Romanesque sculpture was submitted to the University of Bristol in the 1940s. ^[4] He joined the Territorial Army, now called Army Reserve (United Kingdom), in 1937 ^[1] and was awarded the Territorial Decoration, a military medal for long service. In 1960 he was appointed Assistant Chaplain General of the Territorial Army and honorary Chaplain to the Queen. ^[3]

Career

Gethyn-Jones was ordained a priest in 1935 ^[1] and eventually succeeded his father as vicar of St Mary's Church, Dymock, in 1955. ^[5] He remained its incumbent until 1967.

During the Second World War he served in the Royal Army Chaplains' Department and was awarded the MBE in 1945 ^[6] for bravery in Normandy having been involved with the rescue of wounded soldiers on the ill-fated ship MV Derrycunihy (1943) in 1944. ^[1]

From 1967 to 1977 he was vicar of St Mary of the Virgin's Church, Berkeley. ^[7]

Amongst other publications he wrote a number of works on the history of Berkeley and Dymock, both in Gloucestershire. A long-standing member of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1961. ^[1]

Other

Dymock is renowned for the Dymock poets, one of whom was the American poet Robert Frost. The Reverend Gethyn-Jones wrote about these poets in his first publication and in 1957 he was approached by the American Embassy with a request to escort Robert Frost, on a visit to receive an honorary degree from the University of Oxford, around the area in which he resided during a brief spell in England from 1912 to 1915. ^[8]

As vicar of Berkeley he resided in The Chantry, the former home of Edward Jenner, pioneer of the smallpox vaccination. It was always the wish of Reverend Gethyn-Jones that a smaller vicarage could be built so the house could be turned into a museum to honour Jenner ^[3] and he was a founder member of The Jenner Trust in 1966. ^[1] Following a visit to The Chantry by two Japanese immunologists, ^[3] the Trust later received a large cheque from the Japanese business Ryōichi Sasakawa. The Chantry was purchased from the Church of England in 1985 and is now a museum known as Dr. Jenner's House.

Photographs contributed by Reverend John Eric Gethyn-Jones to the Conway Library are currently being digitised by the Courtauld Institute of Art, as part of the Courtauld Connects project. ^[9]

Death

Gethyn-Jones died in Leicester on 9 November 1995. ^[10] His correspondence, notes, slides and books were donated to the County Record Office, the Gloucester Collection, the B.G.A.S. Library, the Gloucester Regimental Museum and the Jenner Museum. ^[1]

Selected publications

• Dymock a Royal Manor. History of the Church and Parish. H. Osborne, Gloucester, [1950]. Dymock Down the Ages Revised edition Dymock, [1966]
• The Registers of the Church of St. Mary, Dymock, 1538–1790. Baptisms and burials 1538–1788; marriages 1538–1790. Bristol & Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, Bristol, 1960. (Editor with Irvine Gray)
• St. Mary's Church, Kempley, and its paintings. John Bellows, Gloucester, 1961.
• Dymock, Gloucestershire. J. E. Gethyn-Jones Dymock, [1965]. (later editions)
• Berkeley, Gloucestershire. Berkeley The Chantry, 1971. ISBN  095013791X
• Trevisa of Berkeley: A Celtic Firebrand. Alan Sutton, Dursley, 1978. ISBN  0904387208
• The Dymock School of Sculpture. Phillimore, London, 1979. ISBN  085033313X
• George Thorpe and the Berkeley Company: A Gloucestershire Enterprise in Virginia. Sutton, Gloucester, 1982. ISBN  0904387836
• A Territorial Army Chaplain in Peace and War: A Country Cleric in Khaki, 1938–1961. Gooday, Chichester, 1988. ISBN  1870568206

References