# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Jelf, George Edward

​JELF, GEORGE EDWARD (1834–1908), Master of Charterhouse, eldest son of seven children of Richard William Jelf [q. v.] and Emmy, Countess of Schlippenbach, lady-in-waiting to Frederica, Duchess of Cumberland (afterwards Queen of Hanover), was born on 19 Jan. 1834 at Berlin, where his father was tutor to Prince George of Cumberland. His uncle was the scholar, William Edward Jelf [q. v.]; his younger brothers are Hon. Sir Arthur Richard Jelf, judge of the high court, who retired from the bench in 1910, and Colonel Richard Henry Jelf, formerly governor of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. Educated at preparatory schools at Hammersmith and Brighton, Jelf was admitted to Charterhouse under Dr. Saunders in 1847, and matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, on 2 June 1852. He held a studentship at Christ Church from 1852 to 1861, and won a first class in classical moderations in 1854. He graduated B.A. with a third class in lit. hum. in 1856, and he proceeded M.A. in 1859 and D.D. in 1907. In 1857 he entered Wells Theological College, and the following year he was ordained deacon, becoming priest in 1859. He held curacies at St. Michael's, Highgate (1858–60), St. James's, Clapton (1860–6), and at Aylesbury (1866–8). On the presentation of Roundell Palmer, first Earl of Selborne [q. v.], he became vicar of Blackmoor, Hampshire, in 1868, and in 1874 he accepted from Lord Braybrooke the living of Saffron Walden. In 1878 he was made an honorary canon of St. Albans.
Jelf's long connection with Rochester began with his appointment in 1880 to a residentiary canonry, a position he held for twenty-seven years. He continued his parish work at Saffron Walden till 1882, and from 1883 to 1889 he had the onerous charge of St. Mary's, Chatham; subsequently he devoted himself to mission work in the diocese. Straitened means compelled him to undertake extra clerical duties. His tenure of the rectory of Wiggonholt near Pulborough (1896–7), in addition to his canonry, involved too great a division of interests, and in the latter year Jelf accepted the incumbency of St. German's, Blackheath, where he enjoyed comparative freedom from parochial responsibilities. In 1904 he resigned this benefice and definitely retired to Rochester. But in 1907 he was appointed to the dignified position of Master of Charterhouse in succession to William Haig Brown [q. v. Suppl. II]. His health, however, failed soon after moving to London, and he died on 19 Nov. 1908 at the Master's lodge, Charterhouse. He was buried in Highgate cemetery, and on the same day a memorial service was held in Rochester cathedral.
Jelf married (1) in 1861 Fanny (d. 1865), daughter of G. A. Crawley of Highgate, by whom he had one surviving son, and three daughters, who all died of scarlet-fever in 1871; (2) in 1876 Katherine Frances, younger daughter of prebendary C. B. Dalton, vicar of St. Michael's, Highgate, who survived him; by her he had three sons and four daughters.
A moderate high churchman, Jelf was a trusted friend and godson of Edward Bouverie Pusey [q. v.], whose 'Christus Consolator' (1883) he edited. From 1895 he acted as proctor in convocation for the dean and chapter of Rochester; but he took little part in current controversy. The bent of his mind was devotional rather than critical, and he exercised considerable influence through his numerous popular homiletic publications, of which the most important are: 1. 'The Secret Trials of the Christian Life,' 1873. 2. 'The Rule of God's Commandments,' 1878. 3. 'The Consolations of the Christian Seasons,' 1880. 4. 'Work and Worship,' 1888, sermons preached in English cathedrals. 5. 'Mother, ​Home and Heaven,' 1891. 6. 'Sound Words, their Form and Spirit,' 1907, addresses on the English Prayer-Book.
[The Times, 20 Nov. 1908; Guardian, 25 Nov. 1908; Chatham and Rochester News, 21 Nov. 1908; Katherine Frances Jelf, Memoir of George Edward Jelf, 1909; Roundell Palmer, Earl of Selborne, Memorials Personal and PoUtical (1865-95), 1898, 2 vols.]
G. S. W.