LIVES OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
The E.J. Boys Archive

Added 20.11.12. Minor edits 7.4.14. Some links added 5.3.2018

IN PROGRESS — NOT FOR PUBLICATION

Lieutenant Hedworth Hylton JOLLIFFE — 4th Light Dragoons

Birth & early life

Born on the 23rd of June 1829 at Merstham House, Surrey, the second son of Sir William George Hylton Jolliffe, P.C., formerly a Captain in the Army and M.P. for Petersfield, and his second wife, Eleanor, the daughter of the Hon. Berkeley Paget.

[PB, April 2014.]

William George Hylton Jolliffe, 1st Baron Hylton [father]

William George Hylton Jolliffe, 1st Baron Hylton PC [Privy Counsellor] (7th December 1800 — 1th June 1876), known as Sir William Jolliffe, Bt, between 1821 and 1866, was a British soldier and Conservative politician. He was a member of the Earl of Derby's first two administrations as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department in 1852 and as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury between 1858 and 1859.

According to thepeerage.com [NB a useful but not always reliable source], Jolliffe was initially a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and later served as a Captain in the 15th Dragoons.

As a 19-year-old Lieutenant in the 15th he took part in the events at St Peter's Field in Manchester in 1819 (the "Peterloo Massacre"). His detailed account, an important primary source for the events of the day, can be read on this site here, or here (accessed 18.4.2014).

EJB: He served in the Bourbon Regiment from April of 1817 until going on half-pay in June 1824.

In 1821, at the age of twenty, Jolliffe was created a Baronet, of Merstham in the County of Surrey.

Jolliffe served a year as High Sheriff of Surrey in 1830 and then sat as a Member of Parliament for Petersfield from 1830 to 1832, 1833 to 1835, 1837 to 1838 and 1841 to 1866 and served under the Earl of Derby as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department in 1852 and as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury from 1858 to 1859.

He was admitted to the Privy Council in 1859 and in 1866 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Hylton, of Hylton in the County Palatine of Durham and of Petersfield in the County of Southampton.

In 1825 Jolliffe played a single first-class match for pre-county club Hampshire against pre-county club Sussex. Jolliffe scored 12 runs.

Lord Hylton married, firstly, Eleanor Paget, daughter of the Hon. Berkeley Thomas Paget, in 1825. According to thepeerage.com, there were nine children (five girls, four boys) from this marriage. Their eldest son, Hylton Jolliffe (b. 10th July 1826, d. 4 October 1854), a Captain in the Coldstream Guards, died from cholera during the Crimean War. Hedworth was the seventh child.

Hylton married, secondly, Sophia Penelope, daughter of Sir Robert Sheffield, 4th Baronet, and widow of William Fox-Strangways, 4th Earl of Ilchester, in 1867.

He died at Merstham House near Reigate on 1 June 1876, aged 75, and was succeeded in his titles by his second but eldest-surviving son from his first marriage, Hedworth.

[Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jolliffe,_1st_Baron_Hylton, http://www.thepeerage.com/p2785.htm (accessed 18.4.2014). [PB, April 2014]]

[PB, Dec 2019: Complicated family, which might repay study. Colonel Hylton Jolliffe (1773-1843) was the Chair of the Surrey Iron Railway (and other pioneering railways and industries). Detailed info and links e.g. Grace's Guide to British Industrial History: Colonel Hylton Jolliffe (1773-1843) and Surrey Iron Railway See also William George Hylton Jolliffe, 1st Baron Hylton PC (7 December 1800 — 1 June 1876), himself a cavalryman in the 15th Dragoons (had been at Peterloo), etc — married a Paget — son in the Coldstream Guards died from cholera in the Crimea. Hedworth was his eldest-surviving son? ]

Educated at Eton, 1844-45, and matriculated from Oriel College, Oxford, on the 19th of November 1846.

Service

Cornet in the 4th Light Dragoons: 8th of December 1848.

Lieutenant, 4th Light Dragoons: 9th of May 1851.

[PB: He remained in the 4LD until mid-December 1854, so did he Charge (as is often stated)?]

Lieutenant and Captain in the Coldstream Guards: 15th of December 1854.

He is said to have transferred by the wishes of his parents following the death of his elder brother, Hylton, then a Captain in the Coldstream Guards, who died of cholera on the Heights before Sebastopol on the 8th of October 1854.

Retired, by the sale of his commission, on the 1st of May 1855.

Captain in the North Somerset Yeomanry, 5th of December 1855 — 3rd of November 1876.

Campaign service

Lieutenant Jolliffe served the Eastern campaign of 1854-55, including the battles of the Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman and the Siege and fall of Sebastopol. (Medal and Clasps.)

Nothing is known of his having been wounded at Balaclava as reported in his newspaper obituary [below], and he is not shown as such on any known casualty returns.

Medals

Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balacalava, Inkerman, and Sebastopol, and the Turkish Medal.

Commemorations

Life after service

Marriage registered

Hedworth Hylton Jolliffe married Agnes Mary Georgiana Byng, December Quarter 1858, St James Westminster.

On the 23rd of December 1858, at St. James's Church, Piccadilly, London, he married Agnes Mary Georgina, the daughter of George, Earl of Stafford.

Their only son, Hylton George Hylton, was later a Captain in the Somerset Yeomanry, Lord-in-Waiting to King George V , 1914-18, and Captain of the Yeoman of the Guard, 1918-24.

M.P. for Wells: 21st of November 1855 — 11th of November 1868.

Deputy-Lieutenant of Somerset and a J.P. for Cornwall, Surrey, Sussex and Somerset.

Succeeded his father as the 2nd Baron Hylton on the 1st of June 1876.

Besides Ammerdown Park, near Radstock, Somerset, he had property at Mersham, Surrey, and a London home, 16, Stratton Street, Piccadilly.

1861 Census

Mertsham House, Mertsham, Surrey

H.H.Jolliffe, 31, Member of Parliament, born Mertsham.

living with parents, Sir William Jolliffe Bart and wife and family.

Nineteen servants are also shown.

1871 Census

Mertsham House, Mertsham, Surrey.

Hedworth Hylton Jolliffe, aged 41, J.P. born Mertsham.

living with parents and family.

Fourteen servants are also shown.

1881 Census

Thomas's Hotel, 25-26 Berkeley Square, London

The 1881 Census shows him as a Peer of the Realm, aged 57 years, born at Merstham, Surrey, living with his wife, Lady Ann [sic] Hylton, aged 38, born in Co. Wexford, Ireland, and a daughter, Agatha Jolliffe, [age?], Scholar.

Two Domestic Servants are also shown.

1891 Census

104e, Mount Street, St George, Hanover Square.

Hedworth H Jolliffe, aged 61, Peer, born Mertsham.

Ann Hylton, 48, wife, born Ireland.

Three servants are also shown.

Death & burial

Death registered

Hedworth Hylton Jolliffe, aged 70, December Quarter 1899, Frome.

Died at Ammerdown Park on the 30th of October 1899, aged 70 years.

His grave, consisting of a marble cross and kerb, is in St. Katherine's Churchyard, Merstham, Surrey. It is under a yew-tree to the left of the steps leading up to the church from the main road. It is the centre one of three containing members of his family.

There is no inscription on the kerbstone of his grave in St. Katherine's Churchyard, but on the cross which is now [1982] lying flat on the grave are the words "Jesu Mercy".

A memorial is said to exist to him in the church, but the only tablets seen are those to his parents and to the brother who died in the Crimea.

Extract from the Bath Chronicle, 2nd of November 1899:

"Lord Hylton died at Ammerdown Park, Somerset, on Tuesday evening. His Lordship, who at all events in later years has enjoyed good health, had been indisposed for some time and last week he excused himself from attending the functions connected with Lord Roseberry's visit owing to his ill-health...

He had been out on a local visit on the day of his death, and on returning home was much worse. His elder brother having died of cholera in the Crimea in 1854, the late nobleman succeeded to the title by the death of his father in June of 1876, becoming the owner of the Ammerdown estate as well as that of Merstham in Surrey.

Lord Hylton also served in the Crimea, and had the glorious distinction of being one of the surviving officers of the immortal charge of the "600" at Balaclava, in which his regiment, the 4th Light Dragoons, took part.

He was badly wounded in the fighting and until the day of his death he carried a Russian bullet embedded in his body.

After retiring from the Army he was elected to represent the Borough of Wells in Parliament, and continued to sit for that constituency until 1868, when Wells was disenfranchised. For some years he held a commission in the North Somerset Yeomanry and was a J.P. and D.L. [Deputy Lieutenant] for Somerset."

Bath Chronicle, 9th of November 1899:

"The funeral of Lord Hylton took place at Merstham on Saturday the 4th. The coffin had been conveyed to Merstham by rail.

At the service Lord Hylton's sword was carried on top of the coffin, which was covered with the Union Jack. the Revd. R.I. Woodhouse officiated...

Memorial Service at Kilmersdon.

On Saturday morning the Revd. G.F. Tufnel, the Vicar of Kilmersdon, Somerset, conducted a memorial service there for the late peer. The entrance to the family chapel was draped in black crepe and the altar vases filled with lilies of the valley and arum lilies.

There was a large congregation present. A muffled peal of bell was afterwards rung."

Surrey Mirror, 3rd and 10th of November 1899:

"We regret to record the death of Lord Hylton, who died on Monday after a very short illness, at Ammerdown Park, Bath. Then follows a resume of his ancestry and military background...

No one knew Lord Hylton better than Mr. Thomas Fletcher — who has been a resident of Merstham practically all his life, and to whom we are indebted for the following information about one who was, perhaps, his most intimate friend.

Up to the time he left the estate, which was about two years ago, Lord Hylton had warmly interested himself in the welfare of the parish. He was very conservative in his views, and it was he who kept the place unique in the beauty of its natural surroundings. His kindly nature will ever be remembered by the parishioners, especially the elder ones, whom he cared for in a very generous spirit.

He was chairman of the local school board, with whom he was very strongly in favour, also of the Parish Council, besides being a J.P. for the County.

When he left his Merstham estates over a year ago, Merstham House was let to Mrs. Druce and her family, who have won the love and respect of all the village.

The house is a picturesque structure of the Italian style and contains much of Lord Hylton's Crimean memorabilia. He has lately lived in the ancestral home, a magnificent mansion near Bath, — Ammerdown — a beautiful demise [?], near Bath.

This, the first Baron had left to his family on condition that one or other of its members resided here six months out of a year. Lord Hylton, despite the vastness of his of his estates — he owned about 10,000 acres, was a poor nobleman and perhaps furnishes the reason of his living a somewhat quiet life.

He was a Patron of the livings of Babbington and Balcombe in Somerset, and of Chipstead and Kilmersdon. He was also Lord of the Manor of Chipstead and the area of his property extended as far as Chaldon-on-the-Hill. The Hyltons have been associated with Merstham for four generations and there are still visible traces of the old ancestry in the church-yard and in the village.

A more modern association is a portion of the city arch from the old London Bridge which was inserted by Lord Hylton's grandfather about the year 1838 in the crown of the arch of the church. Lord Hylton, although a modest man, was, like all old soldiers, fond of "fighting his battles o'er again."

He was one of the last of the Crimean heroes and he came out of the war with a host of thrilling adventures and hair-breath escapes. A slight contraction of the right shoulder, from which he suffered in the Crimea, was due to rheumatism contracted whilst sleeping on the damp ground in the camp...

The funeral will take place at Merstham on Saturday at 11 o'clock.

Funeral of Lord Hylton. — On Saturday morning the remains of the late Lord Hylton were interred in Merstham Parish Churchyard. At the service in the old church the choir, conducted by Mr, Glassup, sang the hymns, "Peace, perfect peace," and "Lead, kindly light," and the Dead March in "Saul" was played on the organ. The rector, the Revd. R.I. Woodhouse, was the officiating clergyman.

The grave immediately adjoins that of the late Lord's sister, the Dowager Lady de Blagnaire, who died in 1894, and is situated in a plot of land reserved for a family burial place by the first Lord Hylton when he gave additional land for the churchyard many years ago. Then follows a list of family and estate mourners...

The Vicar, speaking on Sunday morning, said; Our thoughts naturally turn today to the most recent loss the parish has sustained in the death of the late Lord Hylton, who as the owner of most of the land in the parish occupied a prominent position and has now been called to his long home.

In his early life he had served his Queen and country in our last great war in the Crimea, where he passed unscathed through the four great battles, and his sword and Crimean medal (with the four clasps awarded) were laid on his coffin as he was borne to his last resting place.

He took part in the magnificent charge (magnificent, but not war, the French had said) of the gallant 600, and again, having passed through the Russian guns, reformed with reduced numbers to again face the storm of shot and shell until the remnants reached the English lines.

It is only reasonable to suppose that one who has seen death in so many forms around him, should have weighed the balance of life and prepared for the inevitable passage of it.

Almost suddenly, the call came, and he is now amongst those whose labours have ended and have gone to their eternal rest and now lies, with his father and grandfather, in the churchyard of the village he knew so well in his youth."

References & acknowledgements

Additional Census information for 1861, 1871 and 1891, and the registration of HHJ's marriage and death kindly provided by Chris Poole.

Links and other sources

• Google: Search "Hedworth Hylton Jolliffe"
• Wikipedia: Hedworth Jolliffe, 2nd Baron Hylton (accessed 5.3.2018).





(Click on image to enlarge)

• Obituary, New York Times obituary, 1 November 1899 (pdf accessed 5.3.2018).
• Old Reigate: Merstham House, includes 5 photographs c.1908 (i.e. not long after HHJ's death in 1899) (accessed 5.3.2018).
• British History Online: Merstham. Notice the family connection with the e.C19 Surrey Iron Railway.
• There was a "Jolliffe Arms" in Merstham, on the London-Brighton Road. It was rebuilt [date?] in the "New Elizabethan style", but closed in the 1990s and re-opened as the Vojan Indian Restaurant [now?]. See here (includes photographs and brief text. Contains the claim that the Jolliffe family name was originally "Jolly", but thought insufficiently aristocratic. I have yet to find any corroboration.
• Jolliffes as Members of Parliament, see History of Parliament Online. Follow up HHJ (MP (Conservative) 1855 — 1868; House of Lords 1870 onwards).
• So far as I can tell, HHJ never spoke in the House (needs looking into further). He was sworn on 31 January 1856. See Hansard: Search for Speeches by "Hedworth Hylton Jolliffe" (accessed 5.3.2018).
• WikiTree: Hedworth Hylton Jolliffe (1829 — 1899).

Follow up notes:

Son of William George Hylton Jolliffe 1st Bt and [mother unknown]

Brother of Mary Augusta (Jolliffe) Birkbeck [half], Hylton Jolliffe [half], Eleanor Amelia Jolliffe [half], Allada Harriot Jolliffe [half], Julia Agnes Jolliffe [half], Cecil Emily (Jolliffe) Molyneux [half], William Sydney Hylton Jolliffe MP [half] and Walter Hylton Jolliffe [half]

Father of Agatha Eleanor Augusta (Jolliffe) Fellowes [PB: there are photographs in the NPG] and Hylton George Hylton Jolliffe

1. a b Obituary of Baron Hylton in The Times, Wednesday, 1 Nov 1899; pg. 7; Issue 35975; col E. The death was also reported in New York Times, 1 November 1899, Wednesday: "LORD HYLTON DEAD.; He Took Part in the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava.".

2. The Times, Friday, 8 Mar 1872; pg. 11; Issue 27319; col D: "Court Of Probate And Divorce, 7 March".

3. "Agatha Eleanor Augusta Fellowes (née Jolliffe), Lady Ailwyn (1863-1938), Wife of 1st Baron Ailwyn; daughter of 2nd Baron Hylton". National Portrait Gallery, London.

4. Edwin Wyndham-Quin, 3rd Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl died in 1871.






Monument, St Peter and St Paul, Kilmersdon. "To the dear memory of Thomas Hedworth Jolliffe, son of George Baron Hylton & Alice his wife. Born Oct. 6, born 1900 [1906?], died Sept. 14 1918.

[Source: Wikipedia: Thomas Jolliffe, Monument, St Peter and St Paul, Kilmersdon.]

(Click on image to enlarge)

• There is a large memorial to Thomas Jolliffe at Kilmersdon, Somerset, where the Jolliffes had property and where HHJ was Patron of the Living (and indeed where HHJ died). How were TJ and HHJ related? [According to thepeerage.com, HHJ was TJ's grandfather. See here.]

  Curiously, 1230 Frederick Short, 4th Light Dragoons, is also buried in the churchyard (he was buried 26th of May 1886). Could there be a connection? Perhaps HHJ gave him a job or support in later life? FS was living with his son Frederick, also 4th Light Dragoons, at the time. But why was FS junior living there? HHJ left the 4ths for the Coldstream Guards in December 1854 — is it plausible that he would have maintained relations with his old first regiment? Was FS ever HHJ's batman? Was the connection through the West Somerset Yeomanry? Had something happened in the Charge? [6.3.2018: As Wendy Leahy has just pointed out, FS singles out Lieutenant Jolliffe in his affidavit about the Charge (above).]