Geoffrey Plateras Lawson Jacques
Second Lieutenant Geoffrey Plateras Lawson Jacques, was born on the 15th June 1898 in Lower Park Road, Loughton. He died aged 18 in Pewsey, Wiltshire in 1916. He is buried in the Loughton cemetery. Both his parents, his father John Henry Jacques (an architect) and his mother Marion (Nee Cane) are also buried there. He was baptised at St Mary The Virgin Church, Loughton, on July 13th 1898.
Geoffrey joined the Royal Flying Corps during World War 1 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on July 3rd 1916. He was a flight instructor, but was killed in a mid-air crash when his aircraft a BE.2c plane No: 4174 collided with another BE.2c No: 5389, flown by a student being certified for his pilot license, a Dr. Keith Lucas.
On Thursday 5th October 1916, at the Hampshire Aircraft Factory, Farnborough, Geoffrey Jacques took off to deliver the aircraft to the Farnborough training airfield, also in the sky that day was Dr. Keith Lucas.
Dr. Lucas (8 March 1879, Greenwich – 5 October 1916, Salisbury Plain) was a British scientist who worked at Trinity College, Cambridge doing pioneering work in Neuroscience.
He was the son of Francis Robert and Katharine Mary (née Riddle) Lucas. He was educated at Rugby School and Trinity College, Cambridge where he graduated with a first-class BA in Natural Sciences in 1901. In 1902 he worked in New Zealand, on the bathymetrical survey of the lakes, and he became a Fellow of Trinity in 1904. In 1907 he became an additional University Demonstrator in physiology, and in 1908 a Lecturer in Natural Sciences.
During the First World War, as a captain in the Hampshire Aircraft Parks Royal Flying Corps (TA), based at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough he was engaged in experimental research work into aerial navigation and early airplane compasses.
Convinced that his experimental work in aviation would improve if he became a pilot, he attended a flying course at Upavon where he was instantly killed on 5th October 1916 when his aircraft collided in mid-air over Salisbury Plain with the aircraft flown by Second Lt Geoffrey Plateras Lawson Jacques of the Central Flying School, who was also killed. Dr. Lucas is buried at Aldershot Military Cemetery, and is commemorated on the War memorial of Fen Ditton, Cambridgeshire
Jacques was in BE.2c No.4174 and Lucas in BE.2C No. 5389 during the fatal accident. The CWGC (Commonwealth Grave Casualty Archive), has Hampshire Aircraft Park as Lucas’ unit (there wasn’t such a unit – the Southern Aircraft Depot is the nearest possibility). It is likely that the collision occurred shortly after take-off on a training flight of BE.2c No 5389 from Farnborough, with BE.2c No 4174 (recorded as being with the CFS[Central Flying School] in July 1916) being the transport machine of Geoffrey Jacques.
The Chelmsford Herald reported that “Geoffrey Plateras Lawson Jacques, was only 18 years of age , when another aircraft spiraled down upon him, causing a collision that was fatal to both”.
The 1901 census puts the Jacques family in Lower Road. Mr. John H. Jacques is head of household, an architect, and is aged 32, his wife Marion is 31. They have three sons William H. 5, Geoffrey K. L. aged 2 and Douglas L. aged 1. They also have two servants June French aged 16 and Gertude M. Spalding aged 16.
In the 1911 census the family are recorded as having moved to Station Road Loughton. The head of the household is still John Henry aged 42, his occupation is still an architect, his wife Marion aged 41, they have been married according to this census for 16 years. They have four sons William Harold Jacques 15, Geoffrey P. L. aged 12, Douglas L. aged 11 and John Ronald aged 6. They also had a daughter Joan Marion Jacques 5. Also on the census is Ellen Sweeny a servant aged 24. Joan Marion later married to become Joan Marion Ecclestone where she moved to Surrey and lived until 1994.
Geoffery Plateras Lawson Jacques Family History
Condensing the history of a very large and hugely successful family into a short snapshot is not an easy task, I have just taken some of the main highlights to try to give an understanding of the family he came from, I just hope the continuity makes sense.
The line can be traced back to 1762. It is thought that the family name was originally ‘Jack’ and the first Jacques we know about is David, who married Jean Gillies in Douglas, Lanark in 1784. David was a gardener and moved to Windermere, where he worked on Belle Isle, one of the islands in the lake.
David and Jean apparently had thirteen children. Two of them, Allison and James, were drowned together in Lake Windermere and another, George, died at the Battle of Waterloo. The child we want is David (died 1831), who went to Keighley, Yorkshire and was also a gardener and a dealer in British wines. He married Elizabeth Corlass (died 1856), whose grandmother was surnamed Playtress, which will become relevant.
Keighley was known for textiles (one Corlass owned a cotton mill) and David and Elizabeth’s seventh son, George Jacques, began his career as a wool spinner in Keighley. When the Waterloo Mills were built in nearby Silsden, George was one of the purchasers and soon became the sole owner. In the 1870s George had a home called “Springbank” built on Howden Road in Silsden. When George died in 1895, his estate was worth £72,000. Today this would be worth over £4,000,000.
George married Arabella Holmes and had six children. His son, Plateras (named after Elizabeth Corlass’s grandmother Playtress), inherited Waterloo Mills and Springbank. Plateras married late in life and had no children. He did, however, travel extensively. Passenger records exist showing a passage from Japan to Vancouver in 1922 and a passage a few months later from Quebec City to Southampton. When Plateras died in 1935 his estate was valued at over £350,000 (£13,000,000).
One of George’s daughters, Arabella married Arthur Sellers. Their son, Arthur Brian Sellers, was a famous cricket player. George’s daughter Alice married Edgar Heap, a prosperous wool merchant in Bradford. Apparently, it was one of the poshest weddings Silsden had ever seen.
Plateras Lawson Jacques was the sixth son of David and Elizabeth, and was named for his paternal grandmother Alice Lawson and her mother Mary Playtress. Plateras married Ellen Jennings, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah Jennings of Bradford in 1851. Plateras and Ellen had eight children, one of whom, Ellen, died at the age of five.
Plateras and Ellen’s second eldest son William became an architect and did not marry. Their third son, Alfred was a journalist who married Emma Murgatroyd. Greville Jacques is their grandson. Plateras and Ellen’s fourth son, John Henry Jacques was also an architect. He married Marion Cane and named his second son Geoffrey Plateras Lawson Jacques. Geoffrey joined the Royal Flying Corps but died in a mid-air collision in 1916 over Salisbury Plain.
Emma and Alfred Jacques who moved to Sutton in 1907
‘The Epsom Herald’ started in 1878 and young Alfred, then only about 20 years of age (born c.1859 in Bradford), was its first editor, remaining in the post until his retirement in April 1929. He seems to have had a girlfriend called Emma Murgatroyd back in Yorkshire and he returned to Keighley in 1883 to marry her; they had two sons, Gerald (born 28 July 1884 Sutton) and Hubert (born 1888 Sutton). Alfred died on 22 February 1931 and Emma on 18 January 1935.