John Jefferys (1701 – 1754) was an English clockmaker and watchmaker. His parents, John and Jane Jefferys lived in a house called ''Darbies'' in the village of

Midgham Midgham is a village and civil parish occupying slopes and the flood plain on the north side of the River Kennet, which in summer months draws much of the water from the valley. It has smaller watercourses alongside. It is centred east of New ...

in the parish of

Thatcham Thatcham is a market town and civil parish in West Berkshire, England. It is situated in the valley of the River Kennet east of Newbury, Berkshire, Newbury, west of Reading, Berkshire, Reading and west of London. The town has a long history d ...

in Berkshire. His father was a wool merchant. His maternal grandparents were William and Bridgett Yeats. He had at least five brothers and one sister. Although his father was a Quaker, he was christened on 18 March 1701. On 4 November 1717 he began an apprenticeship with watchmaker Edward Jagger at Well Close Square,

Stepney Stepney is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. Stepney is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name was applied to ...

, London. After nine years of teaching on 26 January 1726 he became a member of the Clockmakers Company of London. In 1735

Larcum Kendall Larcum Kendall (21 September 1719 in Charlbury, Oxfordshire – 22 November 1790 in London) was a watchmaker from Oxfordshire, who was active in London. Early life Kendall was born on 21 September 1719 in Charlbury. His father was a Merce ...

was a new apprentice. Around 1753 he built a pocketwatch for clockmaker

John Harrison John Harrison ( – 24 March 1776) was an English carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the History of longitude, problem of how to calculate longitude while at sea. Harrison's sol ...

. After he died

took over his workshop.

In popular media

Actor

Peter-Hugo Daly Peter-Hugo Daly (born 1956 in Islington, London) is an actor and musician. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was a member of new wave band the Cross along with fellow actor Phil Daniels. The band released a 1979 single, "Kill Another Night", ...

was cast as John Jefferys in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

TV series, ''

Longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east- west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lett ...

'' in 2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jefferys, John 1701 births 1754 deaths People from Thatcham 18th-century English people English clockmakers English watchmakers (people) Place of death missing