A PREHISTORY OF THE JEAPES'

Just in the last couple of years I've been contacted by other Jeapes's that I knew nothing of, and everything I know outside my immediate family comes from them. So, here goes.

The name apparently derives from Jep, meaning "son of the Dane", and was first heard of in 1066 when Jep was named as one of the retainers fighting on the side of the Normans. The name also appears in the Domesday Book. (Now, that's class. And if I can live to be 101 and 7 months, I'll live to see the thousandth anniversary of the arrival of my forebears in this country. This is assuming that, aged 101 and 7 months, I'll be able to remember what I'm staying alive for.) So, I'm the descendant of a Dane who worked for a bunch of Norsemen living in the north of France who invaded England. I really feel I have roots.

A correspondent from Bassingbourn (north of Royston, Herts., which features a lot in what is to follow) tells me the name is connected locally with several variations: Geapes, Geaves, Jeeves, Jeeps, Jepps etc. In the index of the parish registers there are baptisms from 1670 to 1774 and burials from 1679 to 1769 for Jeeps, Jepps and Geapes: for Jeeves and Geeve(s) there are baptisms from 1723 to 1844, marriages from 1722 to 1848, a banns in 1798 and burials from 1798 to 1848.

From one source I heard that In 1216, Sir William Jeapes was apparently given the Earldom of Leeds, and built a castle there which is now Leeds Castle. I don't know if this is the Leeds Castle in Kent or a Leeds Castle that really is in Leeds; I suspect the latter. The castle apparently stayed with the Jeapes's until the early 19th century where is was lost to the state due to debts mounted by the 14th Earl of Leeds, Roland Jeapes.

However, I should also mention that correspondence with the curator of Leeds museum has failed to find the slightest proof of this.

There are also hints of some great schism in the family. At the beginning of this century, an extremely wealthy Jeapes who lived in London's Park Lane apparently paid certain members of his family a thousand pounds to stay away. Who was this wealthy Jeapes? Unknown, and if any of that thousand pounds reached my direct descendants it vanished pretty quickly. Some of my corresponding Jeapes's have contacted others, who have made it quite clear they don't want to stay contacted. So it goes.

I did a Web search on the name "Jeapes" and, apart from a London Councillor and a Canadian Jeapes, the only new material I found was the Jeapes-Barker Cinephone (1908), included in a full list of extinct media. I wonder if this Jeapes was the Harold Jeapes who, with a pair called Walter Evan Davies and Bunny Hutchins, apparently filmed the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty — or possibly William Cecil Jeapes, who was on the production team for the same event. He could well be the one my father remembers seeing in the credits of the old Pathé news reels. A Pilot Officer Sidney Jeapes was killed in action over Germany during WW2; another correspondent (or possibly the originator of the Leeds Castle story; I forget) told me he was a member of 617 Squadron, otherwise known as the Dambusters. Sadly that two appears to be a myth as his name doesn't appear in any Dambuster or 617 Squadron history.

My uncle works in television, my father is a retired soldier with a book to his credit, I'm a publisher and writer: funny how we seem to be perpetuating the dual themes of killing people and being arty.

Back at the plot, my grandfather Stanley was born in Catford early this century, but other than that the line is a blank because he apparently left home after an argument with his father about the way his mother was treated. Rather counterproductively, he never spoke to either of them again. His siblings — Reg, Vera and Elsie — stayed in touch, but obviously respected his wishes not to talk about their background to my father and uncle.

But then along came the Internet, and suddenly Jeapes's from all over the world were communicating. If you're really interested, read on.