Jebb, Joshua

Sir Joshua Jebb, 1793-1863, was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1812, serving in Canada and the USA, and by 1837, he had been promoted to 1st Captain. In 1838, he was appointed to hold enquiries on grants of charters of incorporation to Bolton and Sheffield, and he also served on the Commission on the Municipal Boundary of Birmingham. In 1839 he was seconded from the army to work as technical advisor to the Secretary of State on prison building, following the 1837 Act requiring the Secretary of State to approve all prison building. In 1842 he was made Commissioner for the Government of Pentonville prison and also a member of the Royal Commission to report on the punishment of military crime by imprisonment. He was now spending most of his time dealing with prison issues, and in 1844 was appointed Inspector General of Military Prisons and Surveyor General of Convict Prisons. In 1847 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and in 1850 he was appointed Chairman of the Directors of Convict Prisons, overseeing the building of Portland, Portsmouth, Chatham, Buxton and Woking Prisons. In 1859, he was awarded the KCB, and in 1860, he was promoted to Major General.

From the guide to the JEBB, Sir Joshua, 1793-1863, Knight Surveyor General of Convict Prisons, 1793-1876, (British Library of Political and Economic Science)

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