John Holmes Jellett

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE),

DSc DSC or Dsc may refer to: Education * Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) * District Selection Committee, an entrance exam in India * Doctor of Surgical Chiropody, superseded in the 1960s by Doctor of Podiatric Medicine Educational institutions * Dyal Sin ...

, MA (20 April 1905 – 17 June 1971) was a British

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

. Jellett started his career as a bridge and canal engineer before joining the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Tra ...

, where he specialised in docks. He made improvements to the Royal Navy dockyards and depots at Chatham, Singapore, Devonport, Gibraltar and Milford Haven in the 1930s. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Jellett was responsible for works in Egypt and Malta as superintendent civil engineer for the Eastern Mediterranean. After service in the Mediterranean, he was superintending engineer for Mulberry Harbour B that supplied the allied forces in France after the

Normandy Landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

. Jellett was appointed an OBE for this work in late 1944. After the war he worked for the Southern Railway and then the

British Transport Commission The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the s ...

Southampton Docks The Port of Southampton is a passenger and cargo port in the central part of the south coast of England. The modern era in the history of the Port of Southampton began when the first dock was inaugurated in 1843. After the Port of Felixstowe, ...

. Jellett served as president of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a Charitable organization, charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters ar ...

in 1968–69.

Early life and career

Jellett was born on 20 April 1905 in

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a city in the northernmost region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the Koshi Pr ...

, India. He was educated at

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by royal charter, to replace the town's Saxon collegiate foundations which were disestablished in the sixteenth century, Shrewsb ...

in England and graduated with a first class Bachelor of Arts degree in the mechanical sciences

tripos TRIPOS (''TRIvial Portable Operating System'') is a computer operating system. Development started in 1976 at the Computer Laboratory of Cambridge University and it was headed by Dr. Martin Richards. The first version appeared in January 1978 a ...

, from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in 1927. Jellett joined the drawing office of

Rendel Rendel is a surname, and may refer to *Sir Alexander Meadows Rendel (1828–1918), English civil engineer *Alexander Meadows Rendel (Sandy Rendel) (1910–1991) SOE agent * David Rendel (1949–2016), British politician * Emma Rendel (born 1976), ...

Palmer Palmer may refer to: People and fictional characters * Palmer (pilgrim), a medieval European pilgrim to the Holy Land * Palmer (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Palmer (surname), including a list of people and f ...

and Tritton and spent the next three years designing railway

girder bridge A girder bridge is a bridge that uses girders as the means of supporting its deck. The two most common types of modern steel girder bridges are plate and box. The term "girder" is often used interchangeably with "beam" in reference to bridge d ...

s for the

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

, principally in India and the colonies. His designs included the

Rewa Bridge The Rewa Bridge is a four-lane concrete girder road bridge over the Rewa River joining Suva and Nausori in Fiji. The bridge has a length of , comprising seven internal spans of 49.5 m and end spans of 39.25 m. It is the longest bridge in Fiji and ...

in Fiji and the Dhaleswari Bridge in Eastern Bengal. He also completed a preliminary design for a crossing of the River Thames at

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...

. Jellett joined the firm of

Robert Elliott-Cooper Sir Robert Elliott-Cooper (29 January 1845 – 16 February 1942) was a British civil engineer. He spent much of his career as a railway engineer with projects in his native Yorkshire, India and West Africa. Elliott-Cooper was members of the co ...

in 1932 to become assistant

resident engineer In general, a resident engineer is a person who works at or from the clients' side of a project. The engineer possesses a high degree of technical and social skills. One of the main goals of the designated role is to foster knowledge transfer. The r ...

for the construction of the

Grand Union Canal The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the Canals of the United Kingdom, British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another to Birmi ...

in Warwickshire, including the construction of 52 new locks and widening and deepening the canal.

Admiralty civil engineer

Jellett was appointed assistant civil engineer to the

on 22 June 1933, with responsibility for maintenance of

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham, Kent, Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham, Kent, Gillingham; at its most extens ...

. Jellett installed a new main drainage system and began reclaiming nearby marshland. In 1935, he transferred to the

Singapore Naval Base His Majesty's Naval Base, Singapore, also Her Majesty's Naval Base, Singapore (HMNB Singapore), alternatively known as the Singapore Naval Base, Sembawang Naval Base and HMS Sembawang, was situated in Sembawang at the northern tip of Singapore ...

as deputy to the divisional officer in charge of construction of a new armaments depot with associated stores and workshops, on a reclaimed

mangrove swamp Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangrove trees cannot withs ...

. Jellett was responsible for underground

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

magazines A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

, sewerage, drainage, water supply, roads and a

metre-gauge railway Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

. Jellett was promoted to civil engineer of the naval base in 1936 and to Civil Engineer to the Admiralty in 1938, working from

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...

. He was involved in planning dredging operations, construction of

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...

stations and widening dry docks in

HMNB Devonport His Majesty's Naval Base, Devonport (HMNB Devonport) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Portsmouth) and is the sole nuclear repair and refuelling facility for the Roya ...

and

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

. Jellett became officer-in-charge of the final part of the construction of the Naval mine depot at RNMD Milford Haven in 1939, which included workshops for the manufacture of explosives, safety moats and protective measures for fuel oil at the fuelling depots.

Second World War

Jellett was promoted to superintendent civil engineer in 1940, working from the temporary Admiralty offices in

Bath, Somerset Bath (Received Pronunciation, RP: , ) is a city in Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman Baths (Bath), Roman-built baths. At the 2021 census, the population was 94,092. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, Bristol, River A ...

. He was responsible for motor torpedo boat bases, minefield control towers, sea forts, shipyard and naval armament factories. In 1942, he was superintendent civil engineer for the Eastern Mediterranean and carried out dredging and widening works on the Great Pass in Alexandria, renovating dry docks and constructing new slipways. He became superintendent for civil engineering works at the

Malta Dockyard Malta Dockyard was an important naval base in the Grand Harbour in Malta in the Mediterranean Sea. The infrastructure which is still in operation is now operated by Palumbo Shipyards. History Pre-1800 The Knights of Malta established dockyard ...

in 1943, where he carried out works to repair bomb damage from the two-year Siege of Malta. Jellett was commissioned as a Temporary

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in the

Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original ...

in 1944 and appointed superintending civil engineer of Mulberry Harbour B, a temporary concrete harbour built at

Arromanches Arromanches-les-Bains (; or simply Arromanches) is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region of north-western France. Geography Arromanches-les-Bains is 12 km north-east of Bayeux and 10 km west of Courseulles-su ...

, France to support the

. He was responsible for siting the

blockship A blockship is a ship deliberately sunk to prevent a river, channel, or canal from being used as a waterway. It may either be sunk by a navy defending the waterway to prevent the ingress of attacking enemy forces, as in the case of at Portland ...

s and

Phoenix breakwaters The Phoenix breakwaters were a set of reinforced concrete caissons built as part of the artificial Mulberry harbours that were assembled as part of the preparations for the Normandy landings during World War II. A total of 213 were built, with ...

that protected the harbour. Mulberry B was in use for five months after the invasion and landed two million men, half a million vehicles and four million tons of supplies for the

Liberation of Europe The end of World War II in Europe occurred in May 1945. Following the suicide of Adolf Hitler on 30 April, leadership of Nazi Germany passed to Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz and the Flensburg Government. Soviet troops conquered Berlin on 2 May, and ...

. Mulberry A, under control of American forces and more exposed to the weather, was wrecked by a storm in late June and abandoned, leaving Jellett's harbour as the main landing point for supplies to the allied forces in France. In recognition of Jellett's work with the Mulberry harbour he was appointed an

on 28 November 1944. The citation in the ''

London Gazette London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...

'' referred to his "distinguished service in operations which led to the successful landing of allied forces in Normandy".

Post-war work

From October 1945 to February 1946 Jellett was superintending civil engineer at Chatham and from 1946 to 1948 was deputy docks engineer for Southern Railway at

. After the

Transport Act 1947 The Transport Act 1947 ( 10 & 11 Geo. 6. c. 49) was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Under the terms of the Act, the railway network, long-distance road haulage and various other types of transport were nationalised ...

which nationalised the railways, he was promoted to docks engineer for the

at Southampton and to chief docks engineer in 1958, a position he held until his retirement in December 1965. His primary concerns at Southampton were with repairing war damage, reclaiming 450 acres of salt marsh and diverting the

River Test The River Test is a chalk stream in Hampshire in the south of England. It rises at Ashe near Basingstoke and flows southwards for to Southampton Water. Settlements on the Test include the towns of Stockbridge and Romsey. The river's vall ...

. After retirement he entered private practice as a consulting engineer in conjunction with EWH Gifford & Partners in Southampton. Jellett returned to the armed forces on 3 July 1957 when he was appointed a major in the

Engineer and Railway Staff Corps The Engineer and Logistic Staff Corps is a part of the Royal Engineers in the British Army Reserve. It is intended to provide advisers on engineering and logistics to the British Army at a senior level. Following its work creating the NHS Nightin ...

, a part-time volunteer unit of the Territorial Army that offered advice to the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

on engineering matters. In 1966 he was elected a first class engineer member of the

Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers The Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers was founded in England in 1771. It was the first engineering society to be formed anywhere in the world, and remains the oldest. It was originally known as the Society of Civil Engineers, being renamed fo ...

. Jellett served as President of the

from November 1968 to November 1969. He had been a member of the institution since 1932 and a member of its council since 1956. Jellett was the third former chief engineer of Southampton Docks to become president, after

Alfred Giles Alfred Giles may refer to: * Alfred Giles (architect) (1853–1920), Texas architect * Alfred Giles (civil engineer) (1816–1895), British civil engineer and politician * Alfred Giles (explorer) (1846–1931), South Australian bushman, drover an ...

and Francis Wentworth-Shields and was unusually young to be selected as president in that era. Jellett was awarded an honorary doctorate of science degree by

Southampton University The University of Southampton (abbreviated as ''Soton'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university in Southampton, England. Southampton is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities in the United K ...

in July 1968. He authored the ''Harbours and Sea Works'' article entry in ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

''.Encyclopædia Britannica author entry
/ref> Jellett lived in

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

, from 1946 until his death on 17 June 1971. He was married with two sons.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jellett, John Holmes British civil engineers Presidents of the Institution of Civil Engineers 1905 births 1971 deaths Officers of the Order of the British Empire Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Navy officers Engineer and Railway Staff Corps officers Harbour engineers British people in colonial India Military personnel of British India 20th-century British Army personnel