St Botolph’s Priory and the graves of Captain Jesse Jones, Dr Roger Nunn M.D. and William Warwick Hawkins M.P.

The second of these projects was the restoration of the Jesse Jones family grave in the upper graveyard and the placing of a bronze plaque in the front recording the original inscriptions. In the spring of 2019, Trevor Orton, a retired Guardsman living in Colchester, had read the story of Jesse Jones, a veteran of the Battle of Waterloo, buried at St Botolph’s Priory, and felt it was shockingly remiss of a Garrison town to neglect the grave and the story of so noble a soldier. He started a campaign with his local Councillor and also, by letters, to the Colchester Gazette.

The subject was also raised at a meeting of the Civic Society’s coffee morning and Bob Mercer, the Society’s Heritage Lead, agreed to look into the story as a historian and began to research all the original documents mentioned on the “CAMULOS” website which has a whole file on the three Colchester men who had fought at Waterloo. Bob particularly wanted to examine the family story of Jesse Jones being raised to the rank of Captain after the battle of Barossa.

Trevor Orton succeeded in having an officer of Colchester Council appointed to guide and help him and she arranged a meeting between him and Philip Wise, the Heritage Manager of the Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service, and also Bob. It became clear that the Council Heritage portfolio holder had decided to financially support the project to restore the grave as well as others, (including Captain Pinto who fought at Trafalgar) . Bob was delighted to work with Philip as he is the expert on applications for Heritage England permissions, needed before anyone could touch the grave in a Scheduled Monument. Also needed was a D.A.C faculty from the Diocese of Chelmsford in order to do the work. This was even more difficult to achieve especially as COVID arrived and stopped everyone involved in their tracks.

Starting with Historic England, Bob met the Inspector who asserted that she wanted the stones lifted from the top and the whole examined by her and then the inscription could be re-cut. Bob started to get quotes from the best stonemasons in order to raise funds for this. Most importantly, Bob got in touch with Major Gatehouse, the Grenadier Regimental Adjutant, who was extremely helpful, putting him in touch with Stephen Norsworthy, Secretary to the Essex Branch of the Guards’ Association and also suggesting the Remembrance Trust, both of whom were to be very kind in supporting the project with contributions. Bob was confident that the project could indeed be managed financially.

COVID made for a great delay but not as much as the H.E. Inspector leaving and her replacement taking a quite different approach to the restoration. His views determined that none of the grave was to be disturbed and declared the need for a particular steam heat Dorff machine to clean the grave followed by the eventual repointing and repairs. He who insisted on the bronze plaque of the original inscription and to the ultimate design of the plinth attached to the grave. This is designed to make it as difficult as possible to remove and steal the bronze for scrap. In time, he gave his consent and, after months, the D.A.C. Faculty, or permission to do the work, was granted as well. Final agreement to the plinth design was achieved just in time for the stonemasons to make the piece and to install it in the final days before the unveiling.