Richard Jefferies was born at Coate, near Swindon, Wiltshire in 1848. He was at first a reporter on a local newspaper, but his descriptive essays on the countryside brought him into a more than local eminence. Jefferies always suffered from illness and he first came to Sussex for his health in his early thirties when he visited Hastings and Hove where he penned a number of essays and stories including "The Story of My Heart." In 1885 he moved to Crowborough where he lodged at Rehoboth Villa in Jarvis Brook and at The Downs where he wrote many of his most famous essays that were published by his wife after his death in "Field and Hedgerow." He died in Worthing on the 14th August 1887, at the early age of 39, and on his grave is inscribed "Prose poet of England's fields and woodlands"
| Generation No. 1 | |||
| 1. John Richard Jefferies, journalist and writer was the son of James Luckett Jefferies and Elizabeth Jefferies [Gyde]. He was born 6th Nov 1848 at Coate, Swindon, Wiltshire; christened 1849 at Wiltshire; died 14th Aug 1887 at Sea View, Goring, Worthing, Sussex, aged 38 years; buried after 14th Aug 1887 at Broadwater Cemetery, Broadwater, Sussex | |||
| He married Jessi Baden on Jul 1874 at Chisledon, Wiltshire. She was born 2nd Feb 1853 at Wiltshire, daughter of Andrew Baden & Emma Smart; died 12th Jul 1926 at Cornwall. They had the following children: | |||
| i | Richard Harold who was born 1875 at Long Ditton, Surrey; died 3rd Nov 1942 Canada | ||
| ii | Jessie Phyllis who was born 6th Dec 1880 at Long Ditton, Surrey; died 28th Nov 1958 Seaford, Sussex | ||
| iii | Richard Oliver Launcelot who was born 18th Jul 1883 at Brighton, Sussex; died 16th Mar 1885 Greenwich, Kent | ||
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