Talland Church Headstones

Memorial 68

~ Brass plaque on slate tablet bearing a inset engraved brass shield with nautical and Cornish theme

~ Orientation ~ South Wall ~ 98 x 71 cm // 3’3″ x 2’4″

Charles Samuel Jerram (1855-1927) was born in Chobham, Surrey, where his father, Charles Jerram was Rector. He received an M.A at Oxford; his daughter recollects he ‘was an excellent classical scholar with a keen interest in politics, both at home and abroad’. He became a schoolmaster in Godalming but in 1890 the family came to live in Talland, renting the Vicarage, where he continued to teach.

Recollections of a Talland childhood in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, by Muriel Jerram (1887-1975)

‘Seven children and at least three maids, Father, Mother, and governess had to be accommodated, sometimes seven or eight pupils, and how they all fitted in is a mystery’ 
‘the loft above the stable, was turned into a schoolroom for the pupils’ 
‘[he taught] at Eastbourne and later made a profession for himself, lecturing on current events, living in rooms in London and visiting schools in the Home Counties.’ 

“In 1891 the Church was heated by a coal stove which Mr. Blatchford stoked before the sermon. Later heating and lighting were both done by brass lamps hung from the roof.
We decorated the Church for the festivals, Easter meant a walk to Kilmanorth farm where we had permission to go into the orchard and pick lent lilies, small wild daffodils.
Harvest was all beauty, the swinging lamps and the wooden candlesticks stuck into holes at the end of each pew gave all the light required, for everyone knew the hymns. Wreaths of bryony and ivy round pillars and lamps, huge stacks of corn, wheat, oats and barley, vegetables and apples in profusion. Asters, dahlias, michaelmas daisies, all the autumn flowers and berries, the whole filling the Church with colour and scent.“

In 1920 he and his wife Maria Florence Jerram (née Knight 1854-1939) moved into Polperro, Stone Cottage in The Warren.

Charles is buried at St. Lawrence Churchyard, Chobham, along side his siblings. 

He married Maria Florence Knight on April 17 1879 at St Lawrence Parish Church in Chobham, Surrey. Their union produced the following children:

Catherine “Kitty” Florence “Posy” Jerram 1881–1969
Lt. Col. Charles Frederic Jerram CMG, DSO 1882–1969
Martin Ralph Knight Jerram MC 1884–1945
Agnes Winifred “Winnie” Jerram 1885–1950
Helen Muriel Jerram 1887–1975
Harry Lionel Jerram 1888–1889
RAdm. Sir Rowland Christopher Jerram KBE, DSO 1890–1981
Sir Cecil Bertrand Jerram KCMG 1891–1971