| Let
me begin. Joseph Jerom was a Huguenot from La Rochelle, who came to
England sometime during the middle of the 18th century. We have no
record before 1724 and it is assumed that he had sufficient monies
to purchase a farm on the Isle of Wight called Beanacre (This farm
is marked on a map dated 1830. ) I have recently traced Beanacre and
a picture of the farm today and original map are at the back of this
booklet. There is no record of him having registered, which poor Huguenots
did in order to receive monies to begin a new life, If he had registered
we would have more infomation about him. He married a girl called
Mabel and had a number of children one of whom was William, to whom
I have a direct descent. On Joseph's death certificate it shows the surname as Jerom, without the "e" but this could have been an error on the part of the registrar.The acute and the circumflex in the name was used until the last century by some members of the family. William was born at Binstead on the Isle of Wight in 1756 and became a builder/ carpenter and moved with his wife Elizabeth Scarrott to Portsea. In his will it says that he had a work shop at the corner of the road leading to Brunswick Gdns. He had nine children one of whom was Charles Scarrott Jerome from whom I am descended. William left everything to his widowed daughter Harriet, the sum not amounting to £50 . One of the brothers of Charles was Joseph , born in 1786, of whom we have the earliest portrait of a Jerome. Painted by his son James Parker Jerome. |
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| His
wife was Maria (shown in the photograph taken when she was eighty years old.) |
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Joseph had ten children, and the one who came to prominence was James Parker Jerome known as Ambrosini. |
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Ambrosini Jérôme was the eldest son of Joseph Jérôme( born19/11/1786) and Maria Parker born 31/1/1789). They were married on 27/11/1809. "Ambrosini" was born on 8th August 1810 and christened James Parker. He went to Italy to study painting for some years and whilst there married a Miss Scarrotti. Later in life he married Mary Hudson, widow of Archdeacon Hudson. "Ambrosini" died in April 1883 in Brecknock Road, Camden Town, near the junction with Hilldrop Road. He won an Academy Gold Medal and was appointed Portrait Painter to the Duchess of Kent. Mr Collins has nine portraits by him mostly of members of the family. In lists of artists and their works, James Parker Jérôme is called Miss Ambrosini Jérôme. Unfortunately, once an error is made, it is copied until it becomes fact! Most of his pictures are signed Ambrosini Jérôme or A. Jérôme as he found an Italian sounding name was better for business in the mid-19th Century. |
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