FREDERICK DRUMMOND JACOB

Born 20th March 1865 - Died 24th May 1934

 

 

He was born at Mahabishwar, India on 20th March 1868, the eldest son of Colonel George Adolphus Jacob and his wife Emily (nee Abbot). On 24th July 1910 he married Rubie Butler, one of two daughters of Edwin Watson Butler and his wife Emily. They were married at All Saints church, Ottawa, the service being conducted by a cousin of Frederick, the Reverend George Penrose Woolcombe, founder of Ashbury College, Ottawa, one of Canada's leading public schools. Ruby was born in ca 1888. Frederick died on 24th May 1934.

They had children:

Frederick was educated in England, his earliest schooling taking place at Hermosa School, in Teignmouth, Devon, which he attended together with his brother Harold . As a young man he aspired to the bar. He studied Law and was a member of the Inner Temple, London, until his health began to fail. He then travelled to the USA where he stayed with an uncle at his farm in Nebraska. There he attended Doane College. The 1880 census shows him as living in Newton, Jefferson County, Nebraska.

He returned to England and worked for the Immigration Service in connection with the Canadian Government. He was subsequently transferred to Canada, where he gave up his work for the Civil Service in order to work as a news reporter on the Toronto World. His abilities in this sphere were recognized and he was selected by the Canadian Press Association to go to England as a special correspondent. He remained in journalism for some 15 years.

During his early years as a reporter he became interested in character reading by handwriting. He became one of the leading authorities on the subject. He re-joined the Canadian Civil Service with the Department of the Interior, where he was an official in the Education Department. He retired in 1930 on superannuation. His abilities to read handwriting were recognized by the Canadian Government, and he spent much time giving lectures on the subject. More importantly, he was called as an expert witness for the Crown on many occasions, where the authorship of certain documents was in doubt.

Much of the above is extracted from an obituary in the Ottawa Citizen, Friday, May 25th 1934, kindly conveyed to me by Frank Dean of Colorado, USA.

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