Joseph Harry Victor Jepson
1939 - artificial stone worker
- Family History
- Military history
- Extra information
- Photographs
Joseph Harry Victor was the second son of John William and Sarah Jane Jepson (née Wadsworth).
His father John William was born in Stone, Maltby, Yorkshire, in about 1883 and his mother Sarah Jane in Sheffield in June 1881, the daughter of Thomas Frederick and Sarah Ellen Wadsworth.
Sarah Jane had a son, Frederick Hopcroft (Wadsworth) born Birdwell on 6 November 1906 (reg. OND Barnsley), baptised Birdwell parish church in December 1906. In 1911 Sarah and her son were living with her widowed mother, Sarah Ellen Wadsworth, in Stone, Maltby.
John William Jepson (28) married Sarah Jane Wadsworth (30), residence Tankersley, at Tankersley parish church on 24 October 1911 (reg. Wortley, Yorkshire).
John and Sarah had five children, Nellie b. 1912 (AMJ) and Evelyn b. 1913 (OND) b. Stone, Maltby (births registered Rotherham), and Jessie b. 1916 (OND), John W. b. 1917 (OND) d. 1917 (OND) and Joseph Harry Victor b. 1919 (JAS) b. Styrrup (births registered Worksop). Baptism records have been traced for Jessie and Joseph both of whom were baptised at Harworth All Saints, Jessie on 7 January 1917 and Joseph on 10 August 1919. Their parents were then living in Styrrup and Jessie's baptismal recorded her father's occupation as colliery labourer.
John, a labourer at Maltby Main Colliery (Maltby Main Colliery Company), and Sarah were recorded in Styrrup on the 1921 Census. In the home on the night of the census were Sarah's son Frederick [Jepson] (14) a 'day lad' employed by a farmer in Styrrup, and their four surviving children, Nellie and Evelyn who were school age, Jessie (4) and Joseph (1y 11m).
John died aged 39 in 1922 (reg. JAS Worksop).
Nellie, a domestic servant, married John Nicholas Morgan, a miner living in Bircotes, at Harworth All Saints on 11 June 1934; her husband signed the marriage register with his mark. One of the two witnesses was Nellie's half-brother, Frederick Hopcroft (Wadsworth). Nellie and her husband, a general labourer road [colliery], were living on Clarkson Row, Styrrup, in 1939 when the England & Wales Register was compiled. The record of one other member of the household remains closed but may have been that of their son, John W. (b. 1934). Nellie died in 1987 (JAS reg. Worksop).
Evelyn was probably a domestic servant in the household of Wallace Laughton, a farmer, and his family at North Laithes Farm, Kneesall, Newark, Nottinghamshire, in 1939. Evelyn (Wadsworth) may have died in 1986 (JAS Worksop).
Their sister Jessie was probably a domestic servant living at 1 Market Place, Doncaster, in the houshold of Frederick W Taylor, a hardware and oil dealer, and his wife ('incapacitated'). Also in the household was a female shop assistant, probably in the employ of Frederick Taylor. Jessie married Horace Smith in 1940 (reg. JFM Worksop). She died in 1981 (reg. JFM Worksop).
Joseph, an artificial stone worker, and his widowed mother were living on Clarkson Row, Styrrup, in 1939. The CWGC record gives Joseph's parents' address as Styrrup. His mother died in 1952 (reg. AMJ Worksop).
Their half-brother, Frederick Hopcroft Wadsworth, has not yet been traced on the 1939 England & Wales Register, but probably died in 1984 (reg. OND Newark).
Seaman Jepson served in the Royal Naval Patrol Service.
He was awarded the DSM, gazetted 16 March 1943. Joseph was killed on 29 July 1944 while serving in HM Trawler Lord Wakefield (FY170). The ship was bombed by German aircraft in an air raid in the Western Task-force area. According to one record, HMT Lord Wakefield foundered off Omaha beach. All 33 of the ships company were lost (figures vary slightly on different websites). (www.wrecksite.eu and others)
His body was not recovered for burial and he is commemorated on the Lowestoft Naval Memorial, Suffok (Panel 14 Col. 2).
HM Trawler Lord Wakefield was built in 1933 by Cochrane & Sons Ship Builders Ltd. Requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1939 and converted to an anti-submarine trawler. The ship operated out of Swansea (17th A/S Group). (www.rnpsa.co.uk)
CWGC: History information: 'Lowestoft was chosen as the site for the Memorial to those men of the Royal Naval Patrol Service who have no other grave than the sea. This was because it was the Depot for the Royal Naval Patrol Service during Second World War, developed from the pre-war Royal Naval Reserve Trawler Section Depot. At the outset of the war the men of this service were mainly the fishermen of the requisitioned trawlers and drifters used on patrol work, but later it included men from all walks of life and various types of small craft. In the spring of 1944 the Royal Naval Patrol Service reached its maximum strength of some 57,000. Between 1942 and 1946 new construction ships and craft manned by the Service totalled 1,637, among them minesweepers of various kinds, corvettes, fuel carriers, motor launches and naval seaplane tenders. Their objective was to maintain wartime patrols and safeguard the coasts of Britain.' (www.cwgc.org)
The village of Styrrup is part of the parish of Harworth and Bircotes and Styrrup and Hesley, Southwell & Nottingham Diocese, and All Saints Church is in the village of Harworth. The Harworth & Birctoes WW1 memorial also commemorates WW2 casualties but Seaman Jepson's name does not appear on the memorial.
Supplement to the London Gazette,16 March 1943, pp1259,1260, Distinguished Service Medal: 'Seaman Joseph Harry Victor Jepson, LT/JX 179468.'
'Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) was established on 14th October 1914 and awarded to petty officers and ratings of the Royal Navy, NCOs and other ranks in the Royal Marines and all other persons holding corresponding ranks or positions in the naval forces, who "show themselves to the fore in action, and set an example of bravery and resource under fire, but without performing acts of such pre-eminent bravery as would render them eligible to receive the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal (CGM)”. It was later extended to cover the Merchant Navy and Army, the WRNS and RAF personnel serving aboard ships in the Second World War.' (uk.forceswarrecords.com/subject/657810660/distinguished-service-medal-dsm)
Note: no newspaper reports or notices referring to Seaman Jepson have been traced in Nottinghamshire/South Yorkshire newspapers between March 1943 and late 1944.
CWGC Additional information: Son of John William and Sarah Jane Jepson, of Styrrup, Nottinghamshire.
Additional research RF (Sept. 2026).
Photo of Joseph Harry Victor Jepson
Lowestoft Naval Memorial, Suffolk (www.cwgc.org)