Jean Constance Catherine Thornton-Duesbury
Epithet: MHK, JP, Girl Guide commissioner (1907-1997)
Record type: Biographies
Biography: From ‘New Manx Worthies’ (2006):
Jean Thornton-Duesbery liked to say, in later life, that she was a true cockney as she was born within the sound of Bow Bells, and she maintained her ties with London to the end of her life. When she was eighteen her father, Charles Leonard Thornton-Duesbery, was appointed Bishop of Sodor and Man, so Jean came to the Island with her parents and settled at Bishopscourt. Sadly, after three years in office her father died. However, during those years Jean had learned to love the Island and although she had to leave and return to London at that particular time, her love for the place was to affect a large part of her life.
She went to train as a nurse at Queen Charlotte's Hospital, London, where in 1931 she qualified as a SRN and midwife. She worked as a staff nurse at the Salvation Army Hospital for Mothers and Babies in the East End and often went into the homes of her patients. It was a source of great pride to her that, despite poor conditions, she never lost a mother or a baby.
In 1933 Jean went to Jerusalem where she joined her brother, the academic and theologian Julian Percy Thornton-Duesbery, at St George's School and worked there as school nurse for six years. He would later return to England as Master of St Peter's Hall (now College), Oxford, and then as a residential canon at Liverpool Cathedral.
When war broke out in 1939 Jean and her mother returned to the Isle of Man to live at Hillside Cottage, Corony Hill, Maughold. Almost at once Jean began to make her mark on Manx affairs. In 1946 she was elected to the Education Authority and served as chairman from 1951-52. In 1956 she was appointed a Justice of the Peace, and ten years later her political career began when she was elected Member of the House of Keys for Garff.
During the next ten years she served on various Boards of Tynwald - the Board of Education (1966-76), the final four years as chairman, Board of Social Security (1966-71), Manx Electric Railway Board (1966-76), Assessment Board as chairman (1971-72), Health Services Board (1971-76), Manx Museum (1971-76), and on several Tynwald Committees - Ecclesiastical (1966-76), Consumer Protection (1970), Members' Interests (1974), Isle of Man Marketing Society and Agrimark (1967), as Bishop's Nominee Diocesan Synod, and as a member of the Liquor Licensing Commission.
In October 1972, when Jean was appointed chairman of the Board of Education, her speech of acceptance reflected the two most important aspects of her character - her sense of responsibility and service and her sense of humour. 'Thank you for the great honour done to me. I am very overwhelmed by that and also by the great sense of responsibility to the children and the future of our nation, and to be called to have any part in the forming of their education is indeed a great responsibility'. However, she continued in lighter vein, 'There is a sadness to me in giving up my position on the Assessment Board. To say I have been happy in the Assessment Board would perhaps be misunderstood as others on the Island might say, "Well, you are the only one who is", but the kindness and consideration and the efficiency of my colleagues and of the staff have so oiled the wheels and made my work very pleasant and I would like to thank them'.
Jean was a large woman with a strong voice and a ringing laugh which was identifiable in any gathering. She stood by her convictions in all things and even dared, in Tynwald, to challenge the former chairman of the Board of Finance, Sir John Brown Bolton. It was over school bus fares and she said, in July 1976, 'I feel I must take issue with the member of the Finance Board which is a very perilous and well, shall I say, dangerous, thing to do'. It was at her last sitting in Tynwald, in October 1976, that Jean moved two major resolutions for Manx education; one was a request for £116,000 for an extension to Ashley Hill School which went through without debate; the other was £60,000 for plans, preliminary work and additional land for a secondary school in Peel. The west was to be grateful for this resolution which succeeded after a short debate.
Outside her political work Jean had two great interests - the garden of her Maughold cottage, and Guiding. She was almost forced into Guiding, when, during the war, an evacuee from Liverpool who was staying in the neighbourhood begged her to start a Guide company. She must have been a very persuasive girl as, knowing little about the movement, Jean took on the challenge. She brought to it her usual enthusiasm. In her mid-40s she attended a training camp at Rushen School with her great friend, Freda Burgess. They enrolled in order to be tested for their camper's licences. The camp was attended by Guiders from all over Britain and most people had gathered in the school kitchen by late afternoon of the opening day. Suddenly, everyone became aware of activity in the school yard. Two figures were seen extricating themselves and a great deal of equipment from a small car. Two English Guiders went to help and one said, 'Good gracious, I shall call you Tweedledum and Tweedledee - do you mind?'
'Not at all' replied Jean, and at the concert on the final evening they appeared wearing schoolboy caps; their act was the hit of the evening.
There were to be many happy years of Guiding. Local girls enjoyed hikes, camps and nights spent on the floor of Jean's cottage. She brought happiness and enjoyment as well as a sound basis for life to the many girls who were fortunate enough to pass through her Guide company. Jean was a committed Christian and was interested in the work of the Mothers' Union.
She also, more controversially, was an enthusiastic member of Moral Rearmament, to which her brother had been devoted since his student days. Her invitation to a member of MRA to speak at a residential youth conference, without divulging his connection with the organisation, caused some disquiet amongst members of the Board of Education.
Jean Thornton-Duesbery's funeral service took place in the cathedral, which was packed with people who had experienced the pleasure of knowing her during her long life. It was a life of service, but a life which was enjoyed to the full. Tribute was paid by one of her former Guides, Clare Christian - 'Our lives have been enriched by knowing her. We would do well to reflect on her example'.
Biography written by Jennifer Leece.
(With thanks to Culture Vannin as publishers of the book: Kelly, Dollin (general editor), ‘New Manx Worthies’, Manx Heritage Foundation/Culture Vannin, 2006, pp.442-4.)
Culture Vannin
#NMW
Gender: Female
Date of birth: 25 July 1907
Date of death: 23 November 1997
Name Variant: Thornton-Duesbury, Jean, Miss