Personal life

Joshua Jeays was born in 1812 in Leicestershire

Leicestershire

Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

He married Sarah Edwyn in 1838 in Marylebone

Marylebone

Marylebone is an affluent inner-city area of central London, located within the City of Westminster. It is sometimes written as St. Marylebone or Mary-le-bone....

, Middlesex

Middlesex

Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 with whom he had a number of children including:

• Sarah Jane
• Joseph Joshua (died 1909)
• Charles Edwyn (died 1883)

There may have been other children who died in infancy.

Joshua and Sarah and the three children above immigrated to Moreton Bay

Moreton Bay

Moreton Bay is a bay on the eastern coast of Australia 45 km from Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources...

 in 1853.

Joshua Jeays purchased land and built Roma Villa on the corner of Upper Roma Street and Skew Street (an area then known as Green Hills), where he lived with his wife and family.

His daughter Sarah Jane married in 1858 at Brisbane to Sir Charles Lilley

Charles Lilley

Sir Charles Lilley was a Premier and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland. He had a significant influence on the form and spirit of state education in colonial Queensland which lasted well into the twentieth century.Lilley was born at Newcastle on Tyne, England, the son of Thomas...

, who went on to be Premier of Queensland.

On 12 Nov 1862, Joshua Jeays paid £78 for 16 hectares (39 acres) of land from the corner of Cooper's Camp Road towards Ithaca Creek

Ithaca Creek

Ithaca Creek is a waterway in the Enoggera Creek catchment, in the western suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It arises in in the Taylor Range at the Mount Coot-tha forest with two streams, one arising at J C Slaughter Falls, the other and stronger source being Simpson Falls, the western...

 including Cobbler's Flats (once known for its weed cobblers pegs, now Bowman Park). His wife believed that living on this land would be healthier for her than their home on Green Hills. Accordingly, Joshua built Bardon House, a grand English-style home using rough stone and decorates with gables and casement windows which was named after Bardon Hill in his native Leicestershire. This is where the suburb of Bardon

Bardon, Queensland

Bardon is an inner suburb of Brisbane, Australia located approximately 5 km west of the Brisbane CBD. Bardon is a leafy residential suburb, much of which nestles into the foothills of Mount Coot-tha.-History:...

 gets its name. However, by the time the house was completed, his wife had died and Joshua was too broken-hearted to live in the house that he had built for his wife and it was occupied by his son Charles and later by Edwyn Lilley (son of Sarah Jane and Charles Lilley

Charles Lilley

Sir Charles Lilley was a Premier and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Queensland. He had a significant influence on the form and spirit of state education in colonial Queensland which lasted well into the twentieth century.Lilley was born at Newcastle on Tyne, England, the son of Thomas...

). In 2009 the house stands in the grounds of St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, The Drive, Bardon.

Joshua Jeays died on 11 March 1881 in Brisbane

Brisbane

Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...

 and is buried in Toowong Cemetery

Toowong Cemetery

The Brisbane General Cemetery also known as Toowong Cemetery at Toowong, Brisbane was established in 1866 and formally opened in 1875. It is Queensland's largest cemetery and is located on forty-four hectares of land at the corner of Frederick Street and Mount Coot-tha Road approximately four and a...

. with his wife Sarah, who predeceased him, dying on 26 July 1864 in Brisbane. Sarah was originally buried in Paddington Cemetery but was most likely one of those re-interred in Toowong Cemetery

Toowong Cemetery

The Brisbane General Cemetery also known as Toowong Cemetery at Toowong, Brisbane was established in 1866 and formally opened in 1875. It is Queensland's largest cemetery and is located on forty-four hectares of land at the corner of Frederick Street and Mount Coot-tha Road approximately four and a...

 (the Paddington Cemetery was redeveloped as a recreational site for athletics and other sports and in 1914 was fenced off and re-named Lang Park).

His grandson Charles Joshua Jeays founded Jeays Hardware.

The Joshua Jeays Conference Room at the Bardon Professional Centre is named after Joshua Jeays.

Business Life

Joshua Jeays started work in England as a carpenter. In Brisbane, Joshua Jeays was a builder, architect and stonemason.

He was involved in the construction of the gallery of the original St Johns Church of England.

He built homes of prominent Brisbane residents Walter Hill

Walter Hill (garden curator)

Walter Hill was the first curator of the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens, located at Gardens Point, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.-Personal life:...

, (founder of the Botanic Gardens), the infamous Patrick Mayne and the Cribb family. He was also involved in the development of Brisbane's drainage.

He built and provided the stone from his quarry for Brisbane's first Government House

Old Government House, Queensland

Queensland's first Government House is located at Gardens Point in the grounds of the Queensland University of Technology at the end of George Street in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia...

, now part of the Queensland University of Technology

Queensland University of Technology

Queensland University of Technology is an Australian university with an applied emphasis in courses and research. Based in Brisbane, it has 40,000 students, including 6,000 international students, over 4,000 staff members, and an annual budget of more than A$750 million.QUT is marketed as "A...

's Gardens Point campus.

He also partially built the George Street side of Parliament House, Queensland, which John Petrie

John Petrie

John "Jocky" Petrie was a Scottish football player who played for Arbroath F.C..He holds the record for the most goals ever scored in a senior British football game with 13 goals. This occurred during Arbroath's famous 36–0 victory over Bon Accord F.C...

 completed in 1868.

He built the Wharf Street Congregational Church, Brisbane

Wharf Street Congregational Church, Brisbane

The Wharf Street Congregational Church was a Congregational church built in 1860 on the corner of Wharf Street and Adelaide Street, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The church was demolished in 1928...

 (1859–1860).

Public service

Joshua was an alderman

Alderman

An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...

 from 1859 to 1867 and was mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 in 1864 of the Brisbane Municipal Council

Brisbane Municipal Council

-History:On 7 September 1859, Brisbane was proclaimed a municipality. Thus after the passing of the Municipal Institutions Act 1864 the area could establish a municipal council to administer the district - with powers relating to by-laws, to rating, to borrowings, to the control or regulation of...

. He served on a number of committees, including::

• Improvement Committee 1860 - 1867
• Bridge Committee 1862 - 1864, 1866–1867
• Water Committee 1863, 1864
• Lighting Committee 1863
• Incorporation Committee 1864

He has been described as having "radical political views" and "an Orangeman and Evangelican".