Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jeffery, John
JEFFERY, JOHN (1647–1720), archdeacon of Norwich, was born of humble parentage on 20 Dec. 1647 in the parish of St. Laurence, Ipswich. After passing through Ipswich grammar school he was sent in 1664 to Catharine Hall, Cambridge, and graduated B.A. in 1668, M.A. in 1672, and D.D. in 1696. He was ordained to the curacy of Dennington, Suffolk, where he assiduously studied divinity. The parishioners, impressed by his preaching, unanimously elected him to the living of St. Peter Mancroft in Norwich in 1678 (Blomefield, Norfolk, 8vo ed., iv. 189). His blameless life and great learning soon won for him the regard of Sir Thomas Browne and the chief citizens of Norwich. Sir Edward Atkyns, lord chief baron, who then spent the long vacations in Norwich, gave him an apartment in his house, took him up to town with him, and introduced him to Tillotson, then preacher of Lincoln's Inn. Tillotson often engaged Jeffery to preach for him. In 1687 he became rector of Kirton and vicar of Falkenham, Suffolk, and on 13 April 1694 Tillotson, then archbishop of Canterbury, made him archdeacon of Norwich (Le Neve, Fasti, ed. Hardy, ii. 481). He died on 1 April 1720, and was buried on the 5th in the chancel of St. Peter Mancroft. He married, first, Sarah (d. 1705), sister of John Ireland, apothecary, of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, by whom he had a son and four daughters; and secondly, in 1710, Susan Ganning (d. 1748), by whom he had no issue. Jeffery was an enemy of religious controversy, alleging ‘that it produced more heat than light.’
His portrait, engraved by Anthony Walker after the painting by L. Seeman, is prefixed to his ‘Collection of Sermons and Tracts’ (1751).
His chief writings are: 1. ‘Religion the Perfection of Man,’ 12mo, London, 1689. 2. ‘Proposals to the reverend Clergy of the Archdeaconry of Norwich concerning the reformation of manners and promoting the interest of true religion and virtue,’ 8vo, Norwich, 1700. 3. ‘The Religion of the Bible; or a Summary View of the Holy Scriptures, as the Records of True Religion,’ &c., 8vo, Norwich, 1701. 4. ‘Select Discourses upon divers important subjects,’ 8vo, London, 1710. His shorter works are included in ‘A Complete Collection of the Sermons and Tracts written by … J. Jeffery,’ 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1751.
Jeffery published from his friend Benjamin Whichcot's manuscripts four volumes of ‘Several Discourses,’ 8vo, London, 1701–7; ‘The True Notion of Peace in the Kingdom or Church of Christ,’ 8vo, London, 1717; and ‘Moral and Religious Aphorisms,’ 8vo, London, 1703, an edition of which appeared in 1753, 8vo, London, with large additions by Samuel Bath, D.D. He also edited a posthumous piece by Sir Thomas Browne, which he called ‘Christian Morals,’ 12mo, Cambridge, 1716.
[Memoirs in the Complete Collection by S. Jones; Birch's Life of Tillotson, pp. 326–7; Blomefield's Norfolk, 8vo edit., iii. 641; Cole MS. 5873, f. 7.]