Digby Loder Armroid Jephson was born on 23 Feb 1871 at 2 Herne Cottage, Herne Hill Road in Brixton, London, England to Cuthbert Armroid Jephson and Emily Josephine (Cotes) Jephson. His birth was registered in Lambeth, London in the second quarter of the year, with mother's maiden name Cotes.[1] At the time of his birth, his father was a mechanical engineer.[2]
Digby was a Cambridge Cricket Blue, played for Surrey, also as captain over the period 1900-1902. He was known as “The Lobster” for his bowling style. In 1913 he published a book of cricketing poems under the title “A Few Overs”.[3]
In 1871 Digby L A Jephson (age 0) lived in Saint Mary, Ealing, London with his father Cuthbert A (25, Engineer), mother Emily J (29), grandmother Caroline Coles (67), and servant Fanny Preston (28, Domestic Servant).[4]
"Cuthbert Jephson, Digby’s father, was a mechanical engineer who had a taste for adventure. When his son was just three months old, he joined the 3rd Rifle Volunteers as a junior officer. Later, in 1877, he resigned commission and became a gold miner, joining in the gold rush to South Africa. By the 1880s he had disappeared from the lives of his wife and son completely."
"Hence, it was his mother Emily who brought Digby up, through adroit marshalling of strained resources. They settled in Clapham and it was there that the young lad grew up. And he studied at the Manor House School, which happily had a cricket crazy headmaster called Frederick Maxwell."[5]
In 1881 Digby L A Jephson (age 10) lived at Longfield in Bromley, Kent with his mother Emily J Jephson (39, Independent), grandmother Caroline Cotes (78, Independent), aunt Ellen M Cotes (46, Teacher (Sch)), and two servants: Ann Scrivener (49, Dom Serv) and Mary E Mitchell (14, Dom Serv).[6]
In 1891 Digby L A Jephson (age 20, Student At Law) was a visitor at Macauley Road in Clapham, London in the household of Arthur H Behrend (37, Musical Composer) - also living in the household was Arthur's sister Limol [Lina] Rosa N Behrend (32), Digby's future wife.[7]
Digby Loder A Jephson married Lina Rosa E Behrend in 1898. The marriage was registered in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire in the third quarter of the year.[8]
In 1901 Digby Jephson (age 30, Clerk in Stock Exchange) lived in Clapham with his wife Lina (42) and servant Amelia Ross (18, General Domestic).[9]
In 1911 Digby Lodet Armroid Jephson (age 40, Lyric Writer) lived in Cambridge with his mother Emily Josephine (69, Private Means) and wife Lina Rosa Eleanor (52, Lyric Writer).[10]
Digby was the beneficiary of his mother's estate in 1924: "JEPHSON Emily Josephine of Panton-cottage Union-road Cambridgeshire widow died 18 April 1924 Probate London 8 July to Digby Loder Armroid Jephson journalist. Effects £938 7s. 3d."[11]
Digby L A Jephson passed away on 19 Jan 1926, aged 54 years. His death was registered in Cambridge in the first quarter of the year.[12]
"JEPHSON Digby Loder Armroid of Panton-cottage Union-road Cambridge died 19 January 1926 Probate London 23 February to Lina Rosa Eleanora Jephson widow. Effects £127 13s. 3d."[13]
An obituary for Cricket Captain Mr D L A Jephson was published in The Evening Telegraph And Post on 20 Jan 1926.[14]
“This England Magazine” of Autumn 1985 contained a letter under the heading “Cricketers Advice" by a Mr R Walton of Plymouth. “I wonder if any of your readers have ever come across the poem below. I found it in an old copy of The Captain about 1919. It was a good quality magazine on the lines of The Boys Own Paper. At that time, being cricket mad, I committed it to memory and more strangely, can still remember it. The author was D. L. A. Jephson who captained Surrey about the turn of the century:
“Play with a straight bat, Sonny,
Whatever the pitch may be,
Be it fast and true,
Or a slab of glue,
Or parched like a last years’ pea.
Play with a straight bat, Sonny,
Whatever the ball may do,
May it bounce or hop,
Spin like a top,
Or jump like a kangaroo.
Play with a straight bat, Sonny,
In the game of life and at school,
You may have hard luck,
You may make a duck,
But stick to the Golden Rule,
PLAY STRAIGHT”.
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