Austlit

Molesworth Jeffery was the fifth son of Bartholomew Jeffery, governor of the Royal Exchange, St Thomas's Hospital and Bartholomew's Hospital, and his wife Wilhelmina, nee Molesworth. He was educated by a private tutor (Mr Constable) and at Egglesfield House. There is no evidence that he underook university studies, although several of his brothers studied at Cambrige University. He served in the army for several years before working with the family trading firm and travelling extensively in England and Europe. Jeffery embarked on the Vibilia for Van Diemen's Land on 23 December 1834. Upon arrival, he stayed with friends at Ross and later bought properties at Lachlan near New Norfolk, known then as Elizabeth Town. On 23 November 1836, he married a Tasmanian girl Eliza Raynor, daughter of William Raynor Jnr, and commenced building a home at Lachlan to be known as 'Bournbank'. The Jefferys took up residence there on 6 April 1845. They had thirteen children of whom ten survived. Jeffery became the first J.P. for the district, and in 1865 was the architect for a new school-house and chapel in the village of Lachlan. He was elected a Fellow and Life Member of the Royal Society of Tasmania in the early 1870s. Eliza Jeffery died on 17 September 1881.