James Richard Hebbron (“JR”) was born in London, England, on August 27, 1828 to James Hebbron and Isabelle Jane Lewis. He came from a family in Durham, England, who were in the stock business and from where the Durham cattle (now called the Shorthorn) derive their name. He was baptized on October 19, 1828 at St. Bartholomew the Great, City of London...
He became a Scotland Yard detective on October 9, 1848 and kept that position until October 20, 1851, shortly before he left the county bound toward the United States. His great friend, Frank Dyerr, was in the Scotland Yard detective service also. It was through Sir Richard Augestine, Member of Parliament of Greenwich, that JR was able to enter the detective services.
In 1850 the first World’s Fair was held in the Crystal Palace in London. He was a special guard to the Royal family when they visited the fair (usually in the mornings so as to avoid the crowds). One day, while on duty at the fair, there was a commotion and a cry, “The Duke! The Duke!” The Duke of Wellington had entered. The Duke of Wellington was a former soldier who defeated Napoleon in his wars of conquest. He was also a former Prime Minister of England and was held in high esteem. The crowds quickly gathered around the Duke — almost suffocating him. James made his way through the crowd, offered his arm to the Duke and escorted to a place of safety. In later years James said, “And to think that within a year after the ‘Iron Duke’ took my arm in the Crystal Palace, I was driving a mule team in California!” A slight exaggeration but true in spirit.
On January 30, 1850 JR married Eleanor Jane Noice in St. Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge, London. Frank Dyerr and Jerminnia Churcher stood up with them. They first lived... (contact Allan Rast for more.)