Jack and Harry Lessels At Work, Holyrood Estate, Oakville
Description
- Media Type
- Image
- Text
- Item Type
- Photographs
- Description
- 3 photographs taken by Alice Lessels, using her Brownie box camera, of groundskeepers Jack and Harry Lessels at work on the Holyrood Estate.
In the first photograph, head groundskeeper (or gardener), Jack Lessels is sitting on a 36" lawn mower, ready to "manicure" as he liked to laugh, the front lawn. Jack prided himself on cutting the grass straight so that when his employers, the Lefebvres, stepped out on the porch and looked towards the lake, the "tight" mower and the roller ensured the rows would stand out properly.
Alice and Jack Lessels were both born in Scotland. After emigrating separately to Canada, (Jack with his brother, Harry) they met and were married in Toronto.
Jack had been working as a groundskeeper on the Dunnikier estate in Kirkcaldy, on the east coast of Scotland so he had good experience to work as head groundskeeper for Gordon and Kathleen Lefebvre on their Holyrood Estate.
Alice had been working in Edinburgh.
In the second photograph, Jack is working in the flower beds in front of the house.
The third photograph shows Harry doing the close mowing around the trees with a hand mower.
- Notes
- Information and photographs of Holyrood house, the Lefebvre family and the history of the property in the Trafalgar Township Historical Society digital collection were shared by Mr. Roy Lessels in May 2016. Roy's father was the head grounds keeper for the estate from 1929 to 1945, in the employ of Gordon Lefebvre who was head of the Pontiac Division, Ford Motor Company, and again from 1955-1969 for David Knapp. The images with notes remain the property of Mr. Lessels.
The "Groups of Related Records" link will take you to the other records, maps of the property and photographs of the estate people in Mr. Lessels photo album. - Inscriptions
- Jack Lessels (Dad) on front lawn with gasoline lawnmower complete with reel cutting blades and heavy duty lawn roller.
- Subject(s)
- Personal Name(s)
- Alice Lessels, d.age 99, 11 months, 14 days, married John (called Jack) Lessels, b.1902, d.March 5, 1986, age 84. Son John Roy (called Roy), b. February 13, 1930, married Joyce. (He worked for Rubbermaid for many years, Joyce worked for Oakville dentist, John McLennan.) Son Alistair Anderson, b.January 27, 1932 (in Edinburgh, Scotland), married Diane Hammer in March 1964, d.July 29, 2014. (He had a real estate brokerage in Collingwood.) Harry, brother of Jack Lessels, d.August 19, 1990.
- Local identifier
- TTJRL000505
- Collection
- Trafalgar Township Historical Society
- Language of Item
- English
- Geographic Coverage
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Ontario, Canada
Latitude: 43.4335798011555 Longitude: -79.6777057856751
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- Copyright Statement
- Copyright status unknown. Responsibility for determining the copyright status and any use rests exclusively with the user.
- Recommended Citation
- Jack and Harry Lessels At Work, Holyrood Estate, Oakville
- Contact
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Trafalgar Township Historical Society Sponsor: Jeff Knoll, Local & Regional Councillor for Oakville Ward 5 – Town of Oakville/Regional Municipality of Halton
