JESTYN'S STORY: PART 1. THE BEGINNINGS, UPDATE #2

 

Based on newly emerged information,  we now have a much clearer idea of where and when Jessica Harkness first acquired the name JESTYN.

In the end, the story of Jestyn turns out to be relatively straightforward but for all of the reasons it had become entangled in myth, misunderstanding and pure guesswork.  As you might expect, this discovery has an impact on much earlier posts about this name.

ORIGINS OF THE NAME JESTYN

Let's take a quick look at the origins of the name.

The name JESTYN is the English version of the Welsh name IESTYN ( Pronounced YESTYN). The Welsh Alphabet has 29 letters with the letter J in welsh being a 'borrowed' letter in that is used mostly in English words such as Jurist. It is to be found in the name of a small village in Angelsey, North Wales, called LLANIESTYN which is home to a Church named after  St. Iestyn who lived in the 7th Century. There is a second Church in the Welsh County of Gwynedd bearing the same name. The man, Iestyn, is said to have been descended from Royalty who once ruled in Cornwall. Iestyn was a confessor and a man of great standing in Welsh history although his named day, October 10th, is no longer celebrated.

There doesn't immediately appear to be a connection between the name Jestyn and why it was chosen by or for Jessica in her dealings with Alf Boxall and Tom Musgrave.

THE NEW INFORMATION

Recently, as followers of this blog will know, the time has been spent reviewing two NAA files dealing with the 1977 ABC TV, INSIDE STORY, programme hosted by Stuart Littlemore. ( The Executive Producer was Murray Travis). Amongst the copious and detailed documents was a note dealing with discussions Stuart had with TOM MUSGRAVE, a fellow officer to Alf Boxall, both serving in the same unit. In fact, both men were present at the Clifton Gardens Hotel in September 1944 when a lady, who said her name was JOY IRWIN, introduced her girlfriend who she called Jestyn, to ALF BOXALL. It was to be 12 months before JESTYN presented ALF BOXALL with the book containing the inscription, Verse 70.

CONFIRMED: Stuart Littlemore in his notes specifically mentions 1944 as the year that Jestyn was introduced. He further confirmed this date in his questions to the RNSH, the year 1944 was key.

This then answers the question, just where and when was the name JESTYN first used?

Stuart Littlemore Notes:

UPDATE #2

This post is saying that there were two meetings, the initial meeting took place in 1944 and the subsequent meeting was when the Rubaiyat with the inscription was given to Alf prior to his going overseas in September 1945.

Here's some supporting information, it takes the form of a question that Stuart Littlemore asked Alf regarding his being with an Intelligence Unit, it's from the Inside Story part 2 documents. (Page 124):

1. Stuart refers to Alf having worked with an intelligence unit, 'just before you came to Sydney and met the girl at the Clifton Gardens hotel'   
2. According to Alf's service record, he left his duties with the North Australia Observer Unit, which had Intelligence gathering amongst its activities, in March 1944 and was posted to NSW May 1st 1944. The meeting took place just after Alf arrived in Sydney. That gives us the year of the first meeting as being 1944.
3. Moving on to what is believed to be the second meeting, and again according to Alf's service record, he was to go overseas in September 1945. 
4. According to the accounts within the Inside Story documents, Jestyn gave the copy of the Rubaiyat with the Verse 70 inscription to Alf because he was going overseas, this would infer that it was 1945 when he was given the book because it was in September 1945 that Alf went to Moresby.

So, according to the documents, Jestyn met Alf in 1944 just after he had moved to Sydney from the Northern Territory and the NAOU. 

It was approximately 12 months later, August 1945, that, what was said to be the second meeting took place, again at the Clifton Gardens Hotel and that is when the book was handed over to Alf. Alf's records show that he was in Australia from March 1944 to September 1945.

Alf's friend, Tom Musgrave, also spent time in the Northern Territory and, whilst being an engineer, he underwent Bomb Disposal training during his time in the army. He is shown as being in NSW for the period commencing late 1943 to 1945, ceasing full-time service in October 1945.

Just why was the timing of these events important? The answer to that is not going to be found in part 2 of this post but in the weeks ahead a lot more will hopefully be revealed.

There are more questions yet to be answered, Part 2 of this post will follow shortly.

This was the first time that the name JESTYN appears anywhere in the documents surrounding the Somerton Man case.

As far as I have been able to ascertain, the name JESTYN was never used at any time as a nickname by JESSICA HARKNESS.