When I was planning my December 2025 trip to England, a documentary team from LionTV reached out about a segment for Channel 5’s Inside the Tower. We had initially discussed doing the interview over Zoom, but once they learned I would be in London, we arranged to film at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, where Josef is buried.
In the hours before he was executed at the Tower of London, my grandfather, Josef Jakobs, wrote a final letter to his wife and children. The letter was handed to MI5 officer, Lt. Col. W.E. Hinchley-Cooke, who took it back to his office, read it, and then sealed it. The letter was supposed to have been delivered to my grandmother at the “cessation of hostilities.”
It never was.
It remained unopened in Hinchley-Cooke’s files for over fifty years.
In 1993, my sister and I had an appointment at the Lord Chancellor’s Office to receive a copy of Josef’s court martial transcript. Along with the transcript, the archivist quietly handed over a still-sealed envelope — the original letter Josef wrote in the early morning hours of 15 August 1941. That was the first time anyone in our family had seen it.
This was the letter the LionTV crew wanted to feature. And yes, I brought the original letter with me to London.
On the appointed day, I first went to the area of the cemetery where Josef is buried. This section of the cemetery was covered by a second lift of soil in the mid-1970s, so there is no individual marker, but I know the approximate location of his grave. I paused for a few prayers. It was a cold, blustery day, and I soon retreated to the cemetery chapel.
(Copyright G.K. Jakobs, 2025)
The crew was already set up. When Katie Clements, Curator of Collections at the Tower of London, arrived, we began filming. We talked about Josef and about the letter, and I read a few passages in my rusty German. His final kiss to his family — a wobbly circle drawn on the last page — always tugs at my heart. Those words never reached his wife, his eldest son, his daughter, or his mother. Only his youngest son, Raymond — my father — would ever hold that letter and read Josef’s final words.
St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green.
(Copyright G.K. Jakobs, 2025).
I’m looking forward to seeing how the segment comes together for Inside the Tower.
Extraordinary as it seems, to the best of my knowledge, I had never realised that Josef was your grandfather!
Or if at one time I did know, it somehow slipped my mind over the years.
It certainly explains your deep interest, and in that we share an interest, in the Tower of London, as various of my ancestors were imprisoned there, where some were released, a few escaped ( like Sir Norman Macleod of Berneray, who was set to lose his head to please Cromwell ), and some definitely lost their heads!
Power carries penalties, and medieval power was often brutal, yet as bloody as British history may look, it is minor bloodshed compared to the Ottoman Empire, for example, which was perpetually drenched in blood and cruelty on an epic scale.
The very tower itself was built by my ancestor, William the Conqueror, while the last English king I am descended from is English Henry VII, and the Scots James V. His father, James IV, married Henry VII’s daughter
I am also descended from King Harald Hardrada of Norway, killed at Stamford Bridge in 1066, but know of no connection to King Harold of England. Two out of three of the 1066 kings is not bad though!
I find history seems far more ALIVE, when you know an ancestor of yours was THERE, or made certain decisions. Some ancestors are not very romantic, like the Scots noble who died of dysentery on Crete on his way to a crusade! And some days were utter disasters, where DOZENS of ancestors died in battle on the same day, but together they weave the threads of history that still inform and drive us forward today.
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Having to wait 50 years to receive your grandfather’s last letter is something so bitter-sweet, yet by it’s arrival, you were inspired to search further. Which is why I find your words so interesting.
Keep going!
Zen
Thanks Zen! Yes, history does indeed come alive when you can find some connection to it. I’ve only traced my lines back to the 1500s. Cool you can trace it back to 1066! Thanks for the encouragement!
Quite an emotional and sad time i guess Giselle.
Thanks Lionel, it did have its moments!