As a surveyor for the Office of Works, he was responsible for much of the restoration and presentation of Hampton Court Palace after it was opened to the public in 1838.

Jesse later became a prominent evangelical vicar in West Bromwich and personal chaplain to the 2nd Earl of Dartmouth, a convert of Selina Hastings.

[1][8] Jesse was made a clerk in the Office of Woods and Forests by Lord Glenbervie c1821,[2][1] and following the abolition of the posts of Gentleman of the Ewry and Hackney Coach Commissioner, was appointed Itinerant Deputy Surveyor in the Office of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues, with responsibility for Hampton Court Palace and Windsor Castle, in 1834.

Their eldest daughter Frances, born 1810, married Edward Curwen, a lieutenant in the 14th Dragoons, in 1833.

[1] The result of his interest in the habits and characteristics of animals was a series of pleasant and popular books on natural history.

He wrote a number of handbooks to places of interest, including Windsor and Hampton Court (see Bibliography).

Previously, members of the public had been able to tour the palace in small groups conducted by the housekeeper, but the Great Hall had been inaccessible throughout.

[f][15] The Hall had been cleared in the early 18th century by architect James Wyatt (on the orders of George III), removing the theatre fixtures and fittings installed by William III and George I, and adding a new door at the east end of the Hall through to the Great Watching Chamber.

[16] In July 1840 Jesse began a substantial restoration of the Great Hall for public display, his Romantic interpretation aiming to give "an appearance similar, perhaps, to that it formerly presented when it was occupied by the Cardinal of York and his princely retinue.

"[17] Jesse's restoration was influenced by the Gothic Revival of the mid-nineteenth century, and in particular the work of architects Jeffry Wyatville (who had remodelled Windsor Castle),[9] and Edward Blore, who had assisted Jesse with the Tudor restoration of the West Front of Hampton Court Palace.

[19] Jesse decorated the Great Hall with stag's heads between each window, banners displaying the "devices of Henry VIII and the arms of Wolsey", and a string course of Tudor roses and portcullises.

[21] Tapestries depicting The Story of Abraham were moved from the State Apartments, where they had formed the backdrop to the growing population of paintings from the Royal Collection, to hang in the Great Hall[j], Jesse noting each to be "of such excellent design, and of such costliness of material, that it may be safely asserted that its parallel does not exist in Europe at this time.

[23] Informed by research of the original building accounts,[k] Jesse undertook a second phase of restorative works in 1844, which included the painting of the hammerbeam roof members in bright shades of white, vermillion, blue and green, and gilding the heraldic badges in gold.

[l][25] Jesse also commissioned stained glass artist Thomas Willement to chart the Tudor history of the Palace in a series of windows on all sides of the Hall and the Great Watching Chamber.

The two small gable windows above show the arms of the Order of St John of Jerusalem (the original owners of the Manor of Hampton), Lord Thomas Docwra (who leased the Manor to Thomas Wolsey), the Archbishopric of York and Cardinal Wolsey.

Williment also set out the line of descent of each of Henry VIII's wives in alternate windows on the north and south sides of the Hall.

Jesse's restoration of the Great Hall was the subject of both contemporary criticism (on the grounds of aesthetics and historical authenticity) and praise (for the vivid presentation of context, colour and armour).

[27] Henry Cole[m] wrote "[the] effect would have been far more satisfactory if the judgment of the decorator had been as good as his intention," yet despite the incongruous juxtaposition of disparate Tudor actors and symbolism in Willement's windows, "the restoration of the coloured glass ... is most welcome, and characteristic of old times.

"[28] Jesse's arrangement of the Great Hall continued to be presented until 1925,[29] and Willement's stained glass remains in place today.

[26] Jesse himself has been described as "both the first curator and the first interpreter of Hampton Court Palace,"[30] and "a forerunner to the HRP[n] Conservation and Learning Department".

Favorite Haunts and Rural Studies; Including Visits to Spots of Interest in the Vicinity of Windsor and Eton.

Reinvention and continuity in the making of an historic visitor attraction: control access and display at Hampton Court Palace,1838-1938 (PhD thesis).

A Handbook for the Architecture, Tapestries, Paintings, Gardens and Grounds of Hampton Court (2nd ed.).