From the age of around seven years old, Leicester-born Jeffrey Kent knew that he wanted to be a carpenter. Born in 1934, the eldest of three brothers, he took on the role of being ‘the man of the house’ when his father went off to war, resulting in him becoming a hard-working, sensible person.
His family grew up on Martin Street, Leicester, and while his younger brothers were playing, Jeffrey had become friendly with a local carpenter who was happy to share his skills with young Jeffrey. So began Jeffrey’s love of carpentry, and his early efforts would usually be in making items that were functional for his mother to use around the home. In his teen years he began an apprenticeship in joinery, which he continued to use whilst doing his National Military Service – much of which was spent in Tripoli.
Another of Jeffrey’s houses.
First came a lifetime of building full sized houses!
After his National Service he completed his apprenticeship and began working with Jelson Homes in Leicester, spending 38 happy years with them, working his way up to be the foreman of the joinery workshop, and became known for being a ‘one off’ in terms of his skills, work ethic and eye for detail. He was highly regarded by all those who knew him in his trade.
His daughter, Angela said: “When my dad retired in 1997, at the age of 63, one of the company directors, Mr Lacey, who knew him well, commissioned him to make a miniature copy of his house. He admitted to me that this was partly for selfish reasons, knowing that the end product would be a work of art but also to give my father a project to ease him into retirement.
“The house was a big Georgian building, and this was to be the first of six or seven dolls houses that my father went on to build over the next twenty years. This new hobby gave him a sense of purpose and an outlet for using and maintaining his carpentry skills.”
Lovely carpentry skills on display.
A daughter’s memories
“Not all of the houses he built were actual houses – some were more ‘floor plans’ which you could look down on, rather than play with. Although, I remember that he made me a dolls house when I was about seven or eight. That was played with a lot! I eventually passed it on to a friend, and eventually they passed it on to another friend, so it got a lot of use.
“I think dad really enjoyed working in miniature, it made him use his problem-solving skills, as he was using all the same joinery and carpentry methods but now working it all out in miniature – staircases, dining tables, he only used kits when it couldn’t be made from wood.”
Jeffrey took great pride in his work.
In later years, Angela took her dad to various dolls house fairs, as well as sharing his other interest – that being collecting and renovating old joinery tools. “He would take these apart and bring them back to their best. I’ve learnt a lot about these tools over the last few years!”
These photographs show the last remaining two of the houses. Angela says that the larger, a traditional house, comes to life when it is all lit up. The smaller of the two, the Tudor style house, has a tea shop on the first floor, complete with sandwich cake! She added, “My father would make all of the furniture he could, as mentioned, only resorting to kits when absolutely necessary and, as such, the process helped to maintain his problem solving and creative thinking as well as his practical skills into his nineties.
Jeffrey Kent with one of his dolls houses.
“My father passed away in March 2025 at the age of ninety-one, having struggled with dementia for the last couple of years of his life. Although his dolls houses came to define him, he would have loved for them to continue to give pleasure to others in a new home.
Angela is hoping to share some of his work with others who appreciate these miniature carpentry skills and hopes that a museum might be interested in seeing his houses. She has already donated one house to Rainbow Hospice but hopes other people will enjoy seeing her father, Jeffrey Kent’s carpentry work.