During the first third of the twentieth century the most influential personality in the area of Jacobs Well was Henry Paul Treeby, who was born on 31st August 1858, the son of T.W.G. Treeby of Marmion House, Southsea, Hampshire, and his wife Georgina Mary Anne. He was educated privately and at the Naval and Military College, Southsea and he joined the army at the age of 21, serving first in the Huntingdonshire Regiment.

After becoming a Major in 1896, he served with distinction in South Africa during 1899 and 1900, being present at several engagements including the Relief of Ladysmith. He was awarded the DSO and mentioned in Dispatches but he was severely wounded and consequently invalided home.

Before going overseas, and while he was a Captain in the East Surrey Regiment and A.D.C. to General Lynden Bell, who commanded a division at Aldershot, he had married Eliza (Ella) Paynter, the eldest daughter of Rev Francis Paynter of Stoke Hill. Their wedding took place in Stoke church on 31st March 1891 and afterwards the reception of some two hundred guests was at Stoke Hill House. Wedding presents included a diamond brooch and bracelet from the bride's grandfather, Rev Samuel Paynter, and a gold bracelet and silver coffee pot from her parents.

Willow Grange. On his return from the Boer War he settled at Hurst, which we have been told was another wedding present from the bride's parents, and which he renamed Willow Grange. In July 1905 he also acquired Queenhithe Farm with 46 acres of land. In the same year he was made a Justice of the Peace. He was also an artist and a supporter of the YMCA and built tennis courts for Guildford YMCA off Salt Box Road. His wife held sewing circles for the ladies of Jacobs Well and was a Sunday School teacher at Stoke Hill School - at the junction of the old Woking Road with Old Farm Road - which many of the children of the village also attended during the week. The teachers and children had also given her charming wedding presents. This building has been restored in recent years.

Henry Treeby was active in the contemporary equivalent of the Territorial Army and served as Brigade-Major, first of the Wilts and Dorset Volunteer Brigade and then of the East Surrey Volunteer Brigade. By 1927 he had been promoted to Lt-Colonel for these services.

He died on 16th March 1935, in his 77th year, leaving a widow and two daughters, Ella May McLean and Evelyn Dora Sheldon. He left his mark permanently on Jacobs Well in the name of Treeby's Avenue. The section of the Woking Road between Clay Lane and Burdenshott Road is known to the older residents of the village as Treeby's Hill, but this name is possibly no longer in general use; while Grangefields Road and Grangefields Estate - the latter name still printed on some bus tickets, although recently changed on the bus stop - presumably derived from having been the fields of Willow Grange.