Family and Education

b. ?1670, 1st s. of Robert Jennings of Shiplake, headmaster of Abingdon school 1657-83, by Mary, da. of James Jennens of Long Wittenham, Berks. educ. Wadham, Oxf. 5 July 1686, aged 16. m. 1698, Frances, da. of Harry Constantine of Merley and Lake, Dorset, 6s., 4da. suc. fa. 1704.1

Offices Held

Sheriff, Oxon. 1694

Biography

James Jennings, whose father is said to have ‘got a plentiful estate’ as an Abingdon schoolmaster,2 buying Shiplake from the Plowdens in 1689, was returned for Abingdon against a Tory. In a list of the new Parliament prepared for George I he is classed as a Tory, with a note stating that ‘quoyque Tory, il s’est opposé cette fois au fils de my lord Harcourt et l’a emporté’.3 In fact he voted against the Government in all recorded divisions. He stood unsuccessfully in 1722, splitting the Tory vote, and was again defeated in 1734, though in the latter year he had the support of the majority of the corporation.4

He died 9 Mar. 1739.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: R. S. Lea

Notes

• 1. Climenson, Hist. Shiplake, app. p. 335, 296-7; A. E. Preston, St. Nicholas, Abingdon, 345-7.
• 2. Wood, Fasti Oxon. ii. 103.
• 3. 1 June 1715, Worsley mss.
• 4. Mrs. Elizabeth Pevvy to Walpole, 10 Apr. 1734, Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss.