Sir John Jennyns, Jr, of Halywell, KB, MP

Will dated 21 March 1638 Buried 27 July 1642 Probate Date and location: Dñi John Jennyns 9 Aug1642 St Albons, Hertfordshire, England

British History Online: Document showing the spelling for Sir John Jenyns in 1627 79. Certificate of William Earl of Salisbury, that Sir John Jenyns, K.B., one of several persons of St. Albans summoned before the Council concerning the loan, had given the Earl satisfaction thereon.

Wikipedia Sir John Jennings KB (died August 1642) of Halywell (later Holywell) House, St Albans was an English nobleman and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1628 and 1642: he is now chiefly remembered as the grandfather of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough and of her nemesis Abigail Masham. He is also notable for the extraordinary number of children he fathered, all from one marriage.

He succeeded his father, another Sir John Jennings, as head of the family in 1609; his father is said to have become insane some years before his death. He was High Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1626 and was created Knight of the Bath in the same year. In 1628 he was elected Member of Parliament for St Albans and sat until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years.[1]

Jennings was re-elected MP for St Albans in April 1640 for the Short Parliament and again in November 1640 for the Long Parliament.[1] He was a sympathiser with the Parliamentary cause, but died before the outbreak of the English Civil War.

John Jennings was married to Alice, daughter of Sir Richard Spencer of Offley and Helen Brocket, and they had 22 children, many of whom survived infancy. His will names three of his children, Richard, Alice and Robert. [2]His wife's will names four more children, Ralph, George, Elizabeth and Grace. Lady Jennings died in 1663.[3]

Jennings' eldest son, Richard, succeeded him as MP for St Albans. Richard's daughter, Sarah, married the 1st Duke of Marlborough and was the confidant of Queen Anne. She was in time supplanted in the Queen's affections by her cousin Abigail Masham, who through her mother Elizabeth Hill was another of John Jennings' grandchildren. Sarah was later in her Memoirs to write that, because there were so many descendants of her grandfather, she had not known of Abigail's existence until they were both well into adult life. On learning of Abigail's relationship to her and of her poverty-stricken state as a servant, Sarah took her (and her sister Alice) into her own household, with ultimately disastrous political results for herself and her husband.

References

• Willis, Browne (1750). Notitia Parliamentaria, Part II: A Series or Lists of the Representatives in the several Parliaments held from the Reformation 1541, to the Restoration 1660 ... London. pp. 229–239.
• Brown, Frederick Abstract of Somerset Wills F.A. Crisp 1889 p.53
• Brown p.53 D Brunton & D H Pennington, Members of the Long Parliament (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1954)

  ---

WikiTree Biography John Jenyns (5/20/1596 - before 7/27/1642)

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Jenyns-11

John Jenyns was a member of aristocracy in England. John's birth date comes from the History of Parliament website, giving a source from the National Archives which is probably the Inquisition Post Mortem for Jennings, John, knight: Hertford[1].

He was given leave to travel abroad in 1614 and 1618, so he must have married after this time. The marriage licence for his eldest son Richard, issued in December 1643, gives his age as 24[2]. This implies a birth year of 1619 and, therefore, a narrow range for the date of John's marriage. His wife was Alice, the daughter of Sir Richard Spencer, and they had a large family; the History of Parliament gives eight sons and four daughters, WikiPedia says twenty two children but provides no source. Green includes the eldest son Richard plus three other sons and three daughters. Twelve children in twenty four years (from marriage to John's death) seems possible; twenty two children seems unlikely.

He was buried at St. Margaret’s, Westminster on 27 July 1642.

Brown has an abstract of both John's will and that of Alice. His will was dated 21 March 1638, and proved on 9 August 1642 by his son Richard. He mentions his youngest son Robert, Alice and Richard. Alice's will is dated 26 December 1661 and it was proved on 31 May 1663 by her son Ralph. She mentions sons Richard, Ralph and George, daughters Elizabeth and Grace, and her brother Sir Brocket Spencer. In February 1648 Ann Jennings and Alice Jennings, daughters of Sir John, complained that they had been unable to obtain from their brother Richard that which had been left to them by their father[3].

In the Visitation of Hertfordshire of 1634 Sir John's arms were recorded as quarterly of nine impaling Burdett, Duston, Rowlett, Knight, Foster, Waring, Penington and Nevill. The first three come from heiresses married into the Jenyns line. From a comparison with Skipwith, in the same book, the last five came with the Rowlett marriage as a Skipwith also married a Rowlett heiress.

"John Jennings, the son of Sir John Jennings and Anne Brounker, married Alice Spencer, the daughter of Sir Richard Spencer of Hertfordshire. He was made High Sheriff of Hertfordshire in 1626 and from 1628 to his death in 1642 represented St Albans in Parliament. He was made a Knight of the Bath at the Coronation of Charles I on 1 February 1625. It is said that Sir John and Lady Alice had over 20 children. Being an MP, Sir John had an apartment at Whitehall and after his death in 1642, Lady Alice and her children remained in London. This choice was probably assisted by their son Richard also being the member for St Albans. Richard’s daughter Sarah became the wife of the first Duke of Marlborough and ancestors of Sir Winston Churchill."

[4] [5] [6]

[7]

History of Parliament Biography

Family and Education b. 20 May 1596,1 1st s. of Sir John Jennyns of Sandridge, Herts. and his 1st w. Anne, da. of Sir William Brouncker† of Melksham, Wilts.2 educ. travelled abroad 1614, 1618.3 m. Alice, da. of Sir Richard Spencer* of Offley, Herts., 8s. (at least 2 d.v.p.) 4da. (at least 1 d.v.p.).4 suc. fa. 1609;5 cr. KB 1 Feb. 1626.6 bur. 27 July 1642.7 sig. Joannis Jenyns.

Offices Held

Servant to Anne of Denmark bef. 1614-18.8

Commr. sewers, Som. 1625, Colne valley 1638-9,9 oyer and terminer, St. Albans 1625-39, Home circ. 1641-d.,10 j.p. Herts. and St. Albans 1625-33, 1636-d.;11 member, Art. Co. of London 1626;12 sheriff, Herts. 1626-7;13 commr. subsidy, Herts. and St. Albans, 1641-d.14

Biography Jennyns came from a cadet branch of a medieval Surrey gentry family. His grandfather bought the manor of Churchill in 1563, and in 1571 inherited from Sir Ralph Rowlett† a valuable ex-monastic estate in and around St. Albans.15 Jennyns’ mother died during his early infancy, and his father was certified insane in 1607. His wardship was sold to John Gobert for £1,770, at considerable profit to the master of the Wards, the 1st earl of Salisbury (Robert Cecil†), since only £370 of the purchase price went to the Crown; it was presumably also Salisbury who found Jennyns a place in the queen’s Household.16 Jennyns obtained licence to go abroad in 1614, and again in 1618 ‘for the attainment of languages’, and on his return settled in Somerset.

In 1621, perhaps burdened by the expense of his rapidly growing family, Jennyns organized a petition against the increase in subsidy assessment. The local assessor described him as a man ‘of great estate and means, both in lands and goods’, but ‘of turbulent and mutinous disposition’, and eventually brought him before Star Chamber.17 It seems to have been as a result of this episode that Jennyns decided to leave Somerset, for he had taken up residence in St. Albans by 1624, when his eldest sons entered the local grammar school.18 He soon became involved in local politics, and was noted as a friend and supporter of Sir John Luke* at the general election in 1625.19

Jennyns received the order of the Bath at the coronation of Charles I, but was nevertheless loath to pay the Forced Loan. As Luke reported, ‘he doth not deny it ... if others of his own rank lend it he will do the like ... but at this time he hath it not’.20 Upon receiving a summons to appear before the Privy Council his resistance quickly collapsed; nevertheless, his defiant stance may have inspired the borough to elect him to the next Parliament, the first of his family to sit.21 His interest in the proceedings of the House is attested by his ownership of a manuscript collection of copies of speeches concerning the liberty of the subject, from debates that preceded the drafting of the Petition of Right, in the form of a slim vellum-bound volume of 45 folios.22 On 12 May 1628 Jennyns and Sir Henry Croke* testified that an Oxfordshire man caught lurking at the door of the Commons was a ‘very religious, honest gentleman’.23 His only committee appointment was in the second session, on a bill to reverse a decree in Chancery obtained by Sir Arnold Herbert* (21 Feb. 1629).24

Jennyns made another appearance before the Privy Council in 1632, when he ‘contemptuously refused to take up the charge’ of a trained band, and the 2nd earl of Salisbury (William Cecil*), as lord lieutenant of Hertfordshire, was required to nominate ‘some other gentleman of quality’.25 He moved to London for a time to avoid payment of Ship Money, complaining that he had been ‘unequally rated and beyond proportion with others’ assessed at St. Albans, further alleging that the corporation had managed to conceal part of their income from the assessors.26 He drew up his will on 21 Mar. 1639, leaving £21 10s. to be distributed among the poor of St. Albans.27 The borough re-elected him to both Parliaments of 1640, despite a spell of imprisonment in the Fleet for failure to suppress anti-Laudian disturbances in Hertfordshire.28 He was buried at St. Margaret’s, Westminster on 27 July 1642.29 His eldest son Richard took over his seat, representing St. Albans until Pride’s Purge, and again from 1659 until his death in 1668.

Ref Volumes: 1604-1629 Authors: John. P. Ferris / Rosemary Sgroi Notes 1. C142/318/156. 2. Misc. Gen. et Her. (ser. 5), viii. 90, 107. 3. APC, 1613-14, p. 392; 1618-19, p. 214. 4. E.A. Webb, Recs. St. Bartholomew Smithfield, ii. 279; Misc. Gen. et Her. (ser. 5), viii. 90, 107. 5. C142/318/156. 6. Shaw, Knights of Eng. i. 163. 7. Memorials of St. Margaret’s, Westminster ed. A.M. Burke, 601. 8. APC, 1613-14, p. 392; 1618-19, p. 214; E315/107, f. 23. 9. C181/3, f. 186v; 181/5, ff. 122, 136v. 10. C181/3, ff. 175, 264v; 181/4, ff. 78v, 90; 181/5, ff. 134v, 193, 222. 11. C231/4, f. 176; 231/5, f. 406; C181/3, f. 140; 181/5, f. 212v. 12. Ancient Vellum Bk. ed. G.A. Raikes, 38. 13. List of Sheriffs comp. A. Hughes (PRO, L. and I. ix), 64 14. SR, v. 84, 151. 15. Misc. Gen. et Her. (ser. 5), viii. 97; Procs. Som. Arch. Soc. xxxi. 42; VCH Herts. ii. 433. 16. L. Stone, Fam. and Fortune, 23; WARD 9/162, f. 83v; C142/297/160. 17. STAC 8/34/6. 18. Mdx. and Herts. N and Q, i. 42. 19. HALS, OFF ACC 1162/161. 20. SP16/44/14. 21. HALS, OFF ACC 1162/164; CSP Dom. 1627-8, p. 9. 22. Univ. London, Goldsmiths ms 196. 23. CD 1628, iii. 376. 24. CJ, i. 932a. 25. PC2/42, pp. 12, 34-5. 26. PC2/45, pp. 432-3; CSP Dom. 1636-7, p. 288. 27. PROB 11/190, f. 152. 28. CSP Dom. 1640-1, p. 12; M.F. Keeler, Long Parl. 233-4. 29. Memorials of St. Margaret’s, Westminster, 601.

References

1. National Archives C 142/318/156-1. This item has not yet been imaged.
2. ↑ Wolseley, Garnet Wolseley. The Life of John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, to the Accession of Queen Anne, Volume 1. London: R. Bentley and son, 1894, p156
3. ↑ Seventh Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. HM Stationary Office, London: 1879. p8
4. ↑ Peerage of England. ... By Arthur Collins, p. 377
5. ↑ The Collected Works of Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke: Poems ... By Mary Sidney Herbert Countess of Pembroke, p. 352
6. ↑ Archaeologia: Or Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity - Page 25 https://books.google.ca › books 1961 - ‎Snippet view - ‎More editions APPENDIX I GENEALOGY OF THE JENYN(S), JENYNGS, OR JENNINGS FAMILY As shown above (pp. ... (A) Sir John Jenyngs the younger (died 1642) was the son of Sir John Jenyngs the elder by his first wife Anne, daughter of Sir William Brounker (died 1596) of Erlestoke, Wilts., whose ... For the earlier pedigrees of Brounker of Melksham see G. W. Marshall, Visitation of Wiltshire, 1623 (1882), pp.
7. ↑ A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great ..., Volume 3 By John Burke, p.582
8. Brown, Frederick. Abstracts of Somerset Wills Etc.. Somerset: Frederick Arthur Crisp, 1889. Google Books
9. Green, E. "The Manor of Churchill." Proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society 31 (1885): p40-56. Google Books
10. Metcalfe, Walter C. ed. The Visitations of Hertfordshire. London: 1886 archive.org
11. The History of Parliament