John Jennings (Royal Navy officer)
Sir John Jennings | |
---|---|
War of Spanish Succession |
Sir John Jennings (1664 – 23 December 1743) was a
Senior Naval Lord and finally Governor of Greenwich Hospital
.
Early life
Jennings was the fifteenth child of Philip Jennings of Duddleston Hall, Shropshire and his wife Christian Eyton, daughter of
Royalist cause during the English Civil War. He married Alice Breton.[1]
Jennings was appointed a lieutenant on
St Malo privateer.[2] Shortly afterwards, together with the frigate HMS Rye, he fell in with three French ships: one quickly surrendered, and Jennings, leaving the Rye to look after their prize, pursued the other two and succeeded in compelling one to strike her flag after a vigorous defence. Having conducted their prizes to port, the Rye and the Plymouth fell in with the Severn, a British man-of-war, and the three ships steered together for the coast of France, where they took five vessels laden with wine from Bordeaux, and a small ship of war.[4]
On the outbreak of the
vice admiral in 1708 and admiral in 1709. His attack on Tenerife in 1706 was unsuccessful. He commanded the fleet off Lisbon from 1708 to 1710, and was later Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet.[2]
Parliamentary career
At the
Member of Parliament for Queenborough. He was absent from the division on the choice of Speaker on 25 October 1705 and was absent on active service until the winter of 1707–8. Then in November he gave evidence to the Lords on the encouragement of trade in the West Indies and in January 1708 gave evidence on the bill for the encouragement of seamen. He also submitted a paper containing thirteen proposals to improve methods of manning the fleet, of which three were included in a Lords address to the Queen. He was returned again for Queenborough at the 1708 British general election. In parliament, he supported the naturalization of the Palatines in 1709 and voted for the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell in 1710. At the 1710 British general election, he was defeated at Queenborough, but was returned in the poll as MP for Portsmouth. However he was unseated on petition on 3 February 1711.[1]
Jennings was returned as MP for
Handel and others.[7]
He was also appointed governor of
Senior Naval Lord[8] Also in 1721, he acquired Newsells Bury at Barkway in Hertfordshire.[3][9] He was becoming deaf, but resigned from the Admiralty Board in June 1727 because he objected to serving under Lord Berkeley, the first Sea lord. He was returned again as MP for Rochester at the 1727 British general election. Although Berkeley was dismissed from the Admiralty board in 1727, Jennings was not keen to return, hoping instead for a promotion or peerage. He was promoted to rear-admiral of England in January 1733, but resigned a year later when Sir John Norris was made admiral of the fleet and commander in chief.[10]
Death and legacy
Jennings died at Greenwich on 23 December 1743 at the age of 79, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.[11] A separate monument exists at Barkway Parish Church sculpted by John Michael Rysbrack.[12]
With his wife Alice, he had one son, George, who duly inherited Newsells.[3]
References
- ^ a b c "JENNINGS, Sir John (1664-1743), of Byfleet, Surr". History of Parliament Online (1690-1715). Retrieved 4 May 2019.
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/14760. Retrieved 17 October 2015. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b c d Laughton, John Knox (1892). Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 29. London: Smith, Elder & Co. . In
- ^ Campbell, p. 228
- ^ Cundall, p. xx
- ^ a b c "Sainty, JC, Lord High Admiral and Commissioners of the Admiralty 1660-1870, Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 4: Admiralty Officials 1660-1870 (1975), pp. 18-31". Archived from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2009.
- ^ Thomas McGeary. The Politics of Opera in Handel's Britain. Cambridge University Press, 2013. p.254
- ^ Rodger, p. 51-52
- ^ Prince, p. 101
- ^ "JENNINGS, Sir John (1664-1743), of Newsells, in Barkway, Herts". History of Parliament Online (1715-1754). Retrieved 4 May 2019.
- ^ "Sir John Jennings". Westminster Abbey. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
- ^ Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis p.338
Sources
- Campbell, John (1813). Naval history of Great Britain, including the history and lives of the British admirals. Vol. 4. Stockdale.
- Cundall, Frank (1915). Historic Jamaica. West India Committee.
- Laughton, John Knox (1892). Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 29. London: Smith, Elder & Co. . In
- Prince, Hugh C. (2008). Parks in Hertfordshire Since 1500. University of Hertfordshire Press. ISBN 978-0954218997.
- ISBN 0900963948.
Further reading
- Mark Noble, A Biographical history of England from the Revolution to the end of George I's Reign (London: W Richardson etc., 1806)
- The Georgian Era: Memoirs of the Most Eminent Persons... (London: Vizetelly, Branston & Co., 1833)