George Leonard Jenyns


George Leonard Jenyns was an English priest, a landowner involved both in the Bedford Level Corporation and in the Board of Agriculture.

Life

He was the son of John Harvey Jenyns of Eye, Suffolk, and was born at Roydon, Norfolk. He entered Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1781. He graduated Bachelor of Arts in 1785, and was ordained that year, and received his Master of Arts in 1788. He became Dean and rhetorical praelector of his college in 1787, though not a fellow, this being the first recorded instance.
He was vicar of Swaffham Prior, Cambridgeshire 1787–1848 and prebendary of Ely Cathedral, 1802–1848. He inherited Bottisham Hall in Bottisham and a considerable fortune from his first cousin twice removed Soame Jenyns in 1787. He became Chairman of the Bedford Level Corporation, and also of the Board of Agriculture. At Bottisham Hall he built a new house, constructed for him by 1797; and also expanded the Jenyns estate by purchases.

Family

In 1788 he married Mary Heberden, the daughter of the physician William Heberden. They had the following children: