James Jennings (1670–1739) of

Shiplake Shiplake consists of three settlements: Shiplake, Shiplake Cross and Lower Shiplake. Together these villages form a Civil parishes in England, civil parish situated beside the River Thames south of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The r ...

was an English landowner and Tory politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

between 1710 and 1722. Jennings was baptised on 26 June 1670, the eldest son of Robert Jennings, of Shiplake and his wife Mary Jennens daughter of James Jennens of

Long Wittenham Long Wittenham is a village and small Civil parishes in England, civil parish about north of Didcot, and southeast of Abingdon, Oxfordshire, Abingdon. It was part of Berkshire until the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 boundary changes transfe ...

, Berkshire. His father, Robert was headmaster of

John Roysse John Roysse (1500 or 1501–1571) was an English mercer and benefactor of Abingdon School in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. Personal life John Roysse was probably connected with the Roysse family of East Hagbourne but there are few records appertainin ...

's Free School in Abingdon (now

Abingdon School Abingdon School is an independent day and boarding school in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. It is the List of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom, twentieth oldest Independent School (UK), independent British school. In May 202 ...

) from 1657 to 1683 where James was educated. He matriculated at

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street, Oxford, Broad Street and Parks Road ...

on 5 July 1686, aged 16; He married Frances Constantine, daughter of Harry Constantine of Merley and Lake, Dorset, in 1698. In 1704, he succeeded his father to the Shiplake estate. Jennings substituted for his father as

High Sheriff of Oxfordshire The High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'. The title of High Sheriff is therefore much older ...

in the year 1694 to 1695. He was returned as Member of Parliament for Abingdon at a by-election on 13 December 1710. He associated with the Tories being one of the ‘Worthy patriots’. In 1713 he voted against the French commerce bill. He died not stand at the 1713 general election. Jennings was elected Tory MP for Abingdon again at the 1715 general election and voted consistently against the Government. He was defeated at the 1722 general election when he split the Tory vote in a one-seat constituency. He stood again in

1734 Events January– March * January 8 – Salzburgers, Lutherans who were expelled by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Salzburg, Austria, in October 1731, set sail for the British Colony of Georgia in America. * February 16 – ...

and was again unsuccessful. Jennings died on 9 March 1739. He had six sons but his eldest son Henry and two others did not survive him. He had four daughters of whom two survived and were left £4,000 each.

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