John Jennings (c. 1687 – 1723) was an English Nonconformist minister and tutor of an early

dissenting academy The dissenting academies were schools, colleges and seminaries (often institutions with aspects of all three) run by English Dissenters, that is, those who did not conform to the Church of England. They formed a significant part of England's edu ...

Kibworth Kibworth is an area of the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England, that contains two civil parishes: the villages of Kibworth Beauchamp and Kibworth Harcourt . At the 2011 census, Kibworth Beauchamp had a population of 5,433 and Kib ...

, Leicestershire, the original institution that became Daventry Academy. Jennings through his teaching and pedagogic writings was a major influence on the Dissenting educational tradition.

Life

Jennings’s father, John Jennings (1634–1701), a native of

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483 and A495 roads. The town was the administrative headquarters of the Boroug ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

, was educated at Christ Church, Oxford and was ejected from the rectory of Hartley Wespall,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

after the

Act of Uniformity 1662 The Act of Uniformity 1662 (14 Car 2 c 4) is an Act of the Parliament of England. (It was formerly cited as 13 & 14 Ch.2 c. 4, by reference to the regnal year when it was passed on 19 May 1662.) It prescribed the form of public prayers, adm ...

. The elder John Jennings was afterwards a private chaplain at Langton, near Kibworth, and founder of the independent congregation at Kibworth, where he purchased a small estate. A younger son, David Jennings, became known as tutor of the Coward Trust academy in

Wellclose Square Wellclose Square is a public square in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, between Cable Street to the north and The Highway to the south. The western edge, now called Ensign Street, was previously called Well Street. The southern edge was c ...

. Jennings was educated at Timothy Jollie's academy at

Attercliffe Attercliffe is an industrial suburb of northeast Sheffield, England on the south bank of the River Don. The suburb falls in the Darnall ward of Sheffield City Council. History The name Attercliffe can be traced back as far as an entry in t ...

, and succeeded his father as independent minister at Kibworth, where from 1715 he conducted a nonconformist academy. His students included

Philip Doddridge Philip Doddridge D.D. (26 June 1702 – 26 October 1751) was an English Nonconformist (specifically, Congregationalist) minister, educator, and hymnwriter. Early life Philip Doddridge was born in London the last of the twenty children of ...

, who carried on the academy tradition in various locations; others were Sir John Cope and John Mason, the writer on ''Self-Knowledge''. In July 1722 Jennings became minister of the

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their na ...

congregation at

Hinckley Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England. It is administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in the administrative county of Leicestershire, after Leicester and Lough ...

, and moved his academy to that town, where a new meeting-house was immediately built for him. Next year he fell a victim to

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) ce ...

, and died at Hinckley on 8 July 1723.

Pedagogy

The four years' course of study was documented by Doddridge,''Correspondence'', 1829, ii. 462 sq. who comments on his tutor's thoroughness of method and liberality of spirit. Doddridge took Jennings's theological lectures as the basis of his own. Alexander Gordon, writing in the ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', describes John Jennings as more able and original than his brother David. He published: *''Miscellanea in usum Juventutis Academicæ'',, Northampton, 1721, a handbook to the studies of his academy. *''Logica in usum'', Northampton, 1721, includes a system of phonetic

shorthand Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Greek ''st ...

. *''A Genealogical Table of the Kings of England''. Posthumous was ''Two Discourses'', 1723, (preface by

Isaac Watts Isaac Watts (17 July 1674 – 25 November 1748) was an English Congregational minister, hymn writer, theologian, and logician. He was a prolific and popular hymn writer and is credited with some 750 hymns. His works include " When I Survey the ...

); 4th edition, 1754. These were lectures on preaching; they were recommended by two bishops, and were translated into German.

Family

Jennings was twice married, his second wife being Anna Letitia, daughter of Sir Francis Wingate, by Anne, daughter of

Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey PC (10 July 16146 April 1686) was an Anglo-Irish royalist statesman. After short periods as President of the Council of State and Treasurer of the Navy, he served as Lord Privy Seal between 1673 and 168 ...

. He left four children, Arthur, John, Francis, and Jane. John, "the wit of Doddridge's academy", was minister (ordained 12 August 1742) at

St. Ives, Huntingdonshire St Ives is a market town and civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England, east of Huntingdon and north-west of Cambridge. St Ives is historically in the historic county of Huntingdonshire. History The township ...

, and left the ministry about 1756 from a failure of speech. Jane married

John Aikin John Aikin (15 January 1747 – 7 December 1822) was an English medical doctor and surgeon. Later in life he devoted himself wholly to biography and writing in periodicals. Life He was born at Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire, England, son ...

, and became the mother of

Anna Letitia Barbauld Anna Laetitia Barbauld (, by herself possibly , as in French, Aikin; 20 June 1743 – 9 March 1825) was a prominent English poet, essayist, literary critic, editor, and author of children's literature. A "woman of letters" who published in mul ...

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, John 1688 births 1723 deaths Dissenting academy tutors English Dissenters People from Kibworth