Loveday Elizabeth Trevenen Jenkin is a

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

and language campaigner. She has been a member of

Cornwall Council Cornwall Council ( ), known between 1889 and 2009 as Cornwall County Council (), is the local authority which governs the non-metropolitan county of Cornwall in South West England. Since 2009 it has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary ...

since 2011, and currently serves as councillor for Crowan, Sithney and Wendron.

Biography

Jenkin is the daughter of Richard Jenkin and Ann Trevenen Jenkin, key figures in Cornish nationalist political party

Mebyon Kernow Mebyon Kernow – The Party for Cornwall (, MK; Cornish language, Cornish for ''Sons of Cornwall'') is a Cornish nationalism, Cornish nationalist, Left-wing politics, centre-left political party in Cornwall, in southwestern Britain. It currentl ...

. She attended Helston grammar school, later Helston comprehensive. Jenkin studied

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

and

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

. She later gained a doctorate in plant biochemistry from the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. During the late 1980s and early 90s, she worked as education officer for Cornwall Wildlife Trust. Bernard Deacon, Dick Cole and Garry Tregidga, ''Mebyon Kernow and Cornish nationalism'', p. 132 In 1990, she was elected as leader of Mebyon Kernow, then at a low ebb. She served until 1997, focusing on reviving the party's electoral performance. She stood as the party's candidate for Cornwall and West Plymouth at the 1994 European election, taking 1.5% of the vote. Soon after, she was elected to Kerrier District Council, representing the Crowan district until the council was merged into

, a

unitary authority A unitary authority is a type of local government, local authority in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Unitary authorities are responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are ...

. She subsequently stood, unsuccessfully, for Parliament on a number of occasions. At the 2010 general election, Jenkin stood in Camborne and Redruth, taking 775 votes, coming fifth of seven candidates. At the 2015 general election, Jenkin again stood in Camborne and Redruth, taking 897 votes, giving her the last place of six candidates standing, but increasing her vote total and also her percentage of votes cast (+0.2%). Jenkin was elected to Cornwall Council in a 2011 by-election, representing the Wendron district, and was subsequently re-elected in

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

and

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

(for the Crowan and Wendron division and in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

(for the Crowan, Sithney and Wendron division. In 2014, Jenkin was selected by Mebyon Kernow to represent the party at the 2015 General Elections. Jenkin was a lecturer for the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...

at the Camborne School of Mines, where she undertook studies into

Japanese knotweed ''Reynoutria japonica'', synonyms ''Fallopia japonica'' and ''Polygonum cuspidatum'', is a species of herbaceous perennial plant in the knotweed and buckwheat family Polygonaceae. Common names include Japanese knotweed and Asian knotweed. It is ...

. She is also a

bard In Celtic cultures, a bard is an oral repository and professional story teller, verse-maker, music composer, oral historian and genealogist, employed by a patron (such as a monarch or chieftain) to commemorate one or more of the patron's a ...

Gorsedh Kernow Gorsedh Kernow (Cornish Gorsedd) is a non-political Cornish organisation, based in Cornwall, United Kingdom, which exists to maintain the national Celtic spirit of Cornwall. It is based on the Welsh-based Gorsedd, which was founded by Iolo Mo ...

(with the name , or 'Daughter of the Country' in English), has served as Cornwall's Great Trees Officer for the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

, and chairs the Cornish Language Fellowship.Language fellowship calls for more 'Cornish pride'
, ''

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

'', 7 April 2011

Personal life

Jenkin has two children, who were brought up speaking Cornish as their first language. She is a member of

Akademi Kernewek Akademi Kernewek () is the official academic body responsible for the linguistic development of the Cornish language. It is responsible for setting standards for the language, developing dictionaries in the Standard Written Form The Standard W ...

, the official body responsible for corpus planning for the Cornish language, serving on the

terminology Terminology is a group of specialized words and respective meanings in a particular field, and also the study of such terms and their use; the latter meaning is also known as terminology science. A ''term'' is a word, Compound (linguistics), com ...

panel and the Cornish language place-names and

signage Signage is the design or use of signs and symbols to communicate a message. Signage also means signs ''collectively'' or being considered as a group. The term ''signage'' is documented to have been popularized in 1975 to 1980. Signs are any ki ...

panel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkin, Loveday Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of Cardiff University Alumni of the University of Cambridge Academics of the University of Exeter Politicians from Cornwall Bards of Gorsedh Kernow Cornish language Cornish-speaking people Cornish nationalists Mebyon Kernow politicians Leaders of political parties in the United Kingdom 21st-century English politicians Women councillors in England Members of Cornwall Council