Roger Soame Jenyns (24 April 1904 – 14 October 1976), who usually wrote his name simply as Soame Jenyns was a British art historian, known as an expert on East Asian ceramics.Qing Ceramics
British Museum The eldest son of Roger William Bulwer Jenyns (1858 – 1936), J.P., of

Bottisham Hall Bottisham Hall is a country house in Bottisham, Cambridgeshire, England. Built in 1797 for the Reverend George Leonard Jenyns to replace the family's previous home on the same estate,"Bottisham: Manors and other estates", ''A History of the Count ...

Bottisham Bottisham is a village and civil parish in the East Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England, about east of Cambridge, halfway to Newmarket. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,983, including Chittering, increasing ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

, by his wife Winifred Pike, daughter of Arthur Pease, M.P., of Hummersknott, Darlington, Roger Soame Jenyns was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and at

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

(B.A. 1926). In 1926 he joined the

Hong Kong Civil Service The Hong Kong Civil Service is managed by 13 policy bureaux in the Government Secretariat (Hong Kong), Government Secretariat, and 67 departments and agencies, mostly staffed by civil servants. The Secretary for the Civil Service (SCS) is one of t ...

. In Hong Kong, he became one of the valuable contributors to the newly established journal, ''The Hong Kong Naturalist''. His articles would often touch on the cultural role of South China's animals and plants. In 1931, Jenyns left Hong Kong for England, to take up a job at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

, where he served as the Assistant Keeper of Oriental Antiquities until 1967.thePeerage.com: A genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe. Person Page - 27242. They indicate their source as: Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, editor, ''Burke's Irish Family Records'' (London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1976), Berridge, page 106.
/ref> In 1935 he published a well-received book on

Chinese painting Chinese painting () is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. Painting in the traditional style is known today in Chinese as ''guó huà'' (), meaning "national painting" or "native painting", as opposed to Western style ...

; later on, he authored several books on

Chinese ceramics Chinese ceramics show a continuous development since pre-dynastic times and are one of the most significant forms of Chinese art and ceramics globally. The first pottery was made during the Palaeolithic era. Chinese ceramics range from construc ...

and jades in which he described many items from the museum's collection. In 1936, Roger Soame Jenyns inherited the Bottisham Hall estate from his father. Two centuries earlier this had been owned by the writer and politician

Soame Jenyns Soame Jenyns (1 January 1704 – 18 December 1787) was an English writer and Member of Parliament. He was an early advocate of the ethical consideration of animals. Life and work He was the eldest son of Sir Roger Jenyns and his second wife El ...

, on whose death it was inherited by his first cousin twice removed, Canon

George Leonard Jenyns George Leonard Jenyns (19 June 1763 – 1848) 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, ...

, great-great-grandfather of Roger Soame Jenyns.

Family

On 24 April 1941, Soame Jenyns married Anne Thomson, dau. of Richard Berridge, D.L., J.P., of Screebe,

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

.Burke's Landed Gentry, 17th edition, 1952, ed. L. G. Pine, pp. 1381-2, 'Jenyns of Bottisham Hall' pedigree They had two sons.

Books by Soame Jenyns

* ''A Background to Chinese Painting'' by Soame Jenyns: with a Preface for Collectors by W. W. Winkworth; London, Sidgwick & Jackson, Ltd., 1935. * * * ''Later Chinese Porcelain: The Ch’ing Dynasty (1644-1912)'' (London, 1954).; later edition: * (First edition appeared in 1950) * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenyns, S. 1904 births 1976 deaths British art historians British expatriates in Hong Kong British science writers People educated at Eton College Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Antiques experts 20th-century British historians People from Bottisham