Sir Thomas Jenner (1637–1707) was an English barrister, Baron of the Exchequer and

Justice of the Common Pleas Justice of the Common Pleas was a puisne judicial position within the Court of Common Pleas of England and Wales, under the Chief Justice. The Common Pleas was the primary court of common law within England and Wales, dealing with "common" pleas ...

, closely associated with the Stuart kings Charles II and

James II of England James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...

Life

He was born at

Mayfield, Sussex Mayfield and Five Ashes is a civil parish in the High Weald of East Sussex, England. The two villages making up the principal part of the parish lie on the A267 road between Royal Tunbridge Wells and Eastbourne: Mayfield, the larger of the two ...

, eldest son of Thomas Jenner of that place, and Dorothy, his wife, daughter of Jeffrey Glyde of Dallington. He was educated at Tunbridge grammar school, under

Nicholas Grey Nicholas Grey ( 1590–1660), was an English scholar and schoolmaster. He was headmaster of Charterhouse from 1614 until 1624, and afterwards of Eton College, from which he was ousted during the English Civil War. He was later headmaster of Mer ...

. In 1665 he became a pensioner of Queens' College, Cambridge, but left without taking a degree. He entered the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

in 1658, and was called to the bar in 1663, after which he practised chiefly in the court of exchequer. In 1683 Charles II, having withdrawn the charter of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

, appointed a Lord Mayor, two sheriffs, and a

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

, who was Jenner. A few days earlier Jenner was knighted, and received an augmentation of arms. In the following January he was made king's sergeant. As king's sergeant and as recorder he took part in the state trials of the next two years, including those of

Algernon Sidney Algernon Sidney or Sydney (15 January 1623 – 7 December 1683) was an English politician, republican political theorist and colonel. A member of the middle part of the Long Parliament and commissioner of the trial of King Charles I of Englan ...

and

Henry Cornish Henry Cornish (died 1685) was a London alderman, executed in the reign of James II of England. Life He was a well-to-do merchant of London, and alderman of the ward of St Michael Bassishaw; in the ''London Directory'' for 1677 he is described as ...

. In the parliament of 1685 he represented the borough of Rye, until in 1686 be was raised to the bench as a Baron of the Exchequer. With the majority of the judges, Jenner gave judgment in favour of the king's claim to the dispensing power which was raised in the case of Sir Edward Hales. In October 1687 Jenner was appointed one of the three royal commissioners to inquire into the appointment of a president of Magdalen College, Oxford; the other commissioners were Robert Wright and Thomas Cartwright. Jenner's diary of the proceedings survived in the library of Magdalen College. Cartwright sought to have him dismissed from the commission, finding him too moderate if outwardly overbearing to the fellows, and in the end Jenner voted against the expulsions. In July 1688 he was promoted to the common pleas. But the Glorious Revolution soon involved him. On the night of James II's flight Jenner was one of those who endeavoured to escape to France with the king. The king's general pardon to him and money were stolen at this point from his chambers in Serjeants' Inn; and he was captured at

Faversham Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient Briti ...

and brought to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

. Early in January 1689 he and others prisoners were committed to the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

, charged with subverting the Protestant religion and the laws and liberties of the kingdom. They were admitted to bail, but the Convention parliament voted that Jenner was principally concerned in the arbitrary proceedings under James, and he was committed to the custody of the sergeant-at-arms. He was released when parliament was prorogued in January 1690. In 1691, when the Act of Indemnity was passed, Jenner was excepted from its provisions, but no proceedings were then taken against him. In November 1691 one of his sons was given into the custody of a messenger of parliament for circulating libels against the right of William and Mary to the crown. Jenner was then charged with having levied fines in James's reign to the amount of £3,000 on dissenters without returning the money into court. Jenner pleaded the general pardon from the king, which had been stolen; special mention was said to be made there of those fines, which had supposedly gone direct to the king. The plea was allowed, and the prosecution failed. Expelled from the bench by William III's government, Jenner resumed his practice at the bar. He died at his house at Petersham on 1 January 1707, and was buried in

St Peters Church, Petersham St Peter's Church is the parish church of the village of Petersham in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is part of the Diocese of Southwark in the Church of England. The main body of the church building dates from the 16th century ...

, with a tablet to his memory, with his arms, and an inscription composed by his daughter Margaret, Lady Darnell.

Family

On 1 January 1661 he married, at the church of St. Mary Woolchurch Haw, in the

, Anne, daughter and heiress of James Poe of Swinden Hall,

Kirkby Overblow Kirkby Overblow is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is situated between Wetherby and Harrogate and lies to the west of Sicklinghall and the east of Leeds Bradford International Airport. It ...

, Yorkshire, by whom he had eight sons and two daughters.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jenner, Thomas 1637 births 1707 deaths Burials at St Peter's, Petersham English barristers 17th-century English judges Justices of the Common Pleas Barons of the Exchequer Alumni of Queens' College, Cambridge Jenner family (Wales) People from Mayfield, East Sussex