Richard Garfield Jenkin (9 October 1925 – 29 October 2002), was a Cornish

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

politician and one of the founding members of

Mebyon Kernow Mebyon Kernow – The Party for Cornwall (, MK; Cornish for ''Sons of Cornwall'') is a Cornish nationalist, centre-left political party in Cornwall, in southwestern Britain. It currently has five elected councillors on Cornwall Council, and s ...

. He was also a Grand Bard of the

Gorseth 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 Morg ...

Cornish language

In 1947, Jenkin was made a Bard of the

through Cornish language qualification, while serving in the British Army. He chose the bardic name Map Dyvroeth, meaning 'son of exile'. He was a Grand Bard of the Gorseth Kernow twice, between 1976 and 1982 and between 1985 and 1988. Jenkin was secretary of the International Celtic Congress and later its president. He gave strong support to the

Cornish Constitutional Convention The Cornish Constitutional Convention (CCC; kw, Senedh Kernow) was formed in November 2000 with the objective of establishing a devolved Cornish Assembly (Senedh Kernow). The convention is a cross-party, cross-sector association with support both ...

. He was president of the

Federation of Old Cornwall Societies The Federation of Old Cornwall Societies (FOCS) was formed in 1924, on the initiative of Robert Morton Nance, with the objective of collecting and maintaining "all those ancient things that make the spirit of Cornwall — its traditions, its old ...

from 1991 to 1992.

Political career

In 1951, Jenkin was one of the founding members of the Cornish nationalist party

. Jenkin and his wife produced a magazine in 1952 called ''New Cornwall'', which publicised Mebyon Kernow news and policies. He served as the party's chairman between 1973 and 1983 and became its Honorary President in 1988. Jenkin was MK's first candidate for both the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the 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 parliament. T ...

and the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. Jenkin fought two

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

parliamentary elections ( Falmouth and Camborne in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

and St Ives in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

). In

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

he stood for the

European parliamentary constituency Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are elected by the population of the member states of the European Union (EU). The European Electoral Act 2002 allows member states the choice to allocate electoral subdivisions or constituencies (, ...

on a platform of a “

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

Only” seat rather than one shared with part of

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

and polled 10,205 votes, 5.9% of the total vote. He was a member of

Crowan Crowan ( kw, Egloskrewen (village), Pluw Grewen (parish)) is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is about three-and-a-half miles (6 km) south of Camborne.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map she ...

Parish Council from 1964 until 1995.

Personal life

Jenkin was born on 9 October 1925 in

Ilkeston Ilkeston is a town in the Borough of Erewash, Derbyshire, England, on the River Erewash, from which the borough takes its name, with a population at the 2011 census of 38,640. Its major industries, coal mining, iron working and lace making/texti ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, where his Cornish father was in training as a clergyman. Jenkin married , from Redruth in 1954; their marriage produced: four children, Morwenna, Loveday, Gawen and Conan.Conan Jenkin is a member of the leadership team of MK and a Member of Truro City Council (According to the MK Official website (Accessed 24 March 2008)
He has been selected to stand for MK in the next election for the new Truro and Falmouth constituency. Ann became the first female Grand Bard from 1997 until 2000, and has served as the Honorary President of Mebyon Kernow since 2011. Loveday served as the party's leader between 1990 and 1997. Jenkin read Chemistry at

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

and taught in Plymouth, Monmouthsire and

Totnes Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-southwest of Torquay and abo ...

before he settled in

Leedstown Leedstown is a village on the B3280 road between Helston and Hayle in the Civil parishes in England, civil parish of Crowan (where the 2011 census population is included.), Cornwall, England. It lies north-west of Helston and south-east of Hayle ...

in 1960, where he taught at Helston School. He died in Truro on 29 October 2002, aged 77.

Publications

*''Early life of R. M. Nance'' ed. Richard & Ann Jenkin (1961). *''Cornwall the Hidden Land'' (with Ann Trevenen Jenkin, introduction by

Philip Payton Philip John Payton is a Cornish-Australian historian and Emeritus Professor of Cornish and Australian Studies at the University of Exeter and formerly Director of the Institute of Cornish Studies based at Tremough, just outside Penryn, Corn ...

), Bracknell : West Country Publications, 1965. *''Book of Sermons in Cornish'' produced by R.G. Jenkin (1983) *''40 Years of Mebyon Kernow'', by Richard Jenkin and others. Publisher: Mebyon Kernow (1991) *''Cornwall the Hidden Land'' (with Ann Trevenen Jenkin,new introduction by

), 2nd edition, including new material, Leedstown: Noonvares Press, (2005) *'' Delyow Derow'' (Oak Leaves) - Cornish Language Literary Magazine, vols 1-15 (1988-1996) *''New Cornwall'' - Political magazine. Founded by

Richard Gendall Professor Richard Roscow Morris "Dick" Gendall (12 April 1924 – 12 September 2017) was a British expert on the Cornish language. He was the founder of "Modern Cornish"/''Curnoack Nowedga'', which split off during the 1980s. Whereas Ken George ma ...

in 1952. Edited by Richard and Ann Jenkin from 1956 to 1973.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkin, Richard 1925 births 2002 deaths People from Ilkeston Grand Bards of Gorsedh Kernow Writers from Cornwall Cornish language Cornish-speaking people Cornish nationalists Mebyon Kernow politicians Leaders of political parties in the United Kingdom 20th-century English politicians 20th-century English writers 20th-century British Army personnel Alumni of the Victoria University of Manchester