James Jennings (1670–1739) of

Shiplake Shiplake consists of three settlements: Shiplake, Shiplake Cross and Lower Shiplake. Together these villages form a civil parish situated beside the River Thames south of Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The river forms the parish bounda ...

was an English landowner and Tory politician who sat in 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. ...

between 1710 and 1722. Jennings was baptised on 26 June 1670, the eldest son of Robert Jennings, of Shiplake and his wife Mary Jennens daughter of James Jennens of

Long Wittenham Long Wittenham is a village and small civil parish about north of Didcot, and southeast of Abingdon. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it from Berkshire to Oxfordshire, and from the former Wallingford Rur ...

, Berkshire. His father, Robert was headmaster of

John Roysse John Roysse (1500 or 1501–1571) was an English mercer and benefactor of Abingdon School in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. Personal life John Roysse was probably connected with the Roysse family of East Hagbourne but there are few records appertaining ...

's Free School in Abingdon (now

Abingdon School Abingdon School is a day and boarding independent school for boys in Abingdon-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England. The twentieth oldest independent British school, it celebrated its 750th anniversary in 2006. The school was described as "highly ...

) from 1657 to 1683 where James was educated. He matriculated at

Wadham College, Oxford Wadham College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It is located in the centre of Oxford, at the intersection of Broad Street and Parks Road. Wadham College was founded in 1610 by Dorothy W ...

on 5 July 1686, aged 16; He married Frances Constantine, daughter of Harry Constantine of Merley and Lake, Dorset in 1698. In 1704, he succeeded his father to the Shiplake estate. Jennings substituted for his father as

High Sheriff of Oxfordshire The High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'. The title of High Sheriff is therefore much older ...

in the year 1694 to 1695. He was returned as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for Abingdon at a by-election on 13 December 1710. He associated with the Tories being one of the ‘Worthy patriots’. In 1713 he voted against the French commerce bill. He died not stand at the 1713 general election. Jennings was elected Tory MP for Abingdon again at the 1715 general election and voted consistently against the Government. He was defeated at the 1722 general election when he split the Tory vote in a one-seat constituency. He stood again in 1734 and was again unsuccessful. Jennings died on 9 March 1739. He had six sons but his eldest son Henry and two others did not survive him. He had four daughters of whom two survived and were left £4,000 each.

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