JENKINSON, Robert (1621-77), of Walcot, Charlbury, Oxon.

Born in the parish of Ribchester, Lancashire, this MP’s grandfather, also Robert Jenkinson, was a wealthy and well-connected Merchant Taylor of St Dunstan-in-the-West, London, by the time of his death late in December 1617.17PROB11/130/173; St Dunstan-in-the-West par. reg. The MP’s father, the citizen’s eldest son, had established himself in Oxfordshire society soon after graduating from Cambridge, and was probably resident at Walcot near Charlbury, north west of Oxford, by 1615, when he acquired from Bridget and Henry Croke a share in the manor of Tetchwick, Buckinghamshire.18Al. Ox.; Al. Cant.; VCH Bucks. iv. 68-73; LMA, BRA203/57-9. However, he inherited land in the capital, and was described as of London when he was made a Knight of the Bath in 1618.19Shaw, Knights of Eng. ii. 168. By 1620 he married Anna Maria Lee, from a Warwickshire gentry family who also had roots in trade, and was able to settle on her as jointure a substantial estate at Hawkesbury, Gloucestershire.20PROB11/203/305. He became an Oxfordshire justice of the peace and had responsibility in official and family business relating to such important south midlanders as Thomas Pope, the youthful 2nd earl of Downe, and the bibliophile Edward Conway, 2nd Viscount Conway; in the mid-1640s Sir Robert held with Sir Gervase Elwes a mortgage of £6,000 on Conway’s lands.21CSP Dom. 1635-6, p. 541; 1636-7, p. 198; 1640-1, pp. 194, 494. When war broke out, he was named to the commission of array and in 1643 was appointed sheriff of Oxfordshire by the king.22Northants. RO, FH133; J.M. Davenport, Lords Lieutenant and High Sheriffs of Oxon. 1086-1868 (n.d.), 47. Shortly before 1 July 1644 he was captured by Sir William Waller* and sent to London, where he was imprisoned.23CSP Dom. 1644, p. 364, 372-3. Bailed by the Commons on 6 September, he then lived in Fleet Street and Blackfriars until his death shortly after 13 August 1646.24CJ iii. 618b; CCAM 475; PROB11/203/305.

Having succeeded to a sequestered estate, Jenkinson junior interrupted his inns of court training and rapidly emerged as an ostensibly unlikely leading member of the new regime in a county just liberated from royalist presence. The stance of father and son had probably diverged from an early stage in the conflict. After study at Trinity College, favoured by Oxfordshire and Warwickshire gentry, the younger Jenkinson went to the Inner Temple.25Al. Ox. His special admittance was at the request of Unton Croke I*, kinsman of Henry and a notably godly member of the prominent legal dynasty, who lived just outside Oxford.26CITR ii. 250 Unlike his father, Jenkinson took the Protestation at Charlbury in February 1642, and his protracted education could have accommodated a spell of service with parliamentarian forces.27Oxon. and North Berks. Protestation Returns (Oxon. Rec. Soc. lix), 34. Whether or not he gained credibility by this means, it seems plausible that Croke, at whose house the surrender of Oxford was signed, supported Jenkinson’s candidature for local office.

A justice of the peace from December 1646, in subsequent months Jenkinson was named as a commissioner for assessment in Oxfordshire.28C231/6, p. 70; A. and O. In November 1649, aged only 28, he became sheriff, not without controversy: Bulstrode Whitelocke*, who occupied several prominent positions locally, and Sir John Danvers*, owner of neighbouring Cornbury Park, unsuccessfully led a Commons vote for his discharge.29L. and I. ix. 50; CJ v. 326b. During his service he was finally called to the bar, but managed to be of the quorum on the commission of the peace and apparently to carry out his duties conscientiously.30CITR ii. 292; The Names of Justices, 44. In August 1651, as invasion threatened, the council of state learned that Jenkinson had been the sole militia commissioner in the county to present himself at a pre-arranged rendezvous.31CSP Dom. 1651, p. 367. Such zeal can have done him no harm with the Committee for Compounding, which he petitioned in 1653 over continuing difficulties enjoying his estate, especially in London; sequestration was lifted in January 1654 and in June Jenkinson was himself recommended to the committee in London to act as a commissioner in Oxfordshire, although the suggestion was not taken up.32CCC 686, 3152.

In February 1652 Jenkinson married a daughter of Mary, Lady Bankes, a formidable discharged delinquent and widow of former attorney-general and chief justice of common pleas, Sir John Bankes†.33St Clement Eastcheap, par. reg.; ‘Mary Bankes, Lady Bankes’, Oxford DNB. For a man who evidently took his legal background seriously, what was otherwise a distinctly royalist alliance was not obviously detrimental in the short term, and doubtless helped him after the Restoration. In July 1654 he was elected to the Commons apparently as the local administrative activist among the five Members for Oxfordshire, who were otherwise seasoned or (in the case of James Whitelocke*) second-generation parliamentarians. The day before the Parliament opened Jenkinson was named a commissioner for the appointment of visitors to the universities, but once the session was underway he was placed on only two committees, and these were to consider private petitions (adventurers in Lincolnshire fen drainage, 31 Oct.; William Craven, 1st earl of Craven, the royalist financier).34A and O.; CJ vii. 380a, 381a.

With further experience in local government, Jenkinson was again returned for Oxfordshire in 1656, and this time took a much more active part in proceedings.35CSP Dom. 1655-6, p. 307. At first he was involved exclusively in committees on socio-economic or legal reform (licensing of alehouses, tobacco shops and gaming houses, 29 Sept.; regulation of the corn market, 7 Oct.; abuses of attorneys, solicitors and other officials, 13 Oct.; probate of wills, 27 Oct.; abolition of purveyance, 3 Nov.; registers, 7 Nov.) and other matters of concern to local magistrates (revenue from papists’ estates, 22 Oct.; improvement of forests, 23 Oct.).36CJ vii. 430a, 435b, 438a, 443b, 444b, 446a, 449b, 450b. However, on 18 December he was added with Bulstrode Whitelocke and others to the committee to examine James Naylor and the wider problem of Quakers, and the next day was nominated to review the London petition for clemency; thereafter he was periodically engaged on more ideologically or politically charged business.37CJ vii. 470a, 470b. He worked regularly on petitions (including those of the Levant Company and Sir Sackville Crowe, the former ambassador to Constantinople with whom they were in dispute) and bills for family settlements, eventually acting as a teller for those supporting the engrossing of the bill settling lands on Sir Hardress Waller* (1 Apr. 1657) and reporting in detail the recommendation to overturn an erroneous chancery decision (2 Apr.), although as late as mid-February there was still confusion over his name.38CJ vii. 472b, 473a, 483a, 488a, 488b, 490a, 496b, 501a, 505b, 516a, 517a. But he also sat on committees dealing with religious matters (9 Feb.; sabbath observance, 18 Feb.; purchase of impropriations, 31 Mar.) and preparing the bill for indemnifying those who had acted in the public service (31 Mar.).39CJ vii. 488b, 493b, 515b, 516a. As the Commons debated the Humble Address and Remonstrance, Jenkinson was a teller in favour of the reduction of the quorum in the proposed Upper House (11 Mar.) and the next day was placed on the committee to define its judicial role.40CJ vii. 501b, 502a; Burton’s Diary i. 386. He had three other nominations to committees considering aspects of the Remonstrance, covering the liberty and property of subjects (16 Mar.), the fitness of Protestant ministers for civil and ecclesiastical employment (19 Mar.), and action against delinquents and papists (26 Mar.) and was once a teller (19 Mar.).41CJ vii. 505a, 507b, 508b. He was among those listed as having voted for kingship on 25 March.42The Narrative of the Late Parliament (1658), 22 (E.935.5).

Granted leave to go into the country for a fortnight on 1 April, Jenkinson delayed his departure for at least ten days, and was included in the delegations attending the protector to hear his response to what had become the Humble Petition and Advice and to elaborate their reasons for his acceptance of it (3, 6 and 9 Apr.).43CJ vii. 519b, 520b, 521b. On 30 April he was named to the committee on the regulation of the court of chancery, but was then absent again from the Journal until 19 May, when he appeared among those chosen (after Cromwell had declined the crown) to define the limits of the lord protectorship.44CJ vii. 528a, 535a. He had four further nominations before the House adjourned towards the end of June: settling the postage (29 May); inspecting the treasuries for raising revenue (30 May); legislating on recusants (added, 1 June); amendments to the bill limiting building (11 June).45CJ vii. 542a, 543a, 543b, 555a. Given this record, it is somewhat surprising that he does not appear in the Journal for the second session of the Parliament in January 1658. With Unton Croke II*, he was among the more active Oxordshire magistrates that year.46Bodl. Rolls Oxon. 61.

In January 1659 Jenkinson was elected to sit for Oxfordshire for a third and last time, on this occasion as the senior candidate in a field from which previous colleagues who had been prominent nationally under the protectorate were absent. The second seat was contested between two novices, Henry Cary*, 4th Viscount Falkland, and Sir Francis Norreys*; a double return by sheriff Unton Croke II was not resolved, and thus the election itself was not confirmed, until 7 February, when the indenture returning Jenkinson and Falkland was accepted.47CJ vii. 596b, 601a. According to Thomas Burton, Jenkinson was present when the committee of privileges reached their decision.48Burton’s Diary iii. 84. Thereafter he made regular interventions in debates recorded by Burton.

As the Commons considered the bill for recognition of Richard Cromwell as lord protector, on 11 February Jenkinson supported the motion of Thomas Fairfax*, Lord Fairfax, and others that it should first be committed rather than face an initial hurdle of a vote on whether or not the office of protector should exist at all.49Burton’s Diary iii. 198. He was among the many MPs who sought to exclude Robert Danvers* alias Villiers from sitting on the ground that he had fought for the king, claiming (12 Feb.) to have heard from Colonel William Legge, the royalist officer and plotter, that Villiers (as he had then been) had commanded a regiment.50Burton’s Diary iii. 242-3. When Henry Neville*, Member for Reading, was accused of atheism and blasphemy, Jenkinson expressed the view (16 Feb.) that all complaints against MPs should be investigated.51Burton’s Diary iii. 304. As discussion returned to settlement, he urged caution (14 Feb.) in assenting to clauses before the entire bill had been agreed, and was among those who preferred that the word ‘undoubted’ not be attached to protectoral right.52Burton’s Diary iii. 273, 284. He was keen to clarify whether the Commons would be the sole legislature, or at least whether it would have a veto (18 Feb.), and according to Burton spoke at some length (19 Feb.) of his fear that, in setting up a House of Lords, the Commons would ‘vote yourselves slaves’. Tracing the development of obligations to public service from the reign of King Ethelbert and citing John Selden* he emphasized both the shifting definition of ‘lords’ and their rise to and then decline from power. As early as under Henry III

the Commons began to grow upon the Lords, and their glass is now run out. Almost all that power is in this House, the Commons having now whatever possessions and tenures made them considerable. The Lords have no interest now, and signify no more than you.

To make men ‘lords’ who were not recognised as such in their localities would be pointless, but if a second chamber was inevitable, then it should be explicitly limited.53Burton’s Diary iii. 363-5. As he revealed a few days later, he was not against awarding it judicial power: that was less dangerous than legislative. Similarly, a hereditary right to sit was not inherently threatening, although he moved that the option of sitting only for life should be put to the vote.54Burton’s Diary iii. 411-15. Agreeing with the contention that the Commons was ‘a fluid body’ of unpredictable future composition (28 Feb.), for continuity’s sake he preferred to approve the Other House already in being than to create a new one of unknown loyalty.55Burton’s Diary iii. 529, 544.

Named to committees to consider the case of prisoners not covered by habeas corpus (16 Mar.) and a petition from the county palatine of Durham for electoral privileges similar to those enjoyed elsewhere (31 Mar.), Jenkinson revealed a concern for due procedure and precise course of law, inside and outside the House, in issues from the right of Scottish Members to sit at Westminster to the continued detainment of Major-general Robert Overton.56CJ vii. 614b, 618b, 622b; Burton’s Diary iv. 118, 157, 204, 215, 230, 233, 338. An unsurprising inclusion (6 Apr.) on the committee discussing the transaction of business with the Other House, he also expressed strong views against giving the chief magistrate overriding power in religious matters, ‘a great snare’ in his hand (5 Apr.), and declined to label Quaker gatherings ‘tumultuous’ (16 Apr.).57CJ vii. 627a; Burton’s Diary iv. 343-4, 445. In the last fortnight of the session he was nominated to a succession of committees on business which required careful handling including the petition of sick and maimed former soldiers (7 Apr.), dealing with the two sons of the late Thomas Howard, 2nd earl of Arundel (8 Apr.), and finding a safe place to deposit documents from Worcester House (14 Apr.).58CJ vii. 627b, 632a, 639a. One of the seven MPs chosen on 9 April to investigate fraudulent debentures, he duly assured the House that he had neither purchased confiscated land nor acquired any other interest in the matter.59CJ vii. 633b; Burton’s Diary iv. 386. Having assisted in preparation of a declaration on the excise, he was a teller for the inclusion of an acknowledgement that the House understood the people’s grievances in having to pay it (14 Apr.).60CJ vii. 639a, 639b. He supported the impeachment of William Boteler* for his seizure of property when exercising authority as a major-general, moving that the protector be requested to expel him from the army (12 Apr.), and according to Burton, spoke up for the primacy of Parliament (18 Apr.) in the face of the growing threat from the council of officers to coerce it.61Burton’s Diary iv. 409, 457, 460.

Notwithstanding some progressive political and religious views, Jenkinson appears to have established himself as an upholder of legitimacy. He remained as an assessment and militia commissioner into the spring of 1660 and continued to hold office after the Restoration, commending himself sufficiently to Charles II as to receive a baronetcy in 1661.62A. and O.; LJ xi. 49a; CB; SR. He also retained links with the legal profession, acting as trustee for Sir Matthew Hale*, chief justice of common pleas.63Oxon. RO, E229/5/D/2. On his death in March 1677 he was succeeded by his elder son Robert Jenkinson†, who sat for Oxfordshire as a tory from 1689.64PROB11/354/269; HoP Commons 1660-1690. Among his descendants were politicians Charles Jenkinson† and Charles Cope Jenkinson†, and prime minister Robert Banks Jenkinson†, respectively 1st, 3rd and 2nd earls of Liverpool.65Oxford DNB.