Leonard (Jenyns) Blomefield (1800 - 1893)

Born 25 May 1800 in Pall Mall, London, England

Ancestors

Husband of Jane (Daubeny) Jenyns — married 23 Apr 1844 in Ampney Crucis, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom

Husband of Sarah (Hawthorn) Jenyns — married 24 Jun 1862 in Stapleford, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom

Died 1 Sep 1893 at age 93 in Bath, Somerset, England, United Kingdom

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Louise Martin [send private message]

Biography

Leonard (Jenyns) Blomefield is Notable.

Leonard Jenyns was born on the 25th May 1800. He was the son of George Jenyns and Mary Heberden. He was baptized on 25 June 1800^[1] in St. James', Westminster, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom.

In 1818, he enrolled in St. John's College, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom. During his second year, John Stevens Henslow (1796-1861) became aware of his interest in natural history. They collaborated on natural history projects for many years.

Leonard graduated in 1822, became a Fellow of the Linnean Society and the Cambridge Philosophical Society, and co-founded the Societies Museum with Henslow.

The Bishop of Lincoln (Pelham) ordained him Deacon in Mary-le-bone Church, London, England, United Kingdom in May 1823, and licenced him to the Curacy of Swaffham Bulbeck in Cambridgeshire, England. In 1824, he was consecrated a priest in the Chapel of Christ's College, Cambridge, England by the Bishop of Bristol (Kaye).

He was Licensed to the Perpetual Curacy of West Deerham, Norfolk, England on the seventh of July 1823.

He published a "Scientific Journal Book" for making meteorological and other observations in 1824.

He married Sarah Hawthorn on 24 June 1862 ^[2]in Stapleford, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom

In 1825, he earned his M.A. and presented his first presentation to the Cambridge Philosophical Society on the "Ornithology of Cambridgeshire." He was a founder of the "Zoological Society of London." ^[3]

He was appointed Vicar of Swaffham Bulbeck in December 1827. He presented a paper on "Two British Species of Plecotus" to the Linnean Society in 1828. Around this time (1829), he turned down a position as a Zoological Professor at Cambridge.^[4]

At the Oxford Meeting in 1832, he joined the British Association for the Advancement of Science (B.A.A.S.) and published an article on "Genera and Subgenera" in Loudon's Magazine in 1833. In 1834, he read his "Report on the Progress of Zoology" before the B.A.A.S. in Edinburgh. In 1834, he became a founding member of the Entomological Society.

Leonard and his wife left Swaffham Bulbeck in 1849 to move to Ventnor, Isle of Wight "due to her ill health," and in 1850 to a property in South Stoke, near Bath. Leonard officiated at his niece's wedding to Dr J.D.Hooker of Kew in Hitcham in July 1851. In 1852, he relocated to Swainswick, Bath, and began serving at Langridge and Woolley Churches. His parishioners in Swaffham Bulbeck gave him a "testimonial" of 49 volumes of Divinity in 1853. He formed and served as President of the Bath Natural History and Antiquarian Field Club in 1855. He bequeathed his extensive insect collection to the Cambridge Philosophical Society.

In 1871, Leonard was obligated to change his surname to Blomefield by Royal Licence in order to claim property he had inherited.

He died on the 1st September 1893 at his home 19 Belmont, Bath, and was buried near Beckford's Tower, at Landsdown Cemetery, Lansdown, Bath and North East Somerset Unitary Authority, Somerset, England.^[5]

• s/o Rev George Leonard Jenyns (Priest) & Mary Heberden^[6][7]
• May 1823 Ordained
• Dec 1827 Curate, Swaffham Bulbeck
• 1831 turned down the invitation to be the naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle but suggested Charles Darwin as his replacement. The impact of this can be read in the evolutionary anthropology journal at The Wiley Library. ^{[7] [8]}
• 1844 m. Jane Daubeny^[7]
• 1852 Vicar, Langridge and Woolley
• 1862 m2. Sarah Hawthorn^[7]
• 1871 inherited land in Norfolk but had to change his name by Royal License in order to receive the inheritance. The land was left to him by his father's cousin, Francis Blomefield.^[7]
• Buried at Landsdown Cemetery in Bath^[7]

Research Notes

At the Bath Royal Literary Library ^[9]the scientific library of the Rev. Leonard Jenyns [later Blomefield] (1800-1893) contains 2990 catalogue entries.

Sources

1. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J9Z3-D8Q : 5 February 2023), Leonard Jenyns, 1800.
2. ↑ "England Marriages, 1538–1973", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NJKT-2L6 : 11 March 2020), Leonard Jenyns, 1862.
3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Jenyns
4. ↑ https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~victorianphotographs/histor
5. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/187601540/leonard-blomefield
6. ↑ Wikipedia:George Leonard Jenyns, accessed 5 May 2021.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5} Wikipedia:Leonard Jenyns, accessed 5 May 2021.
8. ↑ https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/evan.20096
9. ↑ https://www.brlsi.org/collections/#collection/Bath Royal Literary Libary] (accessed 11 Aug 2023)

• Wikipedia: Leonard Jenyns