Soame Gambier Jenyns: Natural History, Darwin etc

Leonard Jenyns [full name?] [dates?] [uncle]

According to SGJ's uncle Leonard Jenyns (1800 — ?), a noted parson-naturalist, he was asked to go on the H.M.S. Beagle as second [?] naturalist, but could not, and recommended Charles Darwin in his place. (This accolade is often attributed to Henslow. CHECK.)

A founder-member of the Ray Society, Leonard Jenyns later edited Darwin's Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Beagle, volume on Fishes.

NB. Charles Darwin named his son (b. 1850) Leonard. Presumably a connection?

"Major Leonard Darwin (15 January 1850 — 26 March 1943), a son of the English naturalist Charles Darwin, was variously a soldier, politician, economist, eugenicist and mentor of the statistician and evolutionary biologist Ronald Fisher."

[Source: Wikipedia: Major Leonard Darwin (accessed 14.12.2016). ]

Presumably this is Leonard Jenyns ["Roger Leonard ... Jenyns" at Bottisham Hall in the 1851 Census here.

He later changed his name to Blomefield as a condition of inheriting [a substantial estate].

David Elliston Allen, The Naturalist in Britain (date?), mentions LJ on pp.50, 91, 103, 162. LJ went to Eton c.1815, when he first read Gilbert White.

John Stevens Henslow [dates?] [uncle]

Darwin's mentor Henslow was married to SGJ's aunt Harriet.

Interesting e.g. esp. in the context of the Crimean flowers sent back to England, and SGJ's nickname "Geranium"?

Also, Bottisham has an intimate relation to Trinity College, Cambridge, which may be significant.

David Elliston Allen, The Naturalist in Britain, mentions Henslow.on pp.65, 77, 84, 89, 91, 107, 108, 178, with brief mentions of how intimately families and friends were interlocked. He also includes a reminder of how energetic naturalists were at that time, including Henslow, who "as a young geologist once walked all day for forty miles with his hammer and specimens on his back and then danced the whole night following at a ball (p.77)." In short, the worlds of the military man and the ordained naturalist were perhaps not so far apart.

Charles Fitzgerald Gambier Jenyns (dates)

SGJ's brother wrote a fine illustrated book for children on Bee-Keeping.

[Charles] Fitzgerald Gambier Jenyns, A Book about Bees. Their history, habits, and instincts; together with the first principles of modern bee-keeping for young readers, with an introduction by the Baroness [Angela Georgina] Burdett-Coutts, (London: Wells Gardner, Darton, 1886). Available online here. [Why does he omit "Charles" from his name, assuming the bibliographic info. is correct? And who is the "Charles Jenyns" who provided the illustrations?]

(Click on image to enlarge)

[It might be interesting to elaborate on how he drew numerous lessons for human social improvement from bees, including his observations on how soldier bees protect the queen and drones [Victoria and Albert?] etc. He cites Shakespeare (having pointed out that the "king" is in fact the "queen", or "mother of the hive"):

The honey bees,
Creatures, that by a rule in nature, teach
The act of order to a peopled kingdom,
They have a king and officers of sorts:
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home;
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad;
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds;
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent royal of their emperor:
Who, buried in his majesty, surveys
The singing masons building roofs of gold.
The civil citizens kneading up the honey,
The poor mechanic porters crowding in
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate.
The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum.
Delivering o'er to executors pale
The lazy yawning drone.

King Henry V., Act i., Sc. 2.

LIVES OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE
The E.J. Boys Archive

Separate page created 7.3.2019

IN PROGRESS — NOT FOR PUBLICATION