Sir Stephen Jenyns (–1523)E.L. Furdell, 'Jenyns, Sir Stephen (c.1450–1523), administrator', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. was a wool merchant from Wolverhampton, Merchant of the Staple and Master Merchant Taylor who became Lord Mayor of London for the year of the coronation of King Henry VIII.C.M. Clode, The Early History of the Guild of Merchant Taylors of the Fraternity of St John the Baptist, London, 2 vols (Harrison and Sons, London 1888), II: The Lives, pp. 22-38. An artistic, architectural and educational patron, he founded Wolverhampton Grammar School, and took a leading part in the rebuilding of the church of St. Andrew Undershaft in the City of London.G.P. Mander, The History of Wolverhampton Grammar School (Wolverhampton 1913). Grammar School site.
Origins and early life Stephen Jenyns was, according to the Heraldic Visitations of Staffordshire (1614, 1663 and 1664), the son of William Jenyns of Tenby, Pembrokeshire, and his wife Ellen, daughter and coheir of William Lane of Wolverhampton.'Pedigree of Offley', in H.S. Grazebrook (ed.), The Heraldic Visitations of Staffordshire made by Sir Richard St George, Norroy, in 1614, and by Sir William Dugdale, Norroy, in the years 1663 and 1664 (Mitchell and Hughes, London 1885), pp. 224-26. (HathiTrust.) He was born at Wolverhampton shortly before 1450,Clode, Early History of the Merchant Taylors, II, p. 23. and was apprenticed to a London tailor in 1462–63.R.A. Griffiths, 'After Glyn Dŵr: An Age of Reconciliation?', (Sir John Rhys Memorial Lecture), Proceedings of the British Academy 117 (2002 for 2001), pp. 139-64 at p. 154, citing M. Davies (ed.), The Merchant Taylors' Company of London: Court Minutes, 1486–1493 (Stamford, 2000), p. 293. He settled in London and became a prominent member of the Fraternity of Taylors and Linen Armourers of St. John the Baptist. In 1485 he and two others supported Hugh Pemberton, a senior Taylor, in a bond for payment of £920 for Pemberton's action in the probate of Richard Nayler, Alderman and Taylor, who died in 1483.R.R. Sharpe (ed.), Calendar of Letter-Books of the City of London: L, Edward IV-Henry VII (HMSO 1912), Fol. 208, p. 221 (3 June 2 Richard III). (British History Online accessed 25 October 2016) In 1490–95 he was concerned in the purchase of lands in Westminster with Thomas Randyll (Taylor), Henry Castell (Dyer) and Sir Richard Guildford.W.J. Hardy and W. Page (eds), A Calendar of the Feet of Fines for London and Middlesex, II (Hardy and Page, London 1893), pp. 4, 6, 7.
Guildsman, Alderman and Sheriff In an age of Guild reform, William Buck became Master of the Fraternity of Taylors in 1488–89 and commenced the Treasury Accounts Book for payments and receipts.C.M. Clode, Memorials of the Guild of Merchant Taylors of the Fraternity of St John the Baptist, in London (Harrison and Sons, London 1875), p. 69-70, and ff. Jenyns succeeded him as Master and made further reforms. He set aside an old ordinance relating to election of Masters, and decreed that the Wardens in post at any time should have precedence, after the Masters, at all assemblies. At the end of his term he and his successors enacted that various allowances (for fees and expenditures) customarily made to the Master should be discontinued: Jenyns repaid nearly £22 by way of example, including a contribution towards rebuilding a property belonging to the Guild near St Matthew Friday Street. Annual pensions paid to the former Masters and their wives, and fees to the Wardens, were also curtailed.Clode, Early History of the Merchant Taylors II, pp. 24-30.
After the death of John Swan, a former Master, his widow Dame Rose Swan paid £149 6s. 8d. to the Company in 1493 for an Obit for her husband, in the presence of Buck, Jenyns and others.Clode, Early History of the Merchant Taylors, I, p. 94. At her death in 1497/8 Jenyns was first-named of the three executors of her richly charitable testament, which they swore to administer.Will, Codicil and Probate of Dame Rose Swan (P.C.C. 1497/8 (proved 15 March)). In 1498 Jenyns was elected Sheriff of London, in company with Thomas Bradbury, in the mayoralty of another elder of the company, Sir John Percyvale,Clode, Early History of the Merchant Taylors II, pp. 8-21; M. Davies, 'Percyvale [nee Bonaventure], Thomasine (d. 1512), trader and school founder, including Sir John Percyvale (d. 1503)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. who set the example of the foundation of Macclesfield Grammar School. (He was the first Master of the Taylors to become Mayor.) For Jenyns (for use in his 'Shrefewyk', or shrievalty) the Fraternity drew from their treasury twelve beautifully crafted spoons, and six silver bowls given by Rose Swan, with a gift of £26 13s. 4d.Clode, Early History of the Merchant Taylors, II, pp. 30-31. Jenyns became Alderman for Castle Baynard in 1499 and occupied that ward until 1505.A.B. Beavan, The Aldermen of the City of London Temp. Henry III to 1912 (Corporation of the City of London, 1913), II, p. 19. Some relationships described in this work are unreliable.
Two marriages
During this time, probably after 1490, Jenyns was married, 'the wif of Stephyn Jenens taillour' receiving £4 and a black gown in Rose Swan's will written in 1496. By this marriage he had two daughters, Katherine and Elizabeth, whose mother died before 1502. In 1501 (28 March) William Buck died,Inquisition: 'William Buck' (held in 1532), in G.S. Fry (ed.), Abstracts of Inquisitiones Post Mortem For the City of London, Part 1: 1485–1561 (British Record Society, London, 1896), pp. 47-48. Buck's will dated 24 February 16 Henry VII (1500/1) (regnal year began 22 August); proved 7 May Anno Domini 1501 (civil year began 25 March). The late Inquisition slipped over the year of death. and was buried at St. Mary Aldermanbury.Will of Thomas Buck (P.C.C. 1523). For his executors Buck appointed his wife Margaret, John Kirton of London, and William Milbourne, Chamberlain of London 1492–1506. In the Hilary term of 1501/2 the executors acted together to recover sums owing to Buck's estate, by which time Margaret Buck had become the wife of Stephen Jenyns, who acted with them.V. Mead, Index to Common Pleas CP 40/959 (Hilary 1502), WAALT: Wiki for the Anglo-American Legal Tradition (R. Palmer, University of Houston), Item: CP 40/959, f98 (refers to m. XLVII, front, last entry).
The Company already owned three hangings of Arras tapestry depicting scenes from the life of St. John the Baptist, to be hung on the walls of their Hall. Buck bequeathed to them three more, for the north wall (valued at £120), 'which I have bespoken to be made in Brucellys'.Will of William Buck (P.C.C. 1501). In January 1502/3 Henry VII incorporated the Fraternity under the new name of 'The Guild of Merchant Taylors of the Fraternity of St. John the Baptist':Given 6 January, 18 Henry VII. Clode, Memorials of the Guild, pp. 194-98. this was advocated and procured by William FitzWilliam, Master of the Taylors in 1499–1500.Clode, Early History of the Merchant Taylors II, pp. 40-43. Stephen Jenyns gave a further three tapestries, completing the series of nine, to hang at the dais for the High Table and seats of honour in the Hall. Margaret Jenyns, 'for the good zeal that she had for the Company', presented a blue velvet embroidered altar-cloth of St John with a white rose above his head, and with green velvet edges worked with gold fleurs-de-lys and mottos, for their Chapel.Clode, Memorials of the Guild, p. 85. The Chapel was sanctioned by Pope Calixtus III in 1455: Clode, Early History of the Merchant Taylors, I, p. 117. All were recorded in an Inventory of 1512.Clode, Memorials of the Guild, pp. 84-85.
Margaret Buck (née Kirton) was the sister of John Kirton, originally of St. Paul's Cray, Kent, a trusted lawyer of Gray's Inn and J.P., and (in the footsteps of his father William) M.P. for Southwark in 1491–92.J.C. Wedgwood and A.D. Holt, History of Parliament. Biographies of the Members of the Commons House 1439–1509 (HMSO 1936), pp. 517-18. There was also a sister Beatrix, married to the lawyer Henry Tyngledon.Will of William Buck (P.C.C. 1514): Feet of Fines, Kent CP 25/1/117A/351 no. 460 (1505): Gray's Inn, Lent Reader 1515–16, W.R. Douthwaite, Gray's Inn, its History and Associations (Reeves & Turner, London 1886), p. 47; T.N.A. Discovery Catalogue, piece descriptions C 147/201, C 1/305/42. Their mother was Margery Milbourne, and John had married Margaret White, granddaughter of Nicholas Gaynesford of Carshalton.'White of Swanborne' (i.e. South Warnborough), W.H. Rylands, Pedigrees from the Visitation of Hampshire (etc.), Harleian Society LXIV (1913), pp. 81-83.. G.J. Armytage (ed.), 'Kirton of Edmonton', in Middlesex Pedigrees as collected by Richard Mundy in Harleian MS no. 1551, Harleian Society LXV (1914), pp. 106-07. In 1498 Kirton and Buck were named executors in Gaynesford's will,Will of Nicholas Gaynesford of Carshalton (P.C.C. 1498). and John acted in 1503 for Gaynesford's widow.Will of Margaret Gaynesford (P.C.C. 1503). By his second marriage Stephen Jenyns became stepfather to the four sons and one daughter of William Buck and uncle to John Kirton's five children. Both Jenyns and his maternal aunt, the Lane heiress Isabel Swerder,'Pedigree of Offley', Visitation of Staffordshire, p. 224. Will of John Swerder, Goldsmith of London (P.C.C. 1500). were godparents at baptism to John's son Stephen Kirton.G.C. Bower (ed.), 'A Manuscript relating to the family of Offley', in H.W. Forsyth Harwood (ed.), The Genealogist (Quarterly), New Series XIX (London and Exeter 1903), pp. 2-11, 83-88, 149-53, (The Offley Manuscript), at p. 5.. Will of John Kyrketon of Edelmeton (P.C.C. 1530).
Jenyns received £100 from the Privy Purse 'for plegging of sertain of the Quenes juells' in 1503,S. Bentley (ed.), Excerpta Historica (London 1831), p. 130. possibly to settle a loan unpaid at her death.T.N.A. Discovery Catalogue, piece description C 1/287/38. In 1505, as alderman, he transferred to the Dowgate ward (until 1508), and from 1505 to 1507 he was Auditor to the Court of Aldermen.Beavan, Aldermen of the City of London, II, p. 19. The appointment of John Kirton as Clerk of the Treasury ('clerk of Hell') in 1506 was obtained by royal writ, and was said (by his discharged predecessor) to have been purchased from the king for 300 marks by the management of Stephen Jenyns.J. Baker, The Oxford History of the Laws of England, VI: 1483–1558 (OUP, Oxford 2003), pp. 133-34 and note 79, citing T.N.A. IND 17180 fol. 5. Kirton joined with Stephen and Margaret Jenyns, and with John Nechylls, in acquiring lands in Whitstable, Seasalter, Chilham and Boughton under Blean, Kent, in 1505.Feet of Fines (Henry VII), CP 25/1/117A/350, no. 446, Abstract and image (AALT) at medievalgenealogy.org.uk. See T.N.A. Discovery Catalogue, Piece description C 1/205/95.
The Mayoral year, 1508–1509