William Jennings

Politician

William Jennings (Jennyns), Member of Parliament for Westminster in 1554, died in October 1558. He was also keeper and porter of the books and rolls [documents] in the receipt of the Exchequer from 1537 to his death, and groom of the chamber by 1555.

His first wife was Joan, widow of John Bate, and his second was Sybil. He leased property from the Abbey and had tenements in King Street and Tothill Street in Westminster and lived in the Boar's Head inn from 1539. His other property also included the White Hart inn.

As he had no surviving son he left his property to his wife and relatives including a nephew John Jennings. He left gifts to the Abbey and extensive bequests towards a Roman Catholic funeral with masses. Abbot Feckenham was one of his executors. The monks at Westminster had been re-instated by the time of his death.

Burial

An epitaph was recorded for him in notes taken in 1582 by an antiquary but this no longer exists and the brass elements had probably disappeared by the time William Camden wrote his guidebook on the Abbey burials in 1600. It was transcribed as:

"Of your charytie praye for the sowle [soul] of William Jennings, Jone [Joan] and Sibill his wifes, Johne & Jone their children, which Williame decessed the 28 of October in the yere of our lorde godde 1558 on whose sowle Jesus have mercye"

The burial was most likely in the north transept and he had asked in his will that "I will have a stone set upon my grave where I shall be buried in the Abbey and a picture thereupon made in brass with the pictures of my two wives, and the picture of a son and daughter by Joan my first wife, being named John and Joan". There is an indent of a brass inscription strip and figures of a man and woman with possibly some children and maybe the other wife above or below, and shields, still remaining in the north transept near the monument to Admiral Warren. So this might have been his grave as he had requested it to include brass figures of his family.