Henry Jenkes was a Gresham Professor of Rhetoric

Gresham Professor of Rhetoric

The Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College, London, gives free educational lectures to the general public. The college was founded for this purpose in 1596 / 7, when it appointed seven professors; this has since increased to eight and in addition the college now has visiting professors.The...

.

Jenkes was descended from a Prussian family, was a native of England, and received his early education at King's College, Aberdeen

King's College, Aberdeen

King's College in Old Aberdeen, Scotland is a formerly independent university founded in 1495 and an integral part of the University of Aberdeen...

, where he was admitted in 1642, and graduated M.A. in 1646. On 21 March 1646 he was admitted a member of Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay on the site of a Dominican friary...

, and in 1649 he was incorporated M.A. in that university. He was elected a fellow of Caius College, Cambridge, in the time of the civil war. On the occasion of the opening of the Sheldonian Theatre

Sheldonian Theatre

The Sheldonian Theatre, located in Oxford, England, was built from 1664 to 1668 after a design by Christopher Wren for the University of Oxford. The building is named after Gilbert Sheldon, chancellor of the university at the time and the project's main financial backer...

 he was incorporated M.A. at Oxford, 13 July 1669. He was elected professor of rhetoric in Gresham College

Gresham College

Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in central London, England. It was founded in 1597 under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham and today it hosts over 140 free public lectures every year within the City of London.-History:Sir Thomas Gresham,...

, London, on 21 October 1670, in succession to Dr. William Croone

William Croone

William Croone was an English physician and one of the original Fellows of the Royal Society.-Life:He was born in London on 15 September 1633, and admitted to Merchant Taylors' School on 11 December 1642. He was admitted on 13 May 1647 a pensioner of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, graduating B.A. in...

. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society

Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

on 30 November 1674. He resigned his professorship on 2 October 1676, after which he resided wholly at Cambridge, living by his fellowship at Caius College. Dying there at the end of August 1697, he was buried on 1 September in the church of St. Michael, in which parish the college is situated. He corresponded with several learned men in Holland.

Works

• The Christian Tutor, or a Free and Rational Discourse of the Sovereign Good and Happiness of Man, London, 1683, 8vo.
• De Natura et Constitutione Ethicæ, præsertim Christianæ, ejusque Usu et Studio, prefixed to Stephani Curcellæi Synopsis ethices, London, 1684; Cambridge, 1702.
• The Christian Dial.
• Rationale Biblicum, manuscript left ready for the press at the time of his death.