Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jenison, Francis
JENISON, FRANCIS, COUNT JENISON WALWORTH (1764–1824), diplomatist, son of Francis Jenison of Walworth, Heighington parish, co. Durham, was born at Walworth, where his ancestors had long resided [see under Jenison, Robert, the younger], on 8 Feb. 1764. The family withdrew to the continent in 1776, and settled at Heidelberg. Young Jenison became a page of honour and an officer of the guards of the elector palatine of Bavaria, and was afterwards a colonel in the service of Hesse-Darmstadt. At the beginning of the war in 1793 he was sent to the court of St. James as envoy from Hesse-Darmstadt, and arranged for the employment of Hessian troops in British pay. After the marriage of the princess royal of England (Charlotte Augusta, queen of Würtemberg, 1766–1828 [q. v.]) with Prince Frederick, afterwards king of Würtemberg, in 1797, Jenison was made high chamberlain of the household at Stuttgart, a post he held until the death of the king in 1816. He was at one time Bavarian minister at Naples. He died at Heidelberg in 1824. Jenison's second wife was Mary, eldest daughter of Topham Beauclerk [q. v.], the friend of Johnson, by whom he left a family. He also had a son by his first marriage.
[Surtees's Durham, iii. 320–1 for genealogy of Jenison; Gent. Mag. vol. xciv. pt. i. p. 637, under ‘Walworth.’]