Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Jenkins, John Edward
JENKINS, JOHN EDWARD (1838–1910), politician and satirist, born at Bangalore, Mysore, Southern India, on 28 July 1838, was the eldest son of John Jenkins, D.D., Wesleyan missionary, by his wife Harriette, daughter of James Shepstone of Chfton. His father removed to Canada, where he became minister of St. Paul's Presbyterian church, Montreal, and moderator of the general assembly. The son, after having been educated at the High School, Montreal, and McGill University, and later at the University of Pennsylvania, came to London, and was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn on 17 Nov. 1864. He secured some practice, and in 1870 he was retained by the Aborigines Protection and Anti-Slavery Society to watch the proceedings of the British Guiana coolie commission. He visited the colony and became the champion of the Indian indentured labourers there, publishing in 1871 'The Coolie: his Rights and Wrongs.' His zeal for social reform, however, turned him aside from his profession, and in 1870 he suddenly became famous as the anonymous author of 'Ginx's Baby, his Birth and other Misfortunes,' a pathetic satire on the struggles of rival sectarians for the religious education of a derelict child, which attracted universal notice and had its influence on the religious compromise in the Education Act of 1870. An edition, the 36th, of 'Ginx's Baby' (1876) was illustrated by Frederick Barnard [q.v. Suppl. I].
Jenkins was a strong imperialist and in 1871 he organised the 'Conference on Colonial Questions' which met at Westminster under his chairmanship. His inaugural address was entitled 'The Colonies and Imperial Unity: or the Barrel without the Hoops.' This originated the Imperial Federation movement as opposed to the policy of imperial disintegration advocated by Prof. Goldwin Smith [q. v. Suppl. II] and others, and led in 1874 to Jenkins's appointment as first agent-general in London for the dominion of Canada, an office which he held only two years. His imperialism did not, however, hinder him from protesting against the Act by which Queen Victoria became in 1876 empress of India, when he published anonymously 'The Blot on the Queen's Head' (1876). Notwithstanding his imperialism Jenkins was an ardent radical with political ambition. After unsuccessfully contesting in the radical interest Stafford and Truro, he was during his absence in Canada returned at the general election of 1874 as member of parliament for Dundee and retained the seat until the dissolution of 1880. He then at a by-election in January 1881 contested Edinburgh as an independent liberal, but was defeated by Lord McLaren, then lord advocate [q. v. Suppl. II]. Subsequently, his dislike for Gladstone's views in imperial politics overcame his radicalism in home politics, and in 1885 he attempted to recover his seat for Dundee as a conservative, but he failed both then and in 1896. He was a fluent and popular speaker. He served on the royal commission on copyright in 1876-7.
Jenkins, who wrote articles on 'Imperial Federation' in the 'Contemporary Review' for 1871, made some unsuccessful attempts to repeat the popular success of 'Ginx's Baby,' publishing 'Lord Bantam,' a satire on a young aristocrat in democratic politics (2 vols. 1871); 'Barney Geoghegan, M.P., and Home Rule at St. Stephen's,' reprinted with additions from 'Saint Paul's Magazine' (1872); 'Little Hodge,' supporting the agitation led by Joseph Arch on behalf of the agricultural labourer (1872); 'Glances at Inner England,' a lecture (1874); 'The Devil's Chain,' a tale (1876); 'Lutchmee and Dilloo,' a tale (3 vols. 1877); 'The Captain's Cabin, a Christmas Yarn' (1877); 'A Paladin of Finance,' a novel (1882); 'A Week of Passion: or, The Dilemma of Mr. George Barton the Younger,' a novel (3 vols. 1884); 'A Secret of Two Lives,' a novel (1886), and 'Pantalas and what they did with him,' a tale (1897). He was from 1886 editor of the 'Overland Mail' and the 'Homeward Mail,' news- papers of which his brother-in-law, Sir Henry Seymour King, is the proprietor. From the beginning of Sir Henry King's political career he acted as his parliamentary secretary.
Jenkins died in London on 4 June 1910, after some years' suffering from paralysis. He married in 1867 Hannah Matilda, daughter of Philip Johnstone of Belfast, and left a family of five sons and two daughters.
[The Times, and Morning Post, 6 June 1910; Overland Mail, 10 June 1910; Dod's Parliamentary Companion; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Sir Leslie Stephen, Life of Sir James Fitzjames Stephen.]