Henslow, John Stevens (1824-1832)

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VENN
Adm. pens. at ST JOHN'S, Oct. 14, 1813. [Elder] s. of John Prentice [sometime solicitor at Enfield], of the City of Rochester [and Frances]. B. there Feb. 6, 1796. [School, Free Grammar, Rochester.] ' Matric. Michs. 1814; Scholar, 1816; B.A. (16th Wrangler) 1818; M.A. 1821. Adm. ad eundem at Oxford, June 17, 1830. F.L.S., 1818. F.G.S., 1819. Professor of Mineralogy, 1822-7; of Botany, 1825-61. Founded the botanical museum. His enthusiasm rendered botany a popular subject in the University, and Darwin, Berkeley and Babington were among his pupils. He recommended Darwin as Naturalist for the ‘Beagle,’ and during the five years of the voyage took charge of all the specimens sent home. Co-operated with Adam Sedgwick in founding the Cambridge Philosophical Society. Gunning (Reminiscences, II. 337-47) gives an account of the dispute with regard to his election as Professor of Mineralogy. Charles Darwin was ‘awestruck at his knowledge’ (Emma Darwin, II. 404). Ord. deacon (Ely) Apr. 11, 1824; priest, Nov. 7, 1824; C. of Little St Mary's, Cambridge, 1824-32. V. of Cholsey-cum-Moulsford, Berks., 1832-7. R. of Hitcham, Suffolk, 1837-61. An exemplary parish priest, and worked hard for better conditions among the agricultural labourers in East Anglia. On more than one occasion took an active part in suppressing bribery at the Parliamentary elections at Cambridge. In the University constituency it was still in 1826 the custom for candidates to pay the expenses of non-resident electors who voted for them. Henslow and the Master of Corpus (John Lamb) protested in an open Letter to the Vice-Chancellor against this practice. In 1835 when the Liberals had evidence that the Conservatives had used bribery at the Borough election, and none being willing to incur the odium of prosecuting, Henslow volunteered to take it upon himself. The Conservatives vented their indignation by painting up in conspicuous places the words ‘Henslow Common Informer’: evidence of this is still (1944) to be seen, in certain conditions of weather, under the oriel window on the south front of Corpus College. Married Dec. 16, 1823, Harriet, dau. of the Rev. George Jenyns, of Bottisham, Cambs. Author, A Catalogue of British Plants, 1829-35; The Principles of descriptive and physiological Botany, 1836; A Dictionary of Botanical Terms, etc. Died May 16, 1861. M.I. in Hitcham Church. Father of the above and of the next. (D.N.B.; Index of Botanists; Boase, I. 1433-4; G. Mag., 1861, I. 703; Crockford; C.U. Hist. Reg., 90, note 7; Cambridge Review, June 2, 1939; L. Jenyns, Memoirs of J. S. Henslow.)

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