John David Jenkins

John David Jenkins (30 January 1828 – 9 November 1876) was a Welsh clergyman and historian. He spent six years ministering in Pietermaritzburg; after his return to England, he became known as the "Rail men's Apostle" for his work with railway workers in Oxford. He was Vice-President, and then President, of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. He also wrote a book on the history of the church.

Jenkins was born in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan on 30 January 1828. His father, William David Jenkins, could allegedly trace his ancestry back to Iestyn ap Gwrgant, the last Prince of Morgannwg. After attending Taliesin Williams's school in Merthyr Tydfil and Cowbridge Grammar School, Jenkins studied at Oxford University, matriculating at Jesus College in 1846 with the benefit of the Sir Leoline Jenkins scholarship. He studied Literae Humaniores, obtaining a third-class BA degree in 1850. He subsequently obtained further degrees: M.A. in 1852, BD in 1859 and DD in 1871. He became a good classical and oriental scholar whilst at Oxford, developing a fluency in modern languages in later life. Whilst an undergraduate, he tried and failed on several occasions for the Pusey and Ellerton Hebrew Scholarship; after his final failure, Dr Pusey presented him with some books to acknowledge his abilities in Hebrew.

He was appointed as a Fellow of Jesus College in 1851/2, retaining this position until his death. The fellowship was a King James II Missionary Fellowship, under the terms of which Jenkins was required to become ordained and "proceed to such one of Her Majesty's plantations as the Bishop of London, for the time being, might appoint." He was ordained deacon in 1851 by Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford, and appointed curate to the Reverend Alfred Hackman at St Paul's Church, Oxford. St Paul's was a noted Tractarian church. Whilst Jenkins was at St Paul's, Thomas Combe commissioned Holman Hunt to paint Jenkins's portrait.

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