Henry Jenner was a British scholar of Celtic languages and a prominent cultural activist who became the chief originator of the Cornish language revival. Born in St Columb Major in 1848, he was the son of Henry Lascelles Jenner, a curate who was later consecrated as the first Bishop of Dunedin, and the grandson of Herbert Jenner-Fust. In 1869, Jenner began working as a clerk in the Probate Division of the High Court. Two years later, he was nominated for a position in the Department of Ancient Manuscripts at the British Museum, a post he took while his father served as the Rector of Preston near Canterbury.\n\nThroughout his life, Jenner was a leading figure in the preservation of Cornish heritage. In 1904, he successfully campaigned for Cornwall to be admitted into the Celtic Congress. His activism continued into his later years; he co-founded the Old Cornwall Society at St Ives in 1920 and went on to co-found the Cornish Gorsedh in 1928, establishing a structured foundation for the modern revival of the Cornish language and cultural traditions.
