English naturalist, born at Enys in Penryn, Cornwall, England, the family seat from the time of Edward I, and later educated at Harrow School. From an early age he developed his ineterests as a collector and keen amateur naturalist, both in Cornwall and later in New Zealand (1861-1891). He was particularly interested in ferns, especially tree ferns, but also made entomological, other zoological, palaeontological and geological collections. His collections became well-known and were consulted by T.F. Cheeseman, T. Kirk, L. Cockayne, J. Hector, his cousin and botanical artist Marianne North, and Baron Anatole von Hügel of the British Museum.

Enys was a participant of a scientific expedition to Fiordland on the government vessel Luna in January 1873, at the invitation of J. Hector. He subsequently deposited many specimens from his extensive private collections in the Canterbury Museum and in the Colonial Museum in Wellington, sending other material back to England to Cornish museums and the British Museum (BM). Some cryptogamic material may have been transferred from K to BM after 1961 under the terms of the Morton Agreement. Mt Enys, the highest peak in the Craigieburn Range in Canterbury, was named in his honour and botanical discoveries including Ranunculus enysii Kirk.