Biography

East India Company commissioner and agent for Assam. Born in St. Clement, Cornwall, Francis Jenkins joined the East India Company and sailed from England in 1810. Rising through the ranks, in 1828 he was appointed the 5th Chief Commissioner of Assam, stationed at Guwahati. By 1831 he was a captain and was deputed to undertake a survey of Assam, including Cachar and Manipur, following its annexation by the British. Having successfully completed this mission, he was created the first Commissioner and Agent to the Governor-General for Assam in 1834. Jenkins remained in this position until his retirement in 1861 with the rank of Major General.

During his time in Assam Jenkins played a key role in the development of tea cultivation. In 1834 the E.I.C. set up a committee to explore the possibility of a tea industry in India, which would break the Chinese monopoly in the market. Jenkins was a keen botanist and reported that Assam was already home to tea plants. An experimental nursery was thus set up at Sadiya and excellent tea was soon being produced in Assam. Commercial production rapidly developed with help from Jenkins and by 1859 more than 7,500 acres in the region were devoted to tea cultivation. Jenkins reluctantly retired from service in 1861 but remained in Assam, dying at Guwahati in August 1866. A set of Jenkins' journals and letters dating from 1810 to 1860s were brought to auction at Sotheby's in 2009. The genus Jenkinsia Hook. (Lomariopsidaceae) was named for him.