Franz von Jenison-Walworth
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Count Franz von Jenison-Walworth (née Francis Jenison) (8 February 1764 – 28 April 1824) was a British-born Bavarian soldier, diplomat, and court official.
He was born as Francis Jenison in Heighington, County Durham, on 8 February 1764.[1] He was the son of Charlotte (née Smith) (1744–1803) and Francis Jenison of Walworth.[2] Among his siblings were Countess Charlotte von Jenison-Walworth (wife of Lt.-Gen. Count Alexander Zimmermann),[3] Countess Winifred von Jenison-Walworth (wife of Count Alexander von Westerholt),[4] Countess Octavia von Jenison-Walworth (wife of Baron François van Zuylen van Nievelt),[5][6] and Countess Susan von Jenison-Walworth (wife of Count Franz von Spreti and William Robert Spencer).[7][8]
His maternal grandfather was Alexander Smith of London. His paternal grandparents were John Jenison and Elizabeth (née Sandford) Jenison.[9][10] Through his sister Susan's second marriage, he was uncle to, among others, Aubrey Spencer, the first Bishop of Newfoundland,[1] and George Spencer, the second Bishop of Madras.[11][12]
Career
In 1775, his father sold their Durham estate and moved the whole family to Heidelberg, where he shortly became Chamberlain to the Elector Palatine Prince Charles Theodore (who also became Elector of Bavaria in 1777) and was made a Count of the Holy Roman Empire in 1791.[3]
After arriving in Heidelberg, Franz became, successively, a Page of Honour, and Colonel of the Guards to the Elector Palatine, afterwards "Colonel in the service of Hesse-Darmstadt, from which Court at the commencement of the war in 1793, and when the Princes of Germany were subsidized by Great Britain, he was appointed Envoy to the Court of St. James, and was entrusted with the negotiations which ensued respecting the continuance of Hessian troops in the English pay, and concluded with the late Marquis of Hertford, then Earl of Yarmouth, by which the stipulated contingents to the first coalition of the Continental States against Revolutionary France, was regulated and detailed."[13]
After Prince Frederick I (later King of Württemberg) married Charlotte, Princess Royal (the eldest daughter of King George III) in 1797, Franz was selected for the office of Grand Chamberlain of the Household at Stuttgart, a "station to which the superiority of his polished manners and refined address peculiarly qualified him."[13] He served as Frederick I's Chamberlain until the death of the King in 1816.[13]
