Cornish historian and chronicler of the early 20th Century
Born 1900 - Died 1980
Buried at St Euny Churchyard, Redruth
Born at Trewirgie House at the edge of Redruth in 1900, just a short walk from the St Euny churchyard where he is buried, Alfred Hamilton-Jenkin's life nevertheless encompassed much more than this small area. After his studies in literature at University College, Oxford, he was a prolific author and historical recorder of a Cornwall that was changing as more modern technology came in to the tin and copper mining operations that dominated the economy and landscape.
It is largely thanks to his meticulous interest in, and recording of, living conditions and working practices in the early 20th Century that we know so much about the way people lived and worked: A Cornish Miner, published in 1927, is a classic text. He published extensively throughout his life, including the 16-volume 'Mines and Miners of Cornwall' covering all areas of the county, and books on the mines of Devon, too.
He was a founding bard of the Gorseth Kernow in 1928, and helped to persuade Cornwall Council to set up the Cornish Record Office in the 1950s. In 1954 he was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and President of the Federation of Old Cornwall Societies in 1959-60; he was President of the Royal Institution of Cornwall in 1958-59. Twice married, with two daughters from his first marriage, the work of his lifetime is a record for us all to cherish and reflect upon.
Books by A K Hamilton Jenkin
"Boulton and Watt in Cornwall" in Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society Annual Report, 1926
The Cornish Miner: an Account of his Life Above and Underground from Early Times. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1927: three editions, including 3rd edition, 1962 (reprinted by David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1972 ISBN 0-7153-5486-8; reprinted in facsimile with an introduction by John H. Trounson, Launceston: Westcountry, 2004 ISBN 1-902395-06-9)
"The Nationalisation of West-Country Minerals". (New Fabian Research Bureau. Publications series; no. 3) 17 pages. [London, 1932]
Cornish Seafarers: the Smuggling, Wrecking and Fishing Life of Cornwall. London: J. M. Dent, 1932
Cornwall and Its People: being a new impression of the composite work .... London: J. M. Dent, 1945 (reprinted 1970 by David & Charles, Newton Abbot ISBN 0-7153-4702-0) including:
"Cornish Seafarers", 1932
"Cornwall and the Cornish: the story, religion and folk-lore of ’The Western Land’", 1933
"Cornish homes and customs", 1934
Cornwall and the Cornish: the story, religion and folk-lore of ’The Western Land’, London: J. Dent, 1933
Cornish Homes and Customs. London: J. M. Dent, 1934
The Story of Cornwall. London: Thomas Nelson, 1934 (reprinted by D. Bradford Barton, Truro, 1962)
The Western Land. London: Great Western Railway, 1937
News from Cornwall. London: Westaway Books, 1946
News from Cornwall, edited, with a memoir of William Jenkin, by A. K. Hamilton Jenkin. 1951
Mines and Miners of Cornwall in 16 volumes, vols. 1–14 originally published by the Truro Bookshop, 1961 onwards and reprinted by various organisations:
Pt. I. Around St. Ives ISBN 0-904662-04-7
Pt. II. St. Agnes, Perranporth ISBN 0-904662-05-5
Pt. III. Around Redruth ISBN 0-904662-06-3
Pt. IV. Penzance-Mount's Bay ISBN 0-904662-08-X
Pt. V. Hayle, Gwinear and Gwithian ISBN 0-904662-10-1
Pt. VI. Around Gwennap ISBN 0-904662-11-X
Pt. VII. Perranporth-Newquay
Pt. VIII. Truro to the clay district
Pt. IX. Padstow, St Columb and Bodmin
Pt. X. Camborne and Illogan
Pt. XI. Marazion, St Hilary and Breage
Pt. XII. Liskeard area
Pt. XIII. The Lizard-Falmouth-Mevagissey
Pt. XIV. St Austell to Saltash
Pt. XV. Calstock, Callington and Launceston Penzance: Federation of Old Cornwall Societies, 1969 (reprinted Bracknell: Forge Books, 1976) ISBN 0-902660-00-4
Pt. XVI. Wadebridge, Camelford and Bude Penzance: Federation of Old Cornwall Societies, 1970
Index to Mines and Miners of Cornwall: Volumes 1–16. St. Austell: Federation of Old Cornwall Societies, 1978
Mines of Devon. Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1974
Volume 1: South Devon ISBN 0-7153-6784-6
Volume 2: Mines of Devon, north and east of Dartmoor: Sydenham Damerel, Lydford, Wheal Betsy, Wheal Friendship, Okehampton, Sticklepath, Chagford, Buckfastleigh, Ashburton, Ilsington, Teign Valley, Newton St. Cyres, and Upton Pyne. (Reprinted by Devon Libraries 1981 ISBN 0-86114-317-5)
Both volumes reprinted by Landmark, 2005 ISBN 1-84306-174-0
Wendron Tin (commissioned by Poldark Mine), 1978