[2] Robert Jennens bought Acton Place from the Daniels, a recusant Catholic family, in 1708 and continuously remodelled it in the Palladian style until he died in 1725.
William abandoned all rebuilding and lived in unfurnished rooms in the basement with his servants and dogs, eschewing visitors and social contact.
[6] The Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle reported in 1798 that:A will was found in his coat-pocket, sealed, but not signed; which was owing, as his favourite servant says, to his master leaving his spectacles at home when he went to his solicitor for the purpose of duly executing it, and which he afterwards forgot to do.
He was baptized in September 1701, and was the son of Robert Jennens, Esq., Aide-de-Camp to great Duke of Marlborough (by Anne, his wife, and daughter of Carew Guidott, Esq., lineally descended from Sir Anthony Guidott, Knight, a noble Florentine, employed on sundry embassies by King Edward VI), grandson of Humphrey Jennens of Edington Hall, in the county of Warwick, Esq., Lord of the Manor of Nether Whitacre in that county in 1680 and an eminent ironmaster of Birmingham.
[8]Initially the Court of Chancery declared that the heir to his fortune was George Augustus William Curzon, a descendant of his aunt Hester Jennens.
The accumulation of funds for litigation was initiated in England, but his Virginia descendants contributed large sums and even unrelated individuals named "Jennings" sent money in the hope of sharing the inheritance.
Such clubs are known to have existed in Great Barr, Birmingham, UK; Nashville, Tennessee; Walpole, New Hampshire; Connecticut; New Jersey; Virginia; and Ireland, among many other places.