His father John Jennings (1634-1701), a native of Oswestry, Shropshire, was educated at Christ Church, Oxford and was ejected from the rectory of Hartley Wespall, Hampshire after the Act of Uniformity 1662.
John Jennings was educated at Timothy Jollie's academy at Attercliffe,[REF] and succeeded his father as independent minister at Kibworth, where from 1715 he conducted a nonconformist academy.