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- For the U.S. Civil War Medal of Honor recipient, see Thomas Jenkins (soldier); for the 18th-century art dealer in Rome, see Thomas Jenkins (antiquary).
Thomas Jenkins was the headmaster of the King Edward VI Grammar School in Stratford-upon-Avon in England starting in 1575. As such, his claim to fame is that William Shakespeare was considered likely to have been one of his students. No school records from the period survive; however, Jenkins is believed to have been of Welsh extraction, and a Welsh schoolmaster Sir Hugh Evans features in Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Windsor. Jenkins would have taught Shakespeare Latin grammar and literature. It has been speculated that Jenkins taught, and awakened in Shakespeare, an interest in the legendary history of the British Isles, and as such influenced Shakespeare to create plays featuring this material, such as King Lear and Cymbeline.
