| Honorific Prefix: | The Reverend |
| J. L. Joynes Sr. | |
| Birth Name: | James Leigh Joynes |
| Birth Date: | 27 September 1824 |
| Birth Place: | Frindsbury, Kent, England |
| Death Place: | Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England |
| Education: |
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| Occupation: | Clergyman, schoolmaster |
| Children: | J. L. Joynes Jr. |
| Relatives: | Henry Stephens Salt (son-in-law) |
James Leigh Joynes (27 September 1824 – 29 June 1908) was an English clergyman and schoolmaster. he was ordained deacon in 1848 and priest in 1854. He taught at Eton College from 1849 to 1887.
Joynes was born in Frindsbury, Kent, on 27 September 1824.[1] His father was Richard Symonds Joynes, the Rector of Gravesend.[2] He was educated at Eton College before attending King's School, Rochester.[3] He matriculated at King's College, Cambridge, in Easter 1844, became a scholar, won the Camden Medal in 1845, and graduated with a BA in 1848 and an MA in 1851. He also served as a Fellow of King's College from 1847 to 1850.
In 1848, Joynes was ordained as a deacon by the Bishop of Lincoln, John Kaye, and as a priest in 1854 by the Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce.[4]
Joynes taught at Eton College from 1849 to 1887, becoming Lower Master in 1878. Among his pupils were A. C. Swinburne,[5] Sidney Herbert, Lord Kinnaird, and the Duke of Argyll.[6] His pupils used the nicknames "Jimmy"[7] or "old Jimmy" to affectionately refer to him.[8] He was notorious for his use of flogging and birching to discipline students.[9]
On his retirement in 1887, a caricature of Joynes brandishing a birch, by Leslie Ward, was published in Vanity Fair.[10]
Joynes married Elisabeth Johanna, daughter of Christopher Hermann Unger of Neuwied, Germany, on 22 April 1851, at St Peter's, Pimlico. He was the father of J. L. Joynes Jr. and the father-in-law of Henry Stephens Salt.[11]
Joynes died at Tunbridge Wells, Kent, on 29 June 1908. The funeral took place on 1 July, with his remains interred in the New Cemetery. The Rev. D. J. Stather Hunt officiated at the graveside. Many wreaths were placed on the coffin, including one from Lord Kinnaird.