Sir Walter St David Jenkins CB CBE was a senior British official in the Admiralty, serving as Director of Navy Contracts from 1919 to 1936. Jenkins was born on 1 March 1874 and educated at Carmarthen Grammar School and Oswestry School. He won a Meyricke exhibition to Jesus College, Oxford in 1893, obtaining his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1897 before joining the Admiralty as a first-class clerk.