Henry Dennis (Feb 1594 – 26 June 1638) was
High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1629. He was lord of the manor of
Pucklechurch, Gloucestershire. The Dennis family produced more Sheriffs of Gloucestershire than any other family. Like many members of the Gloucestershire gentry he refused to take a knighthood at the coronation of
King Charles I in 1625, for which he paid a composition of £25.
Origins
He was baptised in February 1594 in the parish church of St Thomas a Becket, Pucklechurch. He was the eldest son and heir of
John "Dennys"(d.1609) the angling poet, by Elianor Millett, daughter of Thomas Millett of Warwickshire. He was aged only 15 on his father's death. The Denys family became established in Gloucestershire in about 1379 when
Sir Gilbert Denys(d.1422) moved from
Waterton, Bridgend
Waterton is an area south of Bridgend, Wales. It is mainly an industrial zone, as it is home to Bridgend Industrial Estate, Waterton Industrial Estate, Waterton Park, the Ford Engine Plant & Waterton Retail Park. CGI Inc., the Global IT and busines ...
in Glamorgan, Wales
to marry the young widow Margaret Corbet(1352–1398), the sole heiress of her paternal manors of
Siston
Siston (pronounced "sizeton") is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England. It is east of Bristol at the confluence of the two sources of the Siston Brook, a tributary of the River Avon. The village consists of a number of cottages a ...
,
Alveston and
Earthcott Green. The family name changed from its mediaeval spelling after about 1600 to Dennis. The earliest record of the family is in a Glamorgan Latin charter of 1258, where ''Willelmus le Deneys'' appears as a witness to an exchange of land between Gilbert de Turberville of
Coity Castle and
Margam Abbey. This early form of the name in Norman French can be translated as "The Dane", and the name was generally
Latinised to ''Dacus'', the adjectival form of ''Dacia'', the mediaeval Latin name for Denmark.
Marriages
He married twice:
*Firstly aged 21 in 1615 Margaret Speake(d.1622), a daughter of Sir George Speake,
KB, of
Whitelackington
Whitelackington is a village and civil parish on the A303 one mile north east of Ilminster, in Somerset, England. The parish includes Dillington Park and the hamlets of Atherstone and Ashwell.
Etymology
The village's name is from Old English an ...
, Somerset, by Philippa Rosewell, daughter of
William Rosewell William Rosewell may refer to:
* William Rosewell (Solicitor-General) (c. 1520–1566), Solicitor-General to Queen Elizabeth
* William Rosewell (gentleman) (c. 1500–1570), gentleman and landholder of Loxton, Somerset
* William Rosewell (apothe ...
(c. 1520–1567) of Devon, Solicitor-General to
Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
El ...
.
*Secondly, after 1626, Jane Whitmore(1587–1639), who was buried at
Bath Abbey
The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, commonly known as Bath Abbey, is a parish church of the Church of England and former Benedictine monastery in Bath, Somerset, England. Founded in the 7th century, it was reorganised in the 10th ...
, widow of Nathaniel Still(d.1626) of
Hutton, Somerset, son of
John Still
John Still (c. 1543 – 26 February 1607/1608) was Master of two Cambridge colleges and then, from 1593, Bishop of Bath and Wells. He enjoyed considerable fame as an English preacher and disputant. He was formerly reputed to be the author of an ...
(1543–1607/8), Bishop of Bath & Wells, who purchased Hutton Court in 1604. Jane Whitmore was a daughter of William Whitmore(d.1593), a
haberdasher
In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a retailer who sells men's clothing, ...
of Balmes Manor,
Hackney and of
Apley Hall
Apley Hall is an English Gothic Revival house located in the parish of Stockton near Bridgnorth, Shropshire. The building was completed in 1811 with adjoining property of of private parkland beside the River Severn. It was once home to the Whit ...
, Shropshire. Jane's nephew was
Sir Thomas Whitmore, 1st Baronet(1612–1653). There is a stone sculpted memorial to Nathaniel Still in the parish church of Hutton, showing him and his wife and children kneeling in prayer.
Progeny
He had the following two sons by his first wife:
*John Dennis (1616–1660),
High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1649. He was patron of the church of
Oldbury on the Hill, Glos. in 1641. He married in about 1639 Mary Still(d.18/8/1698), daughter of Nathaniel Still of
Hutton, Somerset
Hutton is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England. The parish, which has a population of 2,582, is within the unitary authority of North Somerset and located on the western edge of the Mendip Hills, close to Weston-super-Mare.
The hamle ...
, who was therefore the daughter of his step-mother Jane Whitmore, who died in the same year, a year after the death of John's father and her 2nd husband Henry.
*Henry Dennis (1620–1649), died aged 29, buried at Pucklechurch
Residence
It is not known with certainty which house in the village was the ''
caput
Latin words and phrases
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