Henry Denny Denson (ca 1715 – 3 June 1780) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

-born soldier and political figure in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

. He was a member of the

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (french: Assemblée législative de la Nouvelle-Écosse; gd, Taigh Seanaidh Alba Nuadh), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia of the province of Nova Scotia ...

from 1761 to 1765 for Falmouth Township, from 16 October 1769 to 1770 for Newport Township, and from 1770 until his death in 1780 for Kings County. He was born in

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...

. He married in Ireland but shortly afterwards joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

as a lieutenant, leaving his wife behind in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. By 1760, he had decided to settle in

and was serving as an agent for the Nova Scotia government in settling people from

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

. He acquired a large property (in excess of 4000 acres) where he wished to recreate a baronial estate, which he named Mount Denson. The estate was a complex farm utilizing both dyked marshlands and pastures cleared from the wooded uplands. Here he raised beef and dairy cattle, grains, and apples which were to supply his cider press. A census taken in 1770 indicates "Mount Denson yielded 250 bushels of wheat, 10 bushels of flax seed and 40 bushels of oats; livestock consisted of 150 sheep, 96 cattle, 12 swine, and 8 horses".Robertson, Allen B. Tide & Timber, Hantsport, Nova Scotia, 1795-1995. To run the estate Denson utilized tenant farmers, indentured servants and slaves. In 1761, he was named justice in the Inferior Court of Common Pleas. Denson was also an officer in the militia, commissioner for roads and customs collector for the county. Denson often clashed with his neighbours, the

New England Planters The New England Planters were settlers from the New England colonies who responded to invitations by the lieutenant governor (and subsequently governor) of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence, to settle lands left vacant by the Bay of Fundy Campaign ( ...

. To them he represented the British authority that had broken its promise to allow the new settlers to retain their form of township governance which they had enjoyed in New England. The British administration in Halifax enforced a centralized government regime which meant a loss of power and self-determination to the Planters. By the late 1770s in declining health and suffering from extreme bouts of

gout Gout ( ) is a form of inflammatory arthritis characterized by recurrent attacks of a red, tender, hot and swollen joint, caused by deposition of monosodium urate monohydrate crystals. Pain typically comes on rapidly, reaching maximal intensit ...

, he resigned from the militia and shortly afterwards died at Mount Denson, Falmouth.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Denson, Henry D 1715 births 1780 deaths 18th-century Irish people 18th-century Canadian politicians People from County Mayo Irish soldiers Nova Scotia pre-Confederation MLAs Colony of Nova Scotia judges