Sir Barry Denny, 2nd Baronet (died 20 October 1794) was an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

politician, chiefly remembered for his death in a

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people with matched weapons. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the rapier and later the small sword), but beginning in ...

at the hands of John Gustavus Crosbie.

Career

He served as an officer in the Kerry Militia, eventually becoming a Major. Following his father's death in April 1794, he became a baronet and was elected to his late father's seat in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

, representing

County Kerry County Kerry () is a Counties of Ireland, county on the southwest coast of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. It is bordered by two other countie ...

.''A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire'' (Henry Colburn, 1839), 288. He also served as

High Sheriff of Kerry High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

in 1794. The Denny family were the dominant political influence in

Tralee Tralee ( ; , ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the River Lee') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in ...

, where they owned most of the houses. At a by-election for the seat in October that year, Denny promised to remain neutral and not come between the Crosbie, Blennerhassett and Herbert families who were contesting the seat. One of the candidates, John Gustavus Crosbie, took offence at one of Denny's remarks which he took to be a breach of his position of neutrality, and challenged him to a duel. Denny was shot through the head and killed by Crosbie in the ensuing duel. He was about to be raised to the

Peerage of Ireland The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

as Baron Denmore when he was killed. The killing resulted in a bitter feud between the two families, and John Crosbie's sudden death in 1797 led to a local tradition that he had been poisoned by the Dennys in revenge.

Family

Denny was the eldest son of

Sir Barry Denny, 1st Baronet Sir Barry Denny, 1st Baronet (c. 1744 – April 1794) was an Anglo-Irish politician. The Denny family effectively owned the town of Tralee. Biography Denny was the son of Reverend Barry Denny and Jane O'Connor. He served in the Tralee Corps of th ...

and his wife and cousin Jane Denny. Barry Denny married Anne Morgell, the daughter of Crosbie Morgell, on 12 January 1794, when she was only sixteen, but died without issue, his title passing to his brother Edward. His widow remarried General

Sir John Floyd, 1st Baronet General Sir John William Floyd, 1st Baronet (22 February 1748 – 10 January 1818) was a British Army officer who served as the governor of Gravesend and Tilbury from 1812 to 1818. Early life Born on 22 February 1748, he was the oldest child ...

, who died in 1818. They had no children, but she was fond of her stepdaughter Julia, and helped to arrange her marriage, which turned out very happily, to Sir

Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850), was a British Conservative statesman who twice was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835, 1841–1846), and simultaneously was Chancellor of the Exchequer (1834–183 ...

. Robert and Julia nicknamed Anne "the Dow" (Dowager).Hurd, Douglas ''Robert Peel- a biography'' Phoenix edition 2008 pp.53-4

Arms

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denny, Barry, 2nd Baronet Year of birth uncertain 1794 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of Ireland 18th-century Anglo-Irish people Irish MPs 1790–1797 High sheriffs of Kerry Duelling fatalities Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Kerry constituencies