Walter Denys
Sir Walter Denys (c. 1501–1571) of Dyrham, Gloucestershire was a Tudor landowner and member of Parliament.
Background[edit]
Denys was the son of Sir William Denys of Dyrham and Anne, daughter of Maurice Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley. Maurice Denys was his younger brother.[1] In 1533 inherited a considerable estate in Gloucestershire from his father.[1]
Career[edit]
He was High Sheriff of Gloucestershire from June to November 1533, then in 1538-9, 1543-4, 1551-2 and 1555-6.[2] He was a Justice of the peace in Gloucestershire from 1535 and knighted at around the same time.[1] He was steward and receiver of St Augustine's abbey, Bristol from 1542.[1] In 1553 he purchased the manor of Horsley, Gloucestershire, which he conveyed to his son Richard.[3]
He was temporarily removed from the bench under Mary.[1] The change of regime caused both Sir Walter and his younger brother financial difficulties.[1][4]
He sat for Gloucestershire in the Parliament of 1558 and Cricklade in 1559.[1] In 1563 he inherited Sutton Place in Sutton-at-Hone, Kent from his brother Maurice, which he and his son sold the following year.[5] He also acquired from Maurice the ancestral manor of Siston[6] and Abson, Gloucestershire.[7]
Family[edit]
By 1522 he was married to Margaret, the daughter of Sir Richard Weston of Sutton Place, Surrey.[1] His heir was Richard Denys, who also served as an MP.[1] Another son Walter (d. 1577) became rector of Dyrham in 1571.[8]
At the time of his death he was living at St Augustine's Green in Bristol and married to a woman called Alice.[1]
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "DENYS, Sir Walter (by 1501-71), of Dyrham and St. Augustine's Green, Bristol, Glos". Retrieved 22 January 2024.
- ^ List of Sheriffs of England and Wales. Vol. 9. Lists & Indexes Society. 1898. p. 51.
- ^ "VCH Gloucestershire volume 11, Horsley: Manor and other estates". Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ "DENYS, Sir Maurice (by 1516-63), of London and Siston, Glos". Retrieved 24 January 2024.
- ^ "The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, Volume 2, Sutton-at-Hone". Retrieved 22 January 2024.
- ^ Rudder, Samuel (1779). A New History of Gloucestershire. p. 664.
- ^ Rudder 1779, p. 212.
- ^ "Clergy of the Church of England Database: Dennys, Walter (1571 - 1577)". Retrieved 24 January 2024.