Family and Education

1st s. of Edward Dennis of Trenant. m. Prudence, da. and coh. of Arthur Vosper of Liskeard,1 4s.

Offices Held

Mayor of Liskeard 1704-5, 1711-12, 1720-2, 1727-8; sheriff, Cornw. 1728; comptroller of lotteries Mar. 1728-Apr. 1734.

Biography

Dennis was the son of a Liskeard attorney, several times mayor of the borough, near which he bought the estate of Trenant in 1702. Marrying into one of the principal local families, he was active in borough affairs, lending money to the corporation2 and joining his interest to that of Richard Eliot, to whom he no doubt owed his post as comptroller of the lotteries. In 1734 he gave up this office to his son in order to be returned for Liskeard, but next year Eliot reported to Walpole that ‘Mr. Dennis is so infirm that for the future I must not expect much assistance from him.’3 He voted with the Administration on the Spanish convention in 1739, and on the place bill in January 1740, dying just over a month later on 8 Mar.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

• 1. G. C. Boase, Collectanea Cornubiensia, 204; Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 287; PCC 70 Browne.
• 2. J. Allen, Hist. Liskeard, 484.
• 3. 25 July 1735, Cholmondeley (Houghton) mss.