Alexander Denton (14 August 1679 – 22 March 1740) was a British lawyer and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

between 1708 and 1722 and 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, ...

from 1709 to 1715.

Biography

Denton was the second son of Alexander Denton and his wife Hester Herman, daughter of Nicholas Herman of Middleton Stoney, Oxfordshire. He was educated at Buckingham in 1694 and matriculated at

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (also known as The Hall and Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university" and was the las ...

in 1697. He was admitted at

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court entitled to Call to the bar, call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple (with whi ...

in 1698 and called to the bar in 1704. His father, Alexander Denton, was also a Member of Parliament (MP) representing

Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of ...

, from 1690 to 1698. He was the younger brother of Sir Edmund Denton. Denton was returned as Member of Parliament (MP) for

at the 1708 general election. He also sat in the

for

Carrickfergus Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 28,141 at the 2021 census. It is County Antrim's oldest t ...

from 1709 to 1713. At the 1715 general election he was returned as MP for Buckingham again. He became a Bencher of Middle Temple in 1720 and in 1722 after being returned as MP again he gave up his seat in Parliament on being appointed

Justice of the Common Pleas Justice of the Common Pleas was a puisne judicial position within the Court of Common Pleas (England), Court of Common Pleas of England and Wales, under the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Chief Justice. The Common Pleas was the primary court o ...

and remained as such until his death. Denton made a financially advantageous marriage on 3 March 1716 to Catherine Bond, daughter of John Bond of Sundridge, Kent. She died in 1733 and he died on 22 March 1740. He was childless, as was his brother, and so his property descended to his nephew George Chamberlayne. He is buried with his wife in Hillesden Church with a large monument by

Henry Cheere Sir Henry Cheere, 1st Baronet (1703 – 15 January 1781) was an English sculptor and monumental mason.George Edward Cokayne, ed., ''The Complete Baronetage'', 5 volumes (no date, c.1900); reprint, (Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing, 1983), Vol. ...

commissioned on the death of his wife.Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denton, Alexander 1679 births 1740 deaths British MPs 1708–1710 British MPs 1715–1722 Justices of the common pleas Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Irish MPs 1703–1713 Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Antrim constituencies