Sir Walter Denys (c. 1501–1571) of

Dyrham Dyrham is a village and parish in South Gloucestershire, England. Location and communications Dyrham is at lat. 51° 29' north, long. 2° 22' west (). It lies at an altitude of 100 metres above sea level. It is near the A46 trunk road, about ...

, Gloucestershire was a Tudor landowner and member of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. ...

Background

Denys was the son of Sir William Denys of Dyrham and Anne, daughter of Maurice Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley.

Maurice Denys Sir Maurice Denys (1516–1563) of Siston Court, near Bristol, Gloucestershire, and of St John's Street, Clerkenwell, Middlesex, was an English lawyer and property speculator during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, at which time he serve ...

was his younger brother. In 1533 inherited a considerable estate in Gloucestershire from his father.

Career

He was

High Sheriff of Gloucestershire This is a list of Sheriffs and High Sheriffs of Gloucestershire, who should not be confused with the Sheriffs of the City of Gloucester. The High Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown (in England and Wales the office previously kn ...

from June to November 1533, then in 1538-9, 1543-4, 1551-2 and 1555-6. He was a Justice of the peace in Gloucestershire from 1535 and knighted at around the same time. He was steward and receiver of

St Augustine's abbey St Augustine's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Canterbury, Kent, England. The abbey was founded in 598 and functioned as a monastery until its dissolution in 1538 during the English Reformation. After the abbey's dissolution, it underwent ...

, Bristol from 1542. In 1553 he purchased the manor of

Horsley, Gloucestershire Horsley is a village and civil parish about one and a half miles south-west of the small Cotswold market town of Nailsworth. The origins of the name Horsley are much debated, although it is thought to be derived from the pre-7th-century Old En ...

, which he conveyed to his son

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stro ...

. He was temporarily removed from the bench under

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also call ...

. The change of regime caused both Sir Walter and his younger brother financial difficulties. He sat for

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

in the Parliament of 1558 and

Cricklade Cricklade is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in north Wiltshire, England, midway between Swindon and Cirencester. It is the first downstream town on the Thames. The parish population at the 2011 census was 4,227. History Cricklade ...

in 1559. In 1563 he inherited Sutton Place in

Sutton-at-Hone Sutton-at-Hone is a village in the civil parish of Sutton-at-Hone and Hawley in the Borough of Dartford in Kent, England. It is located 3.5 miles south of Dartford & 3.6 miles north east of Swanley. History The place-name 'Sutton-at-Hone' i ...

, Kent from his brother Maurice, which he and his son sold the following year. He also acquired from Maurice the ancestral manor of Siston and

Abson Abson is a small village in South Gloucestershire, England, it forms part of the civil parish of Wick and Abson. Location Abson is located on a minor road between the villages of Wick and Pucklechurch. It is a mainly nucleated in pattern wit ...

, Gloucestershire.

Family

By 1522 he was married to Margaret, the daughter of Sir Richard Weston of

Sutton Place, Surrey Sutton Place, north-east of Guildford in Surrey, is a Grade I listed Tudor manor house built c. 1525 by Sir Richard Weston (d. 1541), courtier of Henry VIII. It is of great importance to art history in showing some of the earliest traces of ...

. His heir was

Richard Denys Richard Denys (c. 1525 – 1593/94), of Cold Ashton, Gloucestershire, was an English politician. Family Denys was the eldest son of Sir Walter Denys, who was well known in local public affairs, by his first wife. His inheritance did not match h ...

, who also served as an MP. Another son Walter (d. 1577) became rector of Dyrham in 1571. At the time of his death he was living at St Augustine's Green in Bristol and married to a woman called Alice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denys, Walter Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Cricklade Sheriffs in the United Kingdom Members of the Parliament of England for Gloucestershire 1500s births 1571 deaths Year of birth uncertain English MPs 1558 English MPs 1559