Family and Education

bap. 8 Dec. 1654, 2nd but 1st surv. s. of Edmund Denton of Hillesden by Elizabeth, da. of Sir Richard Rogers of Eastwood, Glos.  educ. Oxford (Mr Finch) 1664–5, Hanwell (George Ashwell) 1665.  m. 10 Nov. 1673, Hester (d. 1691), da. and h. of Nicholas Herman of Middleton Stoney, Oxon., 3s. 2da.  suc. fa. 1657.1

Offices Held

Biography

An orphan at the age of three, Denton inherited estates decimated by sequestration during the Interregnum and by his father’s financial extravagance. He was brought up under the care of his great-uncle, Dr William Denton, court physician to Charles II, and of his godfather, Sir Ralph Verney, 1st Bt.†, who, between them, saved Hillesden for the family.2

Denton was appointed to the Buckinghamshire lieutenancy in March 1680, after being recommended by the lord lieutenant, the 2nd Earl of Bridgwater. He originally intended to stand in 1685 for Buckingham, a borough some three miles from his seat, but, finding Verney was a candidate, desisted and put his ‘small interest’ at his godfather’s disposal. In February 1688 he gave negative replies to the first two of James II’s ‘three questions’ on the repeal of the Penal Laws and Test Act. In March his wife ran off with his intimate friend Thomas Smith (son of Sir William Smith†). After a lawsuit he was awarded £5,000 damages against Smith, and because his wife had taken £500 with her she lost any right to financial support, even though she had previously brought him a fortune. Denton refused to see her, and when news of her death broke in September 1691, John Verney* (Lord Fermanagh) thought it ‘no ill news to her husband’. However, Denton did pay for her burial in Spitalfields.3

After again being mentioned as a candidate for Buckingham in the elections for the Convention, Denton took advantage of Sir Ralph Verney’s lassitude, making a strong interest there in February 1690. He was quickly joined with Sir Richard Temple, 3rd Bt.*, much to the chagrin of Verney who gracefully ceded his interest to his ‘cousin’, when approached by him on the eve of the poll ‘for the benefit and advantage of his affairs’, while admitting privately that he did so only because he could not win. Much spleen was vented at this betrayal of his kinsman by Denton, John Verney referring to Denton as ‘a silly drunken cuck[old]’. Like the Verneys, Denton was a Tory, even going into Oxfordshire to assist the Tory candidates for that county, and being classed as such on Lord Carmarthen’s (Sir Thomas Osborne†) list of the new Parliament and also on two subsequent lists of Carmarthen’s supporters. He was assessed as a Country supporter on Robert Harley’s* list of April 1691. Denton seems to have divided his time between London and his estate at Hillesden, often visiting Buckinghamshire while Parliament was in session, and indulging in his passion for the turf. However, the concerns of his constituents, particularly the ongoing battle with Aylesbury to secure the county assizes, could bring him to the capital even at the height of summer.4

Denton was re-elected after another contest in 1695, despite the distraction of his courtship of ‘Mistress Clarke’ from Watford. Denton was forecast as likely to oppose the Court in the division on 31 Jan. 1696 over the proposed council of trade, refused to sign the Association at first (although he quickly changed his mind, subscribing on 16 Mar.), voted against fixing the price of guineas at 22s. and on 25 Nov. voted against the attainder of Sir John Fenwick†. He continued to be an inactive Member, however, obtaining frequent leaves of absence (five times in all during his parliamentary career). Returned again in 1698 and listed as a member of the Country party in a comparative analysis of the old and new House undertaken about September, he died on 17 Oct. before Parliament assembled.5

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Stuart Handley

Notes

• 1. Lipscomb, Bucks. iii. 17–18; Recs. of Bucks. xi. 246–7.
• 2. Verney Mems. 17th Cent. i. 568; ii. 117; Lipscomb, 17–18; Cal. Comm. Comp. 2269, 2878; VCH Bucks. iv. 175.
• 3. CSP Dom. 1679–80, p. 416; Duckett, Penal Laws and Test Act (1883), 148; Verney Mems. 379–80, 453; Luttrell, Brief Relation, i. 544; BL, Verney mss mic. 636/45, John to Sir Ralph Verney, 2 Sept. 1691.
• 4. Verney mss mic. 636/44, William Coleman and J. Churchill to Sir Ralph Verney, 10 Feb. 1689[–90], John Verney to same, 20 Feb. 1689[–90], Dr William Denton to same, 16 Apr. 1690, Sir Ralph to Edmund Verney, 21 Feb. 1689[–90]; 636/46, John to Sir Ralph Verney, 28 June 1693; Huntington Lib. Stowe mss STT 479, 482, William Chaplyn to Temple, 11 Feb., 11 Mar. 1689[–90].
• 5. Verney mss mic. 636/48, John to Sir Ralph Verney, 25, 26 Sept. 1695; Luttrell, iv. 30; Verney Mems. ii. 493; Lipscomb, 21.