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John and his brother Jonas (1) were born in Exeter the children of Jonas Dennis and Martha Cobley.  John was born in 1777, two years after his brother, and his father appears to have died in the January before he was born (2).  Father Jonas was a grocer in Exeter; he had been appointed Receiver for the City in 1772 and in 1774 joined the Committee of the Devon & Exeter Hospital in Southernhay (3), and Jonas bequeathed money to the hospital in his will.  The family attended St. Mary Arches Church (2).   

John went up to Exeter College Oxford aged 17 in October 1794 and obtained his B.A. in 1800(4) and was subsequently ordained.  His brother, at age 17, went to Oriel College in 1793 but received a Batchelor of Canon Law at Exeter College in 1800.   In 1803 both brothers appear to have been living in the St. David’s area of Exeter because they appear in the Militia List (6) and both were listed Class 1 which meant that they were under 30 and had no children under 10.  In1812 “Reverend Jonas & Reverend John” were instructed in their mother’s will to ensure that her servant of 20 years, Mary Hill, was paid £10 guineas per annum for life (5).  

At some unknown date John Dennis married a lady whose Christian name was Elizabeth who was from London.  They were living in Budleigh Salterton when their first child John was baptised in East Budleigh on 4th December 1814, and John was recorded in the baptismal record as the “assistant minister of Salterton Chapel”.  This would have been the Chapel of Ease in East Terrace.  The chapel had been built in 1813 and was enlarged in 1837 but never consecrated (7), so we can assume that he probably took up his post when the Chapel opened.  

A son, James, was baptised in June 1816 and another, Samuel, in 1819.  In the 1819 baptismal record John is described as Chaplain of Exeter Cavalry Barracks.  All the baptisms were carried out by John’s brother Jonas.  

It would appear that the Revd. John Dennis died in the Budleigh area in either in late 1828 or early 1829. His will was proved on 19th February 1829 and he was described as Clerk of East Budleigh (PROB 11/1751 The National Archives). 

With regard to the children of the marriage, his son James died in 1822 (3), and John & Samuel both were sent to Sherborne School in 1830(8).   

According to the Register, Mrs Dennis was living in Castleton (which is just outside Sherborne).  John left school in 1832 and was admitted to Wadham College Oxford in 1833 and received a B.A in 1837 while at St. Mary’s Hall (4). His brother Samuel left Sherborne School in 1836 and entered Trinity College Cambridge in February 1837 (9).  The register says he came from “The King’s School Dorset (Dr Lyon)”; this was an old name for Sherborne School and Dr Lyon was a celebrated Head Master.  

Samuel received his B.A. in 1842 and M.A. in 1847 and was subsequently ordained. In 1845 he married Georgiana Call in Bideford and in 1851 we find him in Torquay with his wife and three children living with his widowed mother. His mother died later that year and Samuel himself in 1854.  Samuel’s wife moved back to Bideford with her children. 

Compiled and researched by Roger Lendon © 2010 

(1)   OVApedia entry by Roz Hickman. Dennis, Rev. Jonas (1776-1847)

(2)   Parish Registers

(3)   Exeter Flying Post entries

(4)   Oxford University Alumni, 1500-1886 Vol 1.

(5)   Inland Revenue Wills microfiche IRW D fiche 28, Devon Record Office.

(6)   Exeter Militia List 1803 ed. W.G. Hoskins  Devon & Cornwall Record Society 1972

(7)   The Book of Budleigh by D. R. Cann. Halsgrove 2005.

(8)     Sherborne School Register Vol.1

(9)   Cambridge University Alumni, 1261-1900 

109 BS-B-00039 Biography any