DENNY, Edward (1796-1889), of Tralee Castle, co. Kerry.

The Denny family estate in county Kerry included most of the borough of Tralee, of which they were parliamentary patrons. At the instigation of his grandfather Judge Day and of Maurice Fitzgerald, one of the sitting Members, Denny canvassed the county from 1816, but declined a contest: his opponent, the other sitting Member James Crosbie, assured the chief secretary that Denny had ‘not the slightest chance and his only object is to put me to expense’.1Add. 40278, f. 201. Instead, he came in for the family borough, which was usually sold by his father (who himself came in for it ten years later) to the highest bidder. Before the year was out and without having drawn attention to himself in Parliament, Denny was replaced by a paying guest. He had voted for Catholic relief, 3 May 1819.2Dublin Evening Post, 11 May 1819; but he was ordered into custody by the House next day, CJ, lxxiv. 394. He subsequently became the author, as a member of the Plymouth Brethren, of numerous hymns and theological works.3Rev. H. L. L. Denny, Denny Fam. of Tralee, 16. He contested Tralee unsuccessfully in 1832 and 1835. He died 13 June 1889.