Life

He was born at 34 Harley Street

Harley Street

Harley Street is a street in the City of Westminster in London, England which has been noted since the 19th century for its large number of private specialists in medicine and surgery.- Overview :...

, London, on 13 March 1801. His father was John Denison of Ossington, a merchant in London; his surname was originally Wilkinson, but as first cousin of William Denison of Kirkgate, Leeds

Leeds

Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

, he was left the bulk of a large property on condition that he assumed the name of Denison and continued the business in Leeds. This he did, and afterwards resided at Ossington

Ossington

Ossington is a village in the county of Nottinghamshire, England 7 miles north of Newark on Trent.It is centred around the site of Ossington Hall, the ancestral home of the Denison family. The house was demolished in 1964 and all that remains are a few out-buildings and the private chapel which...

, Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...

, and died at 2 Portman Square, London, on 6 May 1820. His mother, his father's second wife, was Charlotte, second daughter of Samuel Estwick, M.P. for Westbury

Westbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Westbury was a parliamentary constituency in Wiltshire from 1449 to 2010. It was represented in the House of Commons of England until 1707, and then in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and finally in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801...

. John Evelyn Denison, speaker of the House of Commons, George Anthony Denison

George Anthony Denison

George Anthony Denison was a Church of England priest.-Life:Brother of politician John Evelyn Denison, 1st Viscount Ossington, he was born at Ossington, Nottinghamshire, and educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford...

 the archdeacon of Taunton, and Sir William Thomas Denison were his brothers.

Edward Denison received his early education at Esher

Esher

Esher is a town in the Surrey borough of Elmbridge in South East England near the River Mole. It is a very prosperous part of the Greater London Urban Area, largely suburban in character, and is situated 14.1 miles south west of Charing Cross....

, and in 1811 entered Eton College

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

. In 1818 he entered Oriel College, Oxford, where in 1822 he took a first class and his B. A. degree. He was elected a fellow of Merton College in 1826, proceeded M.A., and received ordination on 23 December 1827. After serving as curate at Wolvercote

Wolvercote

Wolvercote is a village that is part of the City of Oxford, England, though still retaining its own identity. It is about northwest of the centre of Oxford, on the northern edge of Wolvercote Common, which is itself north of Port Meadow.-History:The village is listed in the Domesday Book as...

, near Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, and at Radcliffe on Trent

Radcliffe on Trent

Radcliffe-on-Trent is a large village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe borough of Nottinghamshire-Location:Radcliffe has a population of around 8,000. It is to the east of Nottingham, and is close to but not quite part of the Greater Nottingham built-up area...

 in Nottinghamshire, he returned to Oxford and took charge of the parish of St. Peter, where he remained until his appointment to the see of Salisbury

Salisbury

Salisbury is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England and the only city in the county. It is the second largest settlement in the county...

.

He acquired some reputation while filling the office of select preacher before the university in 1834, but in 1835 strongly opposed the admission of dissenters to the colleges of Oxford. With the support of Lord Melbourne, and at the early age of thirty-six, he was consecrated bishop of Salisbury (16 April 1837), having on 5 April previously been created D.D. by his university. He immediately increased the number of Sunday services in the parish churches, and reformed the mode of conducting confirmations. When cholera

Cholera

Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...

 broke out in Salisbury the bishop worked both as a religious teacher and as a sanitary reformer.

He was a well-known advocate of the revival of the church's synodical powers, and in convocation displayed considerable resolution in furthering the movement. A good administrator, in his theological views he was always somewhat intolerant. He died from the effects of a cold, which terminated in a black jaundice, in the Close, Salisbury, on 6 March 1854, aged fifty-three, and was buried in the cloisters of the cathedral on 15 March.

Works

Denison wrote mainly sermons and charges. They include:

• 'The Sin of Causing Offence,' a sermon, 1835.
• 'A Review of the State of the Question respecting the Admission of Dissenters to the Universities,' 1835.
• 'Sermons preached before the University of Oxford,' 1836.
• 'The Church the Teacher of her Children,' a sermon, 1839.
• 'The Obligation of the Clergy in Preaching the Word of God,' a charge, 1842.
• 'Difficulties in the Church,' a sermon, 1853.
• 'Speech in the House of Lords, June 25, 1853, relative to the Charge of having received more than the legitimate Income of his See,' 1853.

Family

He married, first, on 27 June 1839, Louisa Mary, second daughter of Henry Ker Seymer of Hanford, Dorsetshire, she died on 22 Sept. 1841; secondly, on 10 July 1845, the Hon. Clementina Baillie-Hamilton, fourth daughter of the Ven. Charles Baillie-Hamilton, archdeacon of Cleveland.