Image ID: 08122

Viscount Ossington - John Evelyn Denison (1800-1873) of Ossington Hall

Ossington Hall
Ossington
England

1st Viscount Ossington, John Evelyn 'Speaker' Denison as an old man. The photograph is thought to have been taken on the stable steps (now demolished) at the rear of the Church. John Evelyn Denison was renowned as a Victorian English statesman, and was the eldest son of John Denison (d. 1820) of Ossington Hall, Nottinghamshire, where he was born on the 27th of January 1800. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. John Evelyn Denison entered the House of Commons in 1823 as the representative for Newcastle-under-Lyme under Mr Canning's administration. He was appointed one of the Lords of the Admiralty on the death of Canning. He relinquished his Admiralty Seat and did not again hold office, preferring the position of Independent Member. Being elected for Hastings in 1830 and being chosen for both Liverpool and Nottingham in 1831, he elected to serve his own County until 1841 and from then until 1857 he served Malton. From 1857 - 1872 he served North Notts. In 1857 he was elected Speaker of the House of Commons, and re-elected in 1859, 1866 and 1868, retiring in 1872 and being elevated to the Upper House of Lords with the title VISCOUNT OSSINGTON. In 1827 he married Lady Charlotte Bentinck, third daughter of the Fourth Duke of Portland, and sister to the eccentric Fifth Duke. Lady Charlotte and John Evelyn Denison had no children. When in London, they lived at no 7 Carlton House Terrace. Lady Charlotte herself had an elevated position at the Court of Queen Victoria. John Evelyn Denison (or 'speaker Denison as he came to be known) was also a County Magistrate, President of the Nottingham Mechanics Institute, also much involved in High Church Issues, and involved with Mr William Gladstone in the publication of the Speakers Commentary (being a set of Bible Commentaries.) On his retirement he refused to take the pension of

Date: 1850 - 1873

Organisation Reference: NCCE001929

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