{{short description|16th-century English politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} '''Sir Walter Denys''' (c. 1501–1571) of Dyrham, Gloucestershire was a Tudor landowner and member of Parliament.
==Background== Denys was the son of Sir William Denys of Dyrham and Anne, daughter of Maurice Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley. Maurice Denys was his younger brother.<ref name="HoP">{{cite web|title=DENYS, Sir Walter (by 1501-71), of Dyrham and St. Augustine's Green, Bristol, Glos.|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/denys-sir-walter-1501-71|access-date=22 January 2024}}</ref> In 1533 inherited a considerable estate in Gloucestershire from his father.<ref name=HoP />
==Career== He was High Sheriff of Gloucestershire from June to November 1533, then in 1538–9, 1543–4, 1551-2 and 1555–6.<ref>{{cite book|title=List of Sheriffs of England and Wales|publisher=Lists & Indexes Society|volume=9|date=1898|page=51}}</ref> He was a Justice of the peace in Gloucestershire from 1535 and knighted at around the same time.<ref name=HoP /> He was steward and receiver of St Augustine's abbey, Bristol from 1542.<ref name=HoP /> In 1553 he purchased the manor of Horsley, Gloucestershire, which he conveyed to his son Richard.<ref>{{cite web|title=VCH Gloucestershire volume 11, Horsley: Manor and other estates|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/glos/vol11/pp177-179|access-date=24 January 2024}}</ref>
He was temporarily removed from the bench under Mary.<ref name=HoP /> The change of regime caused both Sir Walter and his younger brother financial difficulties.<ref name=HoP /><ref>{{cite web|title=DENYS, Sir Maurice (by 1516-63), of London and Siston, Glos.|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1509-1558/member/denys-sir-maurice-1516-63|access-date=24 January 2024}}</ref>
He sat for Gloucestershire in the Parliament of 1558 and Cricklade in 1559.<ref name=HoP /> In 1563 he inherited Sutton Place in Sutton-at-Hone, Kent from his brother Maurice, which he and his son sold the following year.<ref>{{cite web|title=The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, Volume 2, Sutton-at-Hone|url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol2/pp343-367|access-date=22 January 2024}}</ref> He also acquired from Maurice the ancestral manor of Siston<ref>{{cite book|title=A New History of Gloucestershire|first=Samuel|last=Rudder|date=1779|page=664}}</ref> and Abson, Gloucestershire.{{sfn|Rudder|1779|p=212}}
==Family== By 1522 he was married to Margaret, the daughter of Sir Richard Weston of Sutton Place, Surrey.<ref name=HoP /> His heir was Richard Denys, who also served as an MP.<ref name=HoP /> Another son Walter (d. 1577) became rector of Dyrham in 1571.<ref>{{cite web|title=Clergy of the Church of England Database: Dennys, Walter (1571 - 1577)|url=https://theclergydatabase.org.uk/jsp/persons/CreatePersonFrames.jsp?PersonID=149426|access-date=24 January 2024}}</ref>
At the time of his death he was living at St Augustine's Green in Bristol and married to a woman called Alice.<ref name=HoP />
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Denys, Walter}} Category:Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Cricklade Category:Sheriffs in the United Kingdom Category:Members of the Parliament of England (pre-1707) for Gloucestershire Category:1500s births Category:1571 deaths Category:Year of birth uncertain Category:English MPs 1558 Category:English MPs 1559