Sir Peter Denis, 1st Baronet

For those of a similar name, see Peter Dennis (disambiguation).

Admiral Sir Peter Denis, 1st Baronet (1713 – 11 June 1778) was an English naval officer and Member of Parliament.

Life

The son of a Huguenot refugee, Denis joined the navy as a young man and was a midshipman in HMS Centurion under the command of Commodore George Anson at the start of his famous circumnavigation (1740-1744). He was promoted to lieutenant in 1739. On 5 November 1741, in the South Seas, he was sent in command of 16 men in a cutter to pursue a Spanish vessel . He boarded and carried his prize, which proved to be bound from Guiaquil to Callao. The cargo was of little value to its captors, but intelligence derived from the capture led to the attack on the town of Paita a few days afterwards.

By 1745 Denis had been promoted to command and given the 26-gun sixth rate privateer and recaptured two British merchantmen. By 1747 Denis was back in the 50-gun Centurion as her captain, commanding her at the Battle of Cape Finisterre, where he once more served under Anson, now an admiral. When the enemy was sighted, Anson signalled a general chase as he expected the French to evade action if possible until they could escape under cover of darkness; Centurion was swiftest into action, engaging the rearmost French ship and occupying her and two larger enemy ships until the main body of the British fleet could come up. After the battle Denis was entrusted with bringing back to England the news of Anson's victory; as the public acclaim that followed won Anson a peerage, this may well have further endeared Denis to Anson.

In 1754, Denis entered Parliament as member for Hedon, a Yorkshire borough where Anson was the "patron" with the power to select the MPs. He held the seat for fourteen years, throughout which time the other MP was another naval officer, Sir Charles Saunders, who later rose to become First Lord of the Admiralty.

Denis continued his naval career, commanding the 90-gun HMS Namur in Admiral Edward Hawke's unsuccessful expedition against Rochefort in September 1757. At the decisive victory of Quiberon Bay in 1759, he was captain of the 70-gun HMS Dorsetshire. In 1767 he was created a Baronet, of St Mary's in the County of Kent, but as he left no male heir the title became extinct on his death.

He died in 1778, having reached the rank of Vice-Admiral of the Red.

References

• Leigh Rayment's List of Baronets
• Dictionary of National Biography
• Ships of the 18th-century Royal Navy

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by Sir John Savile Luke Robinson	Member of Parliament for Hedon with Sir Charles Saunders 1754–1768	Succeeded by Sir Charles Saunders Beilby Thompson
Baronetage of Great Britain
New creation	Baronet (of St Mary's) 1767-1778	Extinct