Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 23.djvu/120

 , first earl of Bath [q.v.]; Bernard (1631-1701), father of [q. v.] and of, lord Lansdowne [q. v.]; and (1637-1703) [q. v.] afterwards dean of Durham (,p. 192). Monuments to Grenville's memory were erected by his grandson, lord Lansdowne, at Stratton, at Lansdowne and at Kilkhampton (, History of Bath, 1801, p. 84; Gent. Mag. 1845, pt. ii. p 35). A portrait of Grenville, from a miniature in the possession of [q. v.] is engraved in Lord Nugent's ‘Life of Hampden,’ ed. 1832.



GRENVILLE, DENIS (1637–1703), Jacobite divine, youngest son of Sir [q. v.], was born 13 Feb 1637 and baptised at Kilkhampton, Cornwall, 26 Feb. He was probably educated for some time at a grammar school in his native county, and at Eton. He was matriculated as a gentleman-commoner of Exeter College, Oxford, 22 Sept. 1657, according to Boase (Register of Exeter, p. xxxi), or, according to the university records, on 6 Aug. 1658. He was created M.A. in convocation 28 Sept. 1660, and proceeded D.D. on 28 Feb. 1671. About 1660 he married Anne, fourth and youngest daughter of Bishop Cosen. He was then preparing, according to his panegyrists, to cast ‘a lustre upon the clergy,’ adding the ‘eminency of birth’ to ‘virtues, learning, and piety.’ Bishop Sanderson ordained him in 1661, and on 10 July in the same year he succeeded, on the presentation of his eldest brother, [q. v.], earl of Bath, to the family living of Kilkhampton. Lord Bath also obtained for him a promise of the next vacant fellowship at Eton College. Sheldon, archbishop of Canterbury, resisted this arrangement, but the king sent a peremptory mandate directing that it should be strictly fulfilled. Before the next vacancy (in 1669) Grenville exchanged the reversion for the prebendal stall of Langtoft in York Cathedral, held by Timothy Thriscrosse. He was collated to the first stall in Durham (his father-in-law's) Cathedral on 18 Sept. 1662. He was appointed to the archdeaconry of Durham, with the rectory of Easington annexed, in September 1662, and in 1664 to the rectory of Elwick Hall. He resigned Elwick Hall in 1667 upon his institution to the rich rectory of Sedgefield, and in 1668 he surrendered the first for the second stall, being installed on 16 Feb. 1668. With the assistance of Bishop [q. v.] he obtained, in spite of Archbishop Sancroft's opposition, the very lucrative deanery of Durham, to which he was instituted on 9 Dec. 1684. Sancroft exclaimed that ‘Grenville was not worthy of the least stall in Durham Cathedral,’ and his diocesan retorted that ‘he would rather choose a gentleman than a silly fellow who knew nothing about [? but] books.’ Grenville then vacated his stall, but held at the same time the deanery and archdeaconry of Durham, and the rectory of Sedgefield, described in his own words as ‘the best deanery, the best archdeaconry, and one of the best livings in England.’ He managed, however, to get into debt, and while archdeacon of Durham and one of the king's chaplains in ordinary he was openly arrested within the cloisters of the cathedral and imprisoned, though claiming his privileges. The matter was brought before the king in council, when he was freed, and the offending officials were severely punished. His wife suffered from ‘occasional attacks of mental excitement,’ aggravated, if not created, by these debts, and by her husband's consequent estrangement from her father and her sister, Lady Gerrard. During 1678 and 1679 he retired with his sister, Lady Joanna Thornhill, and her family to Tour D'Aigues, a small town in Provence.

Grenville was a strong churchman, and he laboured all his time at Durham to promote a weekly communion in the cathedral; he confessed to Dugdale in 1683 that he had been compelled to play ‘a very hard game these twenty years in maintaining y$e$ exact order w$ch$ Bpp. Cosins set on foot.’ As dean he also endeavoured to make ‘the cathedral the great seminary of young divines for the diocese, and to this end to invite ingenuous young men to be minor canons,’ with right of succession to the chapter livings. He was a zealous adherent of James II, and upon William's landing raised 700l. from the prebendaries of Durham for the king, giving 100l. himself. He addressed the clergy of his archdeaconry on behalf of James, and even after Durham had been surprised by William's followers (Sunday, 9 Dec.) Grenville delivered ‘a seasonable loyall sermon.’ At