Edward Walford

“ But perhaps the good fortune which has attended on the Denisons in their “rise and progress” to opulence and title has seldom or never been surpassed. The father of the late Mr. William Joseph Denison of Denbies, the wealthy banker, whose daughter married the late Marquis of Conyngham, the especial favourite of George IV., and whose grandson wore the coronet of Lord Londesborough, was the son of very poor parents in Leeds. ”

“ There are “ups” as well as “downs” among the many changes which years are silently working in the families of England. The grandfather of the present owner of Leigh Court in Somersetshire, Sir William Miles, came to Bristol from Herefordshire, a poor boy with but a few shillings in his pocket: within the last few years a barber in Canterbury and a barber at the West End of London have seen their sons raised respectively to the dignities of Lord Chief Justice and Lord High Chancellor of England: and many other instances of the same kind might be adduced. ”