Dennis Hird
Church of England priest
James Dennis Hird (28 January 1850 - 13 July 1920) was a British clergyman, educator and author.
Hird was born in Ashby, Lincolnshire (now part of Scunthorpe) to Robert and Fanny Dennis Hird née Kendall. He was the second of five sons, though only three survived to adulthood. In later life he became known by his middle name, Dennis, this being the maiden name of his maternal grandmother, Fanny Kendall. The Kendall family, who was well known in Ashby, was credited as the main instigators in bringing Primitive Methodism to the hamlet. Six of Dennis's maternal uncles were ordained ministers in this faith, along with a cousin, Holliday Bickerstaffe Kendall. The Hird family were also Methodists and well known in the hamlet. Robert Hird was a grocer and Hird Terrace (no longer standing) was once named after the family. Primitive Methodism was a big influence in Dennis's early life and may be the spark for his socialist tendencies, as it was more favoured by the working classes of the time.
Ministry
Hird was educated at Oxford as a non-collegiate student, graduating BA in 1875 (MA in 1878).
“Dennis Hird” enters the record as church of England priest. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Dennis, Hird and Church can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 24, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5258515. VIAF identifies the subject as 6891595. The Library of Congress control number is nb99133192. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1850, 1920, 1875 and 1878.
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This entry incorporates text from “Dennis Hird” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.