Rodney Dennys

Rodney Dennys was born on 16 July 1911 at Ipoh, Perak, in the colony of British Malaya, where his father Frederick Dennys was a civil servant. He was educated at Canford School, before joining the Foreign Office.^[1]

Dennys joined the Foreign Service in 1937. During World War II, he was a member of the Intelligence Corps. For his war work in the Middle East, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) on 14 October 1943.^[2] He returned to the Foreign Office, serving in various intelligence posts, including Cairo, Ankara and Paris, where he was First Secretary.^[1] He was granted the honorary rank of lieutenant-colonel on 1 January 1949,^[3] and relinquished his commission in 1966, retaining that rank.^[4]

Dennys joined the staff at the College of Arms in 1958. His first heraldic appointment came on 8 August 1961 when he was appointed Rouge Croix Pursuivant of Arms in Ordinary to replace Walter Verco.^[5] He continued in this office until 1967 when he was appointed Somerset Herald of Arms in Ordinary.^[6] He held this position until his retirement in 1982,^[7] after which he was granted the post of Arundel Herald of Arms Extraordinary.^[8] In 1969 he was made a Member (4th Class) of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO), on the occasion of the Investiture of the Prince of Wales,^[9] in the 1982 New Year Honours he was promoted to Commander (CVO).^[10] In 1983 he was appointed High Sheriff of East Sussex.^[11]

Dennys's wife, Elizabeth, was a sister of the late Graham Greene. They had one son and two daughters.^[12]

• Rodney Dennys. The Heraldic Imagination. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1975.
• Rodney Dennys. Heraldry and the Heralds. London: Jonathan Cape, 1982 and 1984.