Sir Edward Denny was born at Tralee Castle, County Kerry, Ireland, October 2, 1796. He was the eldest son of the 3rd baronet of Tralee Castle. The old Tralee Castle was demolished 1825, nothing remains.
Edward became a Christian after reading "Father Clement", the story of two Irish families, the one Protestant, the other Roman Catholic, in which scriptural truth wins the day.
In 1828 his mother, Elizabeth, daughter of the Hon. Robert Day, died. From childhood she had been everything to him, and he had become deeply concerned about her soul. Through his prayers and influence she had trusted the Lord Jesus as her Saviour. In 1831 his father died, and he inherited the title and a good part of Tralee with 21,000 acres of land.
Edward gave liberally to poor relations and to the development of religious work in connection with the "Brethren". He took a leading part in the series of Prophetic Truth Conferences (1830) at Powerscourt, He delighted in the study of prophecies in the Bible, and in 1849 published two charts "The Seventy Weeks of Daniel" and "The Cycle of Seventy Weeks", together with a companion handbook "Forgiveness Seventy and Sevenfold". He also wrote many hymns, some of which can be found at Stem Publishing:
He died on June 13th, 1889 at the advanced age of 93 "with clusters ripe and leaf all green". He was a living exemplification of his family motto "Act Mea Messis Erit" — "in age my harvest shall be". He was buried at the Paddington Cemetery (London, UK). He had never married. On his headstone is the following triumphant inscription, "In joyful assurance of rising to an endless day".
"Light of the lonely pilgrim's heart,
Star of the coming day!
Arise, and with the morning beams,
Chase all our griefs away"
This is probably Sir Edward Denny's best known hymn, my favourite song is the following one:.
Oh, wondrous hour when Saviour Thou,
Co-equal with the eternal God,
Beneath our sins didst deign to bow
And shed for us Thy precious blood!
On Thee, the Father's blessed Son,
As Lamb of God our judgment fell;
That all was borne, that all is done,
Thine agony, Thy cross can tell.
Thy cross, Thy cross! 'tis there we see
What Thou, our blessed Saviour, art;
There all the love that dwells in Thee
Was labouring in Thy breaking heart.
For us it was: our life we owe,
Our joy, our glory, all to Thee;
Thy sufferings in that hour of woe,
Thy victory, Lord, have made us free.