Obituaries Australia

Charles Dennys, n.d.

from Australasian Pastoralists' Review, 15 February 1898

Mr. Charles John Dennys, the founder of the woolbroking firm of Messrs. Dennys, Lascelles, Austin and Co., and the pioneer of the Geelong wool trade, died on the 4th inst, at his residence, Clermont, Geelong. Mr. Dennys, who was eighty years of age, was a colonist of fifty-six years, having landed in Melbourne in 1842, and taken up his residence in Geelong in 1850. A Frenchman by descent, he was born in London in 1818 and educated in Germany. Soon after his arrival in Geelong he turned his attention to farming at the Barrabool Hills, and was one of the victims of the Black Thursday fires. He next started boiling-down works at Breakwater, but working the land was a more congenial pursuit to him, and he took to model-farming at Ceres.

In 1857 Mr. Dennys commenced in the woolbroking business. Finding all the trade going to Melbourne, and considering that Geelong possessed equal advantages for shipment and concentration of the wool, Mr. Dennys issued circulars to the growers, which had the effect of materially increasing the Geelong trade. His first catalogue was limited to 237 bales, and now the catalogue of Messrs. Dennys, Lascelles, Austin and Co. has reached 80,000 bales.

The deceased gentleman was a staunch friend and a generous employer, while no charitable object ever came under his notice without receiving liberal attention. He had been two years a widower, and leaves three grown-up daughters, one of whom is the wife of Mr. E. H. Lascelles. For some time he has been in failing health, but his condition did not become serious until the day before his death.