Another Dennett family vault in the vaults section, William was the uncle of Fred Dennett of Hand Bell Ringers fame over in V6.5 and the brother of James Dennett in V9.8. William and his brother John (buried in the private area) made the paper at their deaths because they were buried only one day apart, although in different graves.
William’s death came at the age of 66 in Bootle, north Liverpool. He was 66 years old and had been unwell for some time, apparently. He was the landlord of the Clarence Hotel, which still stands today. According to the newspaper he left behind a widow and two sons.
William was born in 1826 to William and Susan (Ogden) Dennett. He became a cabinet maker like his father and married Hannah Scholfield in October 1854, with their son Scholfield arriving in the first quarter of 1855. Scholfield was musical like his cousin Fred, being found playing the piano at various engagements/events for workers in the 1870s. Sadly William and Scholfield lost their wife and mother, Hannah, in 1869. William mourned for a spell and then remarried, this time to Alice Brooks, a spinster ten years his junior, at St. John’s in Halifax in June 1872. Their son Albert Brooks Dennett was born in November 1872. Slow down!
Having mostly stayed around the Honey Hole/Well Street/Goshen Terrace area, the Dennetts decided to take a leap into the pub business, like so many others in the graveyard here. They upped roots and all went to Bootle in the early 1880s. In 1883 William applied for a license to sell wine as well as beer at the Clarence Hotel on Canal Street and (hopefully) enjoyed his new career for the final 7 years of his life.
After William died, Alice and Scholfield took on the task of running the Clarence together, while Albert became a shipping clerk. Scholfield died not long after his father though, and Alice eventually gave up the license for the Clarence and moved in with Albert and his family. Where Albert went, so did Alice, and that’s how she ended up in Southampton when she died in 1909. Albert and his family can still be found there in 1911.