Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement/Denman, Thomas (1805-1899)
DENMAN, THOMAS, second Baron Denman of Dovedale (1805–1899), born in London on 30 July 1805, was the first son of Thomas Denman, first Baron Denman [q. v.], by his wife Theodosia Anne, eldest daughter of Richard Vevers, rector of Kettering. George Denman [q. v. Suppl.] was his brother. He was educated at Eton and Brasenose College, Oxford. He matriculated on 17 May 1823. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1838, and acted as associate to his father when chief-justice of England, holding this position for eighteen years.
He succeeded to the peerage on the death of his father on 22 Sept. 1854. Denman was always concerned rather with politics than law. During his long life as a peer he was a regular frequenter of the House of Lords, but won notoriety rather from his eccentricities than any eminent qualifications. Limitation of the duration of speeches in the House of Lords and the granting of female suffrage were subjects to which he unsuccessfully devoted his support. Year after year with unfailing regularity, from 1886 to 1894, he brought in bills to secure these objects, and, despite his inability on any occasion to secure even a second reading, he was not deterred from making fresh efforts in each succeeding year. He died without issue at the King's Arms, Berwick-on-Tweed, on 9 Aug. 1899.
Denman married, on 12 Aug. 1829, Georgina, eldest daughter of Thomas Roe; she died on 25 April 1871. He married, secondly, on 10 Oct. 1871, Maria, eldest daughter of James Aitchison of Alderston, co. Haddington, and by royal licence on 20 Dec. 1879 assumed the additional surname of Aitchison under the will of his wife's mother. There is a lithograph portrait print of Lord Denman by Walton.
[Complete Peerage by G. E. C[okayne]; Hansard's Debates; Times, 11 Aug. 1899.]