Thomas John Dennis (1869-1917) of St Leonards, a gardener, was accepted as a missionary by the CMS in 1893. He went to West Africa and was assigned to the Niger Mission. However, he remained for some time in Sierra Leone as acting Vice-Principal of Fourah Bay College. He was ordained a priest by the Bishop of Sierra Leone in 1894 and then proceeded to the Niger where he served at Onitsha. He was appointed as archdeacon of the Upper Niger in 1905. In 1908, he went to open a new station at Ebu where he served until 1917. He died on his way home from West Africa when the SS Karina was torpedoed. He had two sisters and a brother who were also CMS missionaries, Frances, Ellen and Edward.
Reference: Register of missionaries (clerical, lay & female) and native clergy from 1804 to 1904 (Church Missionary Society, 1905) ; manuscript additions to register
From the guide to the Papers of Archdeacon T. J. Dennis, 1893-1917, (University of Birmingham Information Services, Special Collections Department)
