FENNER, EDWARD (d. 1612), judge, son of John Fenner of Crawley, Sussex, by Ellen, daughter of Sir William Goring of Burton, was called to the bar at the Middle Temple, and was reader in the autumn of 1576. He was M.P. for Shoreham in 1572. He became a serjeant in Michaelmas term 1577, and enjoyed a large practice. He was appointed a judge of the king's bench on 26 May 1590, and was J.P. for Surrey. Though not a prominent member of the court, he was in the commission upon several state trials, and, before becoming a judge, was present as a justice of the peace at the trial of John Udall, January 1590. In 1593 he tried three witches in Huntingdonshire, and a pamphlet account of this trial was published. In January 1608 he received a grant of an annuity of 50l. during the time his services on circuit were discontinued. He died 23 Jan. 1612, and was buried at Hayes in Middlesex. He had one son, Edward, who died without issue in 1615.
[Foss's Judges of England; Dallaway's Parochial Topography of Chichester, i. 16; State Trials, i. 1297; Coke's Reports, p. 1; Green's Domestic State Papers, 1603–10; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. i. 402.]
FENNER, WILLIAM (1600–1640), puritan divine, was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he took the degree of B.A. in 1618, and that of M.A. in the following year. In 1622 he was incorporated a member of Oxford University. He also took holy orders, and is believed to have been for a time chaplain to the Earl of Warwick, and to have ministered at Sedgley, Staffordshire, where ‘his labours were greatly blessed.’ He did much good at Sedgley, then described as a heathenish place. He was forced to leave this cure on account of his puritanical principles about 1626–7, and travelled about for some months, preaching from place to place, and Brook affirms (Lives of the Puritans) that ‘he was much resorted to as a casuist, and much admired by some of the nobility.’ In 1627 he proceeded B.D., and two years later was presented to the living of Rochford in Essex, where he laboured with much success until his death in 1640. Fenner was greatly appreciated as a preacher, one of his sermons being quoted by Williams in the ‘Christian Preacher,’ p. 454, and his writings enjoyed considerable popularity for some time, as they ‘discovered much acquaintance with religion in all its parts,’ and were plain in manner while zealous in tone. He wrote: 1. ‘The Soul's Looking Glasse, with a treatise of Conscience,’ &c., 1640 (edited by Edmund Calamy). 2. ‘Riches of Grace,’ 1641. 3. ‘A Treatise of Affections, or the Soul's Pulse,’ 1641. 4. ‘Christ's Alarm to drowsie Sinners, or Christ's Epistles to his Churches,’ 1646. 5. ‘A Divine Message to the Elect Souls’ (eight sermons), 1646. 6. ‘The Sacrifice of the Faithful; or a treatise showing the Nature, Property and Efficacy of zealous Prayer.’ 7. ‘The Spiritual Man's Directorie,’ &c., 1648. 8. ‘Practicall Divinitie, or Gospel Light shining forth in several choice Sermons,’ 1650. 9. ‘Hidden Manna, or the Mystery of Saving Grace,’ &c., 1652. 10. ‘The Danger of deferred Repentance discovered,’ &c., 1654. 11. ‘Four profitable Treatises very useful for Christian Practice,’ 1657. Collected editions of his works were published in 1651 and 1657.
[Wood's Fasti (Bliss), i. 408; Brook's Lives of the Puritans, ii. 451; Granger's Biog. Hist. ii. 182; Newcourt's Repert. Eccl. ii. 497; Notes and Queries, 6th ser. ii. 186.]
FENNING, ELIZABETH (1792–1815), criminal, the daughter of poor parents, was from the age of fourteen employed in various situations as a domestic servant. Towards the end of January 1815 she entered the service of Orlibar Turner of 68 Chancery Lane, London, a tradesman, in the capacity of cook. On 21 March following, Turner, his wife Charlotte, and his son Robert, while at dinner, all ate of some yeast dumplings prepared by Fenning and immediately became very sick, though the ill effect was not lasting. It was discovered that arsenic had been mixed with the materials of the dumplings, and suspicion alighting on Fenning she was summoned to Hatton Garden police-court, and was committed for trial. The case came on at the Old Bailey on 11 April 1815, when Fenning was charged with feloniously administering arsenic to the three Turners with intent to murder them. Very strong evidence was brought against the prisoner. It was conclusively proved that Fenning had asked and received leave to make the dumplings, and that she was alone in the kitchen during the whole time of their preparation; that the poison was neither in the flour nor in the milk; and that Fenning was acquainted with and had access to a drawer in her employer's office where arsenic was kept. Roger Gadsden, an apprentice of Turner, had eaten a piece of dumpling after dinner, though strongly advised by Fenning not to touch it, and was also taken ill. Fenning pleaded not guilty, and urged that she had herself eaten of the dumplings, a piece of testimony which was
