Denys Rolle (died 1797)

Denys Rolle
Portrait of Denys Rolle by Thomas Hudson[1]
Member of Parliament for Barnstaple
In office 1761–1774
Personal details
Born	c.1725 (1725) England
Died	26 June 1797 (aged 71–72) Devon, England
Spouse	Anne Chichester ​ ​ (m. 1750; died 1781)​
Children	8, including John
Parent	John Rolle (father)
Relatives	Henry Rolle (brother) John Rolle Walter (brother) Denys Rolle (cousin)
Education	New College, Oxford

Denys Rolle (c. 1725 – 26 June 1797) was a British politician and landowner who was an independent member of parliament for Barnstaple between 1761 and 1774. He inherited a large number of estates and by the time of his death he was the largest landowner in Devon. He was a philanthropist and generous benefactor to charities and religious societies.

Rolle spent much of his life in Florida attempting to establish an "ideal society", a utopian colony of British settlers named Rollestown or Charlotta. The project was a failure and Rolle recorded his colonial adventure in great detail in a lengthy official complaint made in 1765 to the British government entitled The Humble Petition of Denys Rolle, Esq., Setting Forth the Hardships, Inconveniences, and Grievances Which Have Attended Him in His Attempts to Make a Settlement in East Florida, Humbly Praying Such Relief as in their Lordships Wisdom Shall Seem Meet.

His colonists having failed to live up to his ambitious expectations and having largely deserted him, he turned to slave labour and following the loss of Florida as a British possession in 1783 he moved his colony to a smaller site on Exuma in the Bahama Islands.