The younger son of Thomas Hovell, of Wyverstone, Suffolk, who had been educated at the London Hospital and had practised at Clapton, North London. Dennis, together with his elder brother, Mark, also studied at the London Hospital, being articled to John Scott, Surgeon to the London Hospital. Both br

Was a student at St Bartholomew's Hospital. After qualifying he was Resident Medical Officer of the Farringdon Dispensary and Lying-in Charity; he then began to practice at 31 Paradise Terrace, Holloway, was Surgeon to the Holloway and North Islington Dispensary, and Surgeon to the Northern District