DUCKETT, William (1624-86), of Hartham, Corsham, Wilts.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1659
1660
1661

Family and Education

bap. 23 May 1624, 1st s. of John Duckett of Calstone by Jane, da. of William Winter of Colford, Glos. educ. St. John’s, Oxf. 1640; I. Temple 1642. m. (1) by 1651, Elizabeth, da. of Thomas Henshaw of Kensington, Mdx., 1s.; (2) 1655, Anne (d. c.1667), da. of George Knight, mercer, of Bristol, wid. of Walter Chapman of Bath, 1da.; (3) lic. 14 Sept. 1669, Margaret, da. of Sir Henry Moore, 2nd Bt., of Fawley, Berks., s.p. suc. fa. 1648.1

Offices Held

J.p. Wilts. 1650-4, Mar. 1660-Apr. 1680, July 1680-d., commr. for assessment 1652, Jan. 1660-80, militia Mar. 1660, major of militia ft. Apr. 1660, col. by Apr. 1680, July 1680-d., commr. for loyal and indigent officers 1662, recusants 1675, dep. lt. 1675-Apr. 1680, July 1680-d.; freeman, Calne 1685-d.2

Biography

Duckett’s family acquired the manor of Calne under Elizabeth and first sat for the borough in 1584. Their house at Calstone was burnt down by the parliamentary forces during the Civil War, but there is no evidence that they took any active part. Duckett himself was nominated to the commission of the peace during the Commonwealth and elected to Richard Cromwell’s Parliament; but in June 1659 the royalist conspirator Allen Brodrick reported that he ‘seemed ready to assist’.3

Duckett was re-elected in 1660, but left no trace on the records of the Convention. He was proposed for the order of the Royal Oak with an estate of £1,000 p a. He defeated (Sir) Edward Bayntun at the general election of 1661, but he was scarcely more active in the Cavalier Parliament. He was appointed to ten committees, including the committee of elections and privileges in three sessions, and that to consider an estate bill promoted by (Sir) Edward Hungerford in 1664. But he twice defaulted on calls of the House, and his name appeared on no lists until he was marked ‘doubly worthy’ by Shaftesbury in 1677.

Duckett did not stand for the Exclusion Parliaments, but his son was successful in August 1679, and in the following April the Privy Council ordered him to be removed from all county office. He was reinstated in July 1680, however, and must have become a Tory, for he was approved as ‘burgess’ of Calne in the new charters of 1685. He died on 1 Nov. 1686, and was buried at Calne.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Basil Duke Henning

Notes

  • 1. Wilts. Vis. Peds. (Harl. Soc. cv), 52; Sir George Duckett, Ducketiana, 40-42; T. E. Duckett, Duckett Fam. 46; The Gen. n.s. xxxiii. 262.
  • 2. Merc. Pub. 12 Apr. 1660; PC2/68, f. 4X4; CSP Dom. 1685, p. 535.
  • 3. Calne Guild Stewards Bk. (Wilts. Arch. Soc. vii), p. xii; Cal. Cl. SP. iv. 225.
  • 4. HMC roth Rep. IV, 115; CSP Dom. 1685, pp. 28, 128.