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DUCKETT, George (1684-1732), of Hartham, in Corsham, Wilts.
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Biography Detail
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Family and Education
b. 19 Feb. 1684,1 1st s. of Lionel Duckett, M.P., of Hartham by Martha, da. of Samuel Ashe of Langley Burrell, Wilts. (bro. of Sir Joseph Ashe, 1st Bt., M.P.), bro. of William Duckett. educ. Trin. Oxf. 1700; M. Temple 1703. m. (lic. 23, settlement 28 Mar. 1711)2 Grace, da. of Thomas Skinner of Dewlish, Dorset, 6s. 3da. suc. fa. 1693.
Offices Held
Col. of militia by 1716;3 commr. of excise 1723-d.
Biography
From 1585 to 1763 the Ducketts owned the manors of Calne and Calstone, carrying the principal interest in the borough, which eight of them represented in Parliament. George Duckett, an author and minor poet, who signed his poem Homerides as ‘Sir Iliad Doggerell’, was the friend of Joseph Addison and Edmund Smith. He also collaborated with Sir Thomas Burnet, with whom he corresponded at length between 1712 and 1722, though only Burnet’s letters have survived. Following an attack on Pope they appear together in the Dunciad:
Behold yon pair, in strict embraces joined;
How like their manners, and how like their mind!
Famed for good nature, B ... and for truth;
D. ... for pious passion to the youth.
Equal in wit and equally polite,
Shall this a Pasquin, that a Grumbler write;
Like are their merits, like rewards they share,
That shines a Consul, this Commissioner.
Duckett, who had represented Calne as a Whig in two Parliaments under Queen Anne, was returned again in 1722 but soon gave up his seat to Matthew Ducie Morton in return for a place. He died 6 Oct. 1732.
