Geoffrey Mann and Doreen Williams
Sir John Dackombe of Motcombe in Dorset was
knighted in 1616 on his appointment as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster but
died after less than two years in that post.
Little has been published of his origins or his life. Nearly 100 years ago, E A Fry noted in this
Journal that Sir John was probably connected to the Dackombe family of Iwerne
Steepleton in Dorset, "but this has not been clearly established, and a
full pedigree of all the Dorset and Somerset Dackombes is much to be
desired"[1]. The situation is
hardly different today. The purpose of
this article therefore is to address the question of Sir John's pedigree and
his connection with the Dackombes of Steepleton, and to give a brief outline of
his career.
The small manor and parish of Iwerne
Steepleton runs from the edge of the Dorset Downs down to the River
Iwerne. It occupies much the same
ground today as when it was described in the Domesday Book[2]. There is a mansion house and church there
now, but no village.
The Dackombe family succeeded to the
Steepleton estate before 1378 by the marriage of Thomas Dackombe to Agnes, the
heiress of William de Stupelton[3,4].
Later, William Daccombe at his death in 1430, held the manor of
Steepleton and the manor of Little Fontmell in the adjacent parish of Childeokeford
and was succeeded in these manors by his son William (1410-1461/2)[5,6]. Subsequently, a series of wills, chancery
documents and visitations[7-24] yields, with considerable confidence, the
pedigree of the Dackombes of Steepleton shown in Fig.1.
The pedigree in the Addenda to the 1623 Visitation[22]
differs in a few respects from the other quoted sources, but the rest are in
excellent agreement apart from an ambiguity in the naming of Anne or Joanne and
Isabel or Elisabeth. Doubt has been expressed whether the marriage ever took
place of Katharine Dackombe to John, 8th Baron Audeley[25]. A chancery bill by John's son, George Lord
Audeley, however confirms the marriage[15].
Another series of wills and other documents
yields the pedigree of Sir John shown in Fig.2.[26-47] Again, the sources
referenced are in good agreement with each other, and some confidence can be
placed on the pedigree. The will of Sir
John's uncle, Robert Dackombe, is particularly informative of the family
relationships [27]. He was a
comparatively wealthy man when he made his will in 1600, leaving bequests to
his sisters and brothers and their children totalling £1000, but mentioning no
issue of his own. He left the bulk of his estate to Sir John, including the
manor of Steepleton and the advowson of the parsonage there, and land in
Hanford and Wimborne Minster.
In his will, Robert referred to James
Dackombe of Steepleton as his cousin, and James Dackombe in his will referred
to the vicar of Horton as his kinsman.
The John Dackombe of Steepleton who died in 1571 was godfather to Sir
John. Thus there is no doubt that Sir
John's branch of the family was connected to the Dackombes of Steepleton, and
this connection is also supported by the eventual possession of Steepleton
manor by Sir John's uncle, Robert Dackombe.
The exact connection however remains uncertain. Fig.2 indicates that the grandfather of Sir
John was John Dackombe of Horton and if this is correct, then comparison of
Fig.2 with Fig.1 reveals no obvious point of connection between the two
pedigrees.
_____________________________________________________________________________
* Many spelling variants are found for
Dackombe (such as Daccomb, Dackham etc.) and for Steepleton. The given spellings are used for consistency
except for direct quotations. Sir John
spelled his name Dackombe.
The identification of Sir John's grandfather
as John Dackombe is derived from a single deposition concerning a tenement
called Hogford in the manor of Kingston Lacey in the parish of Wimborne
Minster[44]. In the deposition it is
stated that the father of Frances Dackombe was John Dackum, gent, who served as
a petty captain under Sir John Rogers (a farmer of the manor of Kingston Lacey)
in the wars of King Edward VI against the rebels in the West and was hurt
between the eye and the nose with an arrow.
In consideration of this, he procured the reversion of the copyhold of
Hogford for his son Francis. This Francis
can be identified with the Francis in the pedigree of Fig.2 from detail in the
wills of his brothers Henry and Robert[27,28].
One pedigree in the Visitation of 1623 claims
that the father of Frances and Richard Dackombe was Dackomb of Horton,
Lieutenant Deputy of Dorset in the time of Edward VI, but gives no christian
name[47]. Other chancery proceedings of
a similar age however refer to a John Dackombe, gentleman of Horton, with first
wife Johanna and second wife Elizabeth, and imply that he died before the end
of the reign of Edward VI[42,43]. John
Dackombe of Horton was also noted as an archer with a pair of rivets in a 1542
muster roll and was assessed at £8 for land in the 1545 subsidy.
Thus the grandfather of Sir John appears to
be John Dackombe of Horton, the petty captain or lieutenant deputy of Dorset.*
According to the 1623 pedigree however, John's grandfather was the second son
of John and Eleanor of Steepleton[21]. Inspection of Fig.1 shows that this can
be reconciled with the above discussion only if John and Eleanor had a second
son named John as well as their son and heir, John. This is the interpretation of the pedigree in the Addenda to the
1623 Visitation[22], and this possibility cannot be excluded at present since
John of Horton died before 1553, and would not therefore have been mentioned in
the will of John of Steepleton made in 1562.
Alternatively, William of Rushton was the grandfather of Sir John by a
possible first marriage prior to his marriage with Elizabeth Ashley. Failing these explanations, it appears
necessary to go back one or more generations to make a connection between Sir
John and the Dackombes of Steepleton.
Robert's possession of Steepleton manor when
he made his will in 1600 is surprising in view of the descent of the Steepleton
Dackombes shown in Fig 1. At his death
in 1572, John Dackombe of Steepleton held the manor and advowson of Steepleton,
as well as the manor of Little Fontmell, the manor of Hanford, and lands in
Steepleton called Boyes [6]. His wife, Ann, was still described as "of
Steepleton" in her will of 1585 [10].
Their son and heir, James, was assessed at
Steepleton in the 1594 subsidy, though he may have disposed of the rectory
sooner; there is an action for recovery of the rectory of Steepleton between
Robert Freake and John Clotworthye, gent, in 1586 with James Dackombe as the
vouchee[48]. James Dackombe sold
Hanford in 1600[6]. His will of 1628
shows that he was an amateur scientist, leaving all his instruments to his
servant John Clatworthy[13]. It seems
that he sold Steepleton and retired to his other manor of Little Fontmell. He
was assessed at only £11 for lands in the 1594 Steepleton subsidy whereas his
father, John Dackombe Esq, had been assessed at £40 in the 1545 subsidy.
By 1600, the manor and advowson of
Steepleton, and the lands called Boyes were in the possession of Robert
Dackombe, who bequeathed them to his nephew Sir John [27]. As shown in Part 2, the manor passed from
Sir John to his wife's kinsman, Sir William Pitt, thus ending over 230 years of
the Dackombe possession of Steepleton.
The source of Robert Dackombe's wealth
remains obscure. It is remarkable that
no reference to this Robert Dackombe, other than his will, has been found by
the authors in any of the sources examined.
There are several gentlemen of this name in the Corfe Castle branch of
the family, but their known siblings preclude the possibility that Robert
Dackombe, the uncle of Sir John, was from Corfe Castle. Identifying the source of his wealth might
possibly throw light on the ancestry of both Robert and Sir John.
_____________________________________________________________________________
* An earlier researcher concluded that the
Lieutenant Deputy of Dorset at this time was Henry Dacombe of Horton,
but did not quote his source for this assertion[48]
Sir John Dackombe was born about 1570[50],
the eldest son of Richard Dackombe of Motcombe near Shaftesbury in Dorset.
Apart from his uncle, Robert Dackombe, his family were not particularly
wealthy. As noted above, John Daccombe
of Horton was assessed for £8 in the 1545 subsidy. Henry Daccombe of Wimborne Minster, was assessed for £3 for goods
in the 1594 subsidy. Francis Dackombe's
son, John of Hogford, was prepared to pay the herald's fee of £1 5s to
register his gentility though his copyholds were valued at only £39[51].
Sir John's father, Richard Dackombe of
Motcombe, was assessed for £2 for lands in the 1594 subsidy, and some or all of
his lands there were derived from his marriage c.1567 to Alice, daughter of
William Monntier (or Mountier) of Motcombe[41]. Richard and Alice had at least
six children. Sir John was their eldest
child, born some 2 or 3 years after their marriage. He was however brought up outside the parental home by his uncle
John Budden in nearby Shaftesbury [52].
John Budden's posts have a connection with
the Cecils, which undoubtedly influenced John Dackombe and was instrumental in
promoting his career as described in part 2.
In 1592, Budden was Feodary of Dorset & Somerset; he was also
seneschal of some Duchy of Lancaster manors in Dorset in 1598, and was elected
Member of Parliament for Shaftesbury in 1601 and 1604, and was Recorder of that
town from 1604[53]. In his will of
1609, he asked to be buried in the aisle of Holy Trinity Church Shaftesbury
next to his late wife; he died in 1615[54].
According to the History of Parliament, John
Budden married secondly Alice, the widow of Richard Laninge, and had at least
one son and one daughter. These however
are not mentioned in his will in which he left the bulk of his estate to his
sisters and their children. He made his
nephew John Dackombe an executor, and he gave a silver bowl to his "sister
Dackombe". It is known that Alice
Monntier had at least one sister[41], and there seems little doubt therefore
that one of her sisters married John Budden.
If the History of Parliament account is correct, this must have been his
first marriage.
Nothing more is known of Sir John's life
until his marriage c.1592 when he was about 22 years of age. His bride was a young widow, Melior Mohun,
formerly Pitt, born about 1568 and so about two years older than Sir John. The Mohun/Pitt/Dackombe connection and Sir
John's subsequent career will be described in Part 2.
1.
SDNQ 1897 vol 5 p133
2.
C.D.Drew, "The Manors of Iwerne Valley"
Proc Dorset Hist.& Arch. Soc. 1947 vol 69 p45
3.
SDNQ 1913 vol 13 p220
4. De
Banco Roll 471, Richard II, m.317
5.
Inquisition post mortem 1431
6.
Hutchins History of Dorset
7.
1514 Thomas Dackham of Stepleton, PCC Fetiplace 31
8.
1562 John Daccombe of Stypulton, PCC Chayre 6
9.
1571 John Daccombe of Ewern Stepleton, PCC Daper 10
10
1585 Anna Dackcombe of Stepleton, PCC Windsor 11
11. 1596 Robert Frampton of Moreton, PCC
Cobham 18
12. 1598 John Ashecombe of Steepleton, PCC
Lewyn 84
13. 1628 James Dackcombe of Little Fontmell,
PCC Barrington 54
14. C1 402/59 John Daccombe son of Thomas
15. C3
5/15 Lord George Audley v John Dacombe & others
16. C3
43/61 Richard Cheke v John Dackons; marriage contract
17. C3
52/11 John Daccombe v Richard & Thomas Dowse
18. C3
54/45 William Dackham v Elizabeth Tregonwell & others
19. C3
57/50 William Dackome v William Mighell
20. The Visitation of Dorset 1565, ed W.C.Metcalfe
p12
21. The Visitation of Dorset 1623, ed.
Rylands & Paul, p36
22. Addenda to the Visitation of 1623, ed.
Colby & Rylands p23-4
23. "A Sixteenth-Century Collector:
Thomas Dackomb 1496-c1572"
Trans.Bibliographical Soc. Sep.1963 p204-217
24. Marriage Settlement of William Dackombe
and Elizabeth
Frampton, 1594, Dorset Record Office 2856
25. G.E.C. The Complete Peerage, i (1910)
p.342.
26. 1594 Francis Dackombe of Wimborne
Minster, Dorset RO.
27. 1607 Robert Dackombe of Stipleton; PCC
Huddlestone 23
28. 1613 Henry Dackombe of Wimborne Minster;
PCC Capell 24
29. 1615 Henry Daccombe of Winterbourne
Kingston; Wilts RO.
30. 1618 Dorothy Dackombe of Edmonton
Middlesex; PCC Meade 38
31. 1618 Sir John Dackombe; PCC Meade 19
32. 1644 Melior Dackombe of Edmonton
Middlesex; PCC Twisse 4
33. 1648 Robert Dackombe, vicar of Horton;
PCC no registered copy
34. 1628/9 George Dackombe of St Mary Savoy
35. 1640 Nicholas Dackombe of Sheen Surrey
36. 1633 Selina Dackombe widow of Dewlish,
Dorset
37. 1655 Nicholas Dackombe of Holt, Leics
38. 1665 John Dackombe of Tottenham
39. C2 ChasI D39/45 Lady Dackombe v Cason
40. C2 JamesI D2/36; John Daccombe and Edith
v Hannan & others
41. C3 55/42; Deverall v Daccombe
42. Court of Augmentation Proceedings 13/7
43. Court of Augmentation proceedings 21/46
44. Duchy of Lancaster Deposition 14
Elizabeth No.18
45. Duchy of Lancaster Deposition 22
Elizabeth No.33
46. Duchy of Lancaster Pleadings 41 Elizabeth
vol.189
47. The Visitation of Dorset 1623, ed.
Rylands & Paul, p35
48. SDNQ 1905 vol.9 p40
49. SDNQ 1899 vol.6 p171
50
Petition 2151, papers of Robert Cecil at Hatfield House
51. SDNQ 1908 vol.12 p53
52. Calendar of the Cecil MSS vol 7
53. History of Parliament; the Commons
1558-1603, ed P.W.Hasler
54. Will of John Boden of Shaston, 1609 PCC
Rudd 12
return to records of Sir John go to Part 2 Figs 1 & 2 Fig 3