John Duckett (Royalist)

John Duckett (1580 – 1648) was an English gentleman and landowner who sat in the House of Commons from 1621 to 1624.

Duckett was the son of Stephen Duckett, a Wiltshire gentleman and a member of the Company of Mercers. He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford, on 15 December 1592, aged 12. In 1621, he was elected Member of Parliament for Calne. He was re-elected MP for Calne in 1624. He was fined for refusing a knighthood at the coronation of Charles I. In 1628 he was High Sheriff of Wiltshire.^[1]

Duckett was a Royalist colonel in the English Civil War. He lived at Calstone House until it was destroyed by fire during the war and thereafter at another property, Hartham House, Corsham. On one occasion he escaped the wrath of parliamentary forces by escaping in a hearse.^[2]

Family

Duckett married twice:

1. Elizabeth Elkington, the widow of Thomas Chivers,
2. on 6 April 1619 at Gloucester, Jane Winter, a daughter of William Winter of Coleford, Gloucestershire, with issue:

• William Duckett (1624-1686), the son and heir, who like his father became a member of parliament for Calne. William's descendant, George Duckett (1684–1732), was the last of his line, but his daughter Grace married George Jackson, who in 1791 was created a Baronet and took the name of Sir George Duckett, 1st Baronet.^[2]
• Stephen Duckett (1626-1626)

Ducket died, and was buried 27 October 1648 at Calne, at the age of 68.^[1]

References