Calne

The borough of Calne was not incorporated until the late seventeenth century but its privileges were confirmed by Elizabeth in 1569. Government of the borough was in the hands of two guild stewards, two constables and about twenty capital burgesses. One third of the borough lay within the manor of Calne, owned at the beginning of Elizabeth’s reign by Thomas Long, who sold it by 1579 to Sir Lionel Duckett. The other two thirds of the borough was within the prebendal manor held by the treasurer of Salisbury cathedral.

Until Sir Lionel Duckett bought the manor, no influence was paramount at Calne. Andrew Baynton (1559) and Richard Danvers (1571) both had local estates and property in the town. (Sir) Edward Baynton (1575) was Andrew’s brother. William Allen (1563, 1572) was a Calne merchant; Edward Chambers (1571) and William Weare alias Browne (1572) were both borough officials. Richard Kingsmill (1563), a court of wards official from Hampshire, was of counsel to Calne. William Clerke I’s identity has not been definitely established, but he may have been a Hertfordshire gentleman in the service of the 1st Earl of Pembroke.

Stephen Duckett (who succeeded his uncle, Sir Lionel, as lord of the manor in 1589), took the senior seat in 1584 and 1586 and his son Lionel followed suit in 1601. Henry Jackman (1589, 1593) was a London merchant and a relative by marriage of the Duckett family. John Lever’s identity has not been ascertained but if he was the London merchant of that name, he had a connexion with the Ducketts through Jackman. Thomas Edwards (1593, 1597) married Stephen Duckett’s widow. The local lawyer Richard Lowe (1597, 1601), had no known Duckett connexion.

Although Calne did not pay the full statutory wage to its burgesses in Parliament, it was able to pay something to those Members who belonged to the guild of merchants. William Allen was paid 13s.4d. in 1567 for his journeys ‘about the town’s business’, while in 1576 £3 was allocated for the burgesses in Parliament and £1 4s. paid to William Weare for serving in the Parliament house that year. It is unlikely that wages were paid during the second half of Elizabeth’s reign, though they were paid in respect of John Noys, MP 1604-10. Calne made certain payments to the sheriff and his clerk in respect of parliamentary elections.2Calne Guild Stewards Bk. (Wilts. Arch. Soc. recs. br. vii), 10, 11, 12, 16, 19, 20, 25, 29, 31, 32, 38, 40, 98, 99, 113.