DUCKETT, Stephen (c.1548-91), of Calstone, Wilts.

Duckett’s uncle, a London merchant, purchased the manor of Calne about 1579, and the family influenced parliamentary elections there for the remainder of this period. Duckett himself settled nearby, and sat twice in the Commons for Calne without being mentioned in its records. He received a gift of wine from the borough on at least one occasion, and in 1584 conferred with the judicial authorities on the borough’s responsibility for robberies within the hundred of Calne. Two years later he was cleared by the Privy Council of unspecified charges preferred against him by Roger Sadler. He owned property in Essex, Kent and Somerset, as well as in Wiltshire. He died between making his will 29 Apr. and its proof 8 May 1591. The lands went to the sons Lionel, John and Henry, and the daughters received 1,000 marks each. The widow was sole executrix.1Wilts. Vis. Peds (Harl. Soc. cv, cvi), 82; VCH Wilts. vii. 130, 191; Wilts. Arch. Soc. recs. br. vii. passim; Wilts. Mag. xxiv. 193; APC, xiv. 183-5; C142/230/35; PCC 34 Sainberbe; Morant, Essex, i. 93.