DUNCH, Samuel (c.1592-1668), of North Baddesley, Hants.

A younger son of Edmund Dunch† and therefore the uncle of the other Edmund Dunch*, Samuel founded the cadet branch of the family based in Hampshire. He had done so by marrying in 1617 the daughter of the wealthy Hampshire serjeant-at-law, John More†.1London Mar. Lics. ed. Foster, 427. When More’s son, John junior, had died in 1622, the More estates were divided between his two sisters, with Dunch’s wife, Dulcibella, receiving the family seat at North Baddesley.2VCH Hants, iii. 464. This probably became his principal residence. But this did not mean that he broke all his ties with his native county. He had already been the MP for Wallingford in the 1621 Parliament, he went on to purchase an estate at Pusey in 1628 and he was appointed as sheriff of Berkshire in 1629.3VCH Berks. iv. 473; List of Sheriffs, 6; Coventry Docquets, 362.

It was also in Berkshire that Dunch appears to have concentrated his activity during the civil war, for throughout those years he proved to be an active supporter of the parliamentarian cause. He was regularly named to most of Parliament’s local commissions and in April 1648 the Commons specifically named him as a member of the Berkshire assessment committee.4CJ v. 506b, 532b, 533a; LJ x. 204b, 206a. Moreover, his godly credentials were such that he was one of those appointed in 1647 to carry out the purge of Oxford University.5A and O.; CSP Dom. 1645-7, pp. 550-1. But he did not entirely neglect his interests in Hampshire. The other half of the More estates, inherited by his sister-in-law, Anne, and her husband, Edward Hopper, was centred on Romsey and Dunch himself owned some land there.6VCH Hants, iv. 435. In 1649 he granted a 1,000-year lease on some of that land to the town on very favourable terms on the understanding that the rest of its income should be used to support 20 of the poorest local inhabitants.7Woodward et al., General Hist. Hants, i. 349, 369.

Dunch had long been distantly related to Oliver Cromwell*, given that his elder brother William† (the father of Edmund*), had been married to Cromwell’s aunt. The marriage of his son, John*, into the Maijors of Hursley in 1650 reinforced that link. It is therefore possible that this influenced the decision to include him among the Berkshire men summoned in 1653 to sit in the Nominated Parliament. However, it is just as likely that he had a suitably godly reputation. In his previous Parliament, that of 1621, he had been largely inactive, speaking in debate only once. That pattern was now repeated. Just about all that is known about him in the 1653 Parliament is that he was named to the committee for receiving petitions.8CJ vii. 287a. He was also said to have supported the maintenance of a preaching ministry.9Woolrych, Commonwealth to Protectorate, 416. This is plausible, for in 1654 he was appointed as an ejector and as one of the visitation commissioners for Oxford University.10A and O.

Dunch’s support for the protectorship of his kinsman was never in doubt. He was therefore an obvious person to be included in 1655 on the Berkshire commission for securing the peace of the commonwealth.11TSP iv. 285. Moreover, as well as his connections with Cromwell, he had excellent links with the government in London through his son-in-law, the solicitor to the protectoral council, Gabriel Becke*, who had married his daughter Anne.12Vis. Berks. i. 196; ‘Ped. of Dunch’, 47. This was why he told the local major-general, William Goffe*, in July 1656 that he could arrange for Becke to be elected as MP for Abingdon.13TSP v. 215. But this proved to be over-optimistic and Becke did not stand. Moreover, from 1654 onwards Dunch had preferred to see his eldest son, John, rather than himself represent the family as knight of the shire for Berkshire.

Dunch was too closely associated with the protectorate to survive in public office after the Restoration. He died in 1668, being outlived only very briefly by his son, John. The two of them were then buried together in the church at North Baddesley.14‘Ped. of Dunch’, 44, 47. In his will Dunch left bequests to a number of nonconformist preachers, including his chaplain, Samuel Blower, and Vasavor Powell, as well as land at Pusey to provide an annuity of £2 for charitable purposes at Lambourn.15PROB11/328/285; PROB11/342/452; VCH Berks. iv. 266.