DARCY, John (c.1579-1635)

Darcy’s ancestry can be traced back to Norman Darcy or De Adreci (fl. 1086), a follower of William the Conqueror, possibly originally from Saint-Clair-d’Arcey in Normandy.18 K. S. B. Keats-Rohan, Domesday People, 305; Oxford DNB, xv. 120-1. Norman’s descendant, Sir John Darcy^† (d.1347) of Knaith in Lincolnshire, was summoned to Parliament in 1332 as Lord Darcy and appointed lord chamberlain in 1340. Sir John’s son, also called John^†, married the daughter and heir of Nicholas de Meinill^† (d.1341), another baron by writ, thus uniting the baronies of Darcy and Meinill. Both titles fell into abeyance on the death in 1418 of Philip Darcy^†, 6th Lord Darcy. However, probably in 1504 but certainly in 1509, Thomas Darcy^†, the great-grandson of Philip’s younger brother, was summoned to Parliament, thereby creating a new Darcy barony. In 1537 Thomas was executed for complicity in the Pilgrimage of Grace, having surrendered Pontefract to the rebels, whereupon his estates and titles were forfeited.19 Oxford DNB, xv. 122-3, 127-8; CP, iv. 56-8, 60, 73-4; viii. 633-4; P. Cavill, Eng. Parls. of Henry VII, 110.

Thomas’ eldest son, Sir George^†, was restored in blood by Parliament in 1548 but, unusually, the act did not restore Thomas’ barony. Instead, it effectively created a new one for George, whose ‘heirs male of his body coming may … bear the name, dignity, estate and pre-eminence of a baron of this realm … by the name of Lord Darcy’. This form of wording necessarily excluded Thomas’ younger son, Sir Arthur Darcy and his descendants from succeeding to the barony if George’s line should fail. It also meant that, unlike a barony by writ, the peerage could not descend through the female line.20 PA, HL/PO/PB/1/1548/2&3E6n41. When George attended the Lords he was ranked as the most junior baron, but, rather confusingly, his son, John^†, 2nd Lord Darcy, was placed in accordance with Thomas’ creation.21 F. Townsend, ‘Additions to Dugdale’s Baronage’, Coll. Top. et Gen. viii. 164.

The creation in 1551 of another Darcy barony, that of Darcy of Chiche, created the potential for confusion. The 1548 act had given no territorial suffix to the earlier title, thereby making differentiation between the two difficult. Perhaps for this reason the 2nd Lord Darcy was often summoned as Lord Darcy of Darcy, even though the Darcy surname was of French derivation and had no connection with any English place name. From 1597, the 2nd Lord Darcy and his successor were frequently referred to in the Lords’ Journal as Lord Darcy of Meinill. They may have encouraged this, since it drew attention to their connection with the medieval barons of Darcy and Meinill. However, neither man had any claim to the Meinill barony, which also did not derive from an English place name. The practice quickly took root, and in 1624 John Darcy, 3rd Lord Darcy, the subject of this biography, was summoned as Lord Darcy and Meinill.22 C218/1/16, 18.

George, Lord Darcy, failed to secure the restoration of his father’s lands but instead married the heir to an estate of more than 9,000 acres in Yorkshire, centred on Aston in the West Riding, which became the family’s principal residence.23 Hunter, S. Yorks. ii. 162. These lands were said, during the course of a lawsuit in the 1650s, to have been worth £4,000 a year, although this may have been an overestimate.24 J.T. Cliffe, Yorks. Gentry from Reformation to Civil War, 100; C22/822/56; C5/381/179. George’s son, the 2nd Lord Darcy, became a prominent member of the Elizabethan council in the north, and during the early 1590s he reportedly chaired that body in the absence of the lord president.25 HMC Hatfield, v. 505. An adherent of the earls of Shrewsbury, he granted his proxy for the 1601 Parliament to Gilbert Talbot^*, 7th earl of Shrewsbury.26 LJ, ii. 226a.

On the death in 1588 of the 2nd Lord Darcy’s only son, John Darcy became heir to his grandfather’s barony. In late 1601 a dispute erupted between Lord Darcy and John over the former’s generosity to one of his servants, Edward Rye, who claimed to have spent over £1,700 of his own money on Lord Darcy’s behalf. In return for his outlay, Rye had been granted long leases of much of the estate, including Aston. The 2nd Lord’s grandson, finding himself effectively disinherited of a large part of the estate, complained to Queen Elizabeth who, in January 1602, referred the matter to the Privy Council. Lord Darcy, keen to counter rumours he had been motivated by his affection for Rye’s wife, indignantly defended his actions, but in his will bequeathed all his personal property to her son. As a result of the queen’s intervention, John Darcy was granted the right to all his grandfather’s lands when the 2nd Lord Darcy died the following October. However, on taking possession of Aston Hall, he found that Rye and his wife had ‘swept all the goods away so that there was nothing left … but the body of his grandfather … covered in a sheet’. The dispute continued to fester after the accession of James I: Rye secured the support of Anne of Denmark when she passed through Yorkshire on her way south in 1603, while Darcy prosecuted Rye’s wife for contemptuous words. The damages he was awarded forced the Ryes to come to terms.27 Eg. 3402, ff. 132v-4; Hatfield House, CP Petitions 1972; HMC Hatfield, xi. 516; xii. 3-4; xvi. 126; xxiii 103-4; WCA, Acc. 120, Elsam, f. 460v.

The Jacobean parliaments, 1604-25

Summoned to the Lords in 1604 as Lord Darcy of Darcy, the new 3rd Lord Darcy attended the first sitting of Parliament on 19 March. Thereafter, until 26 Apr., he was absent, having been excused on 26 March. He subsequently attended ten of the next 13 sittings, but was again absent between 16 May and14 June, although he was later present for a further 16 sittings. In total, he was recorded as present at 28 (or 39 per cent) of the 71 sittings. He played no further part in the recorded proceedings of the session.28 C218/1/18.

In August 1604, Darcy acted as deputy for his grandfather’s old patron, Gilbert Talbot, 7th earl of Shrewsbury, when the three-year-old Prince Charles (Stuart^*, later prince of Wales) was entertained at the earl’s house in Worksop.29 HMC Hatfield, xvi. 227. When Parliament reconvened in November 1605, Darcy missed the opening meeting but was recorded as present on the afternoon of the 9th, at which time the session was adjourned. When the session resumed on 21 Jan. 1606 the House was informed that Darcy had been given leave of absence. He was nevertheless recorded as present, both then and on a further five occasions. However, he was consistently absent from 4 Feb., with the exception of 3 Apr., the last occasion on which he is recorded as attending. He granted his proxy to Shrewsbury.30 LJ, ii. 355a, 361a. Ill health will not explain these frequent absences as, on 14 Feb. Darcy was appointed, at the nomination of Robert Cecil^*, 1st earl of Salisbury, as the king’s proxy at the christening of a son of William Stanley^*, 6th earl of Derby, at the latter’s house in Lancashire.31 CSP Dom. 1603-10, p. 289; HMC Hatfield, xvii. 54.

In the third session, which sat between November 1606 and May 1607, Darcy attended the upper House on only 15 occasions, all of them in November and December 1606. During this time he was named to two of the ten committees established, one concerning a bill to regulate new building in and around London and another on a measure to allow free trade with Spain, Portugal and France. After the Christmas recess, Darcy again gave his proxy to Shrewsbury.32 LJ, ii. 449b, 460b, 464b.

Darcy attended the Lords much more consistently in the fourth session, which began in February 1610, being recorded as present at 76 of the 95 sittings, 80 per cent of the total. He was appointed to 21 of the session’s 58 committees, suggesting that he enjoyed an increased prominence, but made no recorded speeches. In addition, on 2 June, he assisted in the introduction of Thomas Clinton^* (subsequently 3rd earl of Lincoln) summoned to the upper House in right of his father’s barony. Two days later he also acted as sewer to Prince Henry at the dinner following Henry’s installation as Prince of Wales. On 7 June he took the oath of allegiance, the first time this oath had been demanded of members of the upper House.33 Ibid. 606a, 608b; Procs. 1610 ed. E.R. Foster, i. 98.

Darcy’s legislative appointments in this session were dominated by religious concerns. He himself was regarded as a puritan, and his third wife, Isabel Wray, whom he would marry in 1617, was a patron of godly ministers.34 Hunter, S. Yorks. ii. 59, n.1; idem, Hallamshire, 270; C,M. Newman, ‘“An Honourable and Elect Lady”: the Faith of Isabel, Lady Bowes’, Life and Thought in the Northern Church ed. D. Wood, 407-19. His appointments included committees on bills to prevent the enforcement of Canons not confirmed by Parliament, to punish scandalous ministers and to administer the oath of allegiance. He was also a member of the subcommittee on clerical non-residence and pluralism. On 26 May he was appointed to accompany Tobie Matthew, archbishop of York, with a petition calling on the king to take action against Catholics in the wake of the assassination of Henri IV.35 LJ, ii. 587a, 603a, 606b, 611a, 641b, 645a.

Local concerns were also reflected in Darcy’s committee appointments. Like his grandfather, Darcy was a member of the council in the north, and so not surprisingly, on 21 June, he was required to help consider the bill for the better execution of justice in northern England. The members of this committee were appointed to confer with the Commons about the bill on 3 July, although Darcy himself was then absent.36 Ibid. 619a, 634b. Another matter that may have been of local interest to Darcy was a bill concerning the manor of Wakefield, which he was instructed to consider early in the session.37 Ibid. 553b, 592b.

Darcy reverted to his previous poor attendance in the fifth session. His absence was excused by Shrewsbury on 16 Oct., the first day of the meeting, and the earl presented Darcy’s proxy to the House on 10 November. Darcy is recorded as having attended a week later which, if not a clerical error, was the last time he attended the first Jacobean Parliament.38 Ibid. 666b, 667a.

In May 1613 Darcy was one of the peers threatened with legal proceedings for failing to pay the feudal aid for the marriage of Princes Elizabeth, which may suggest he was in financial difficulties.39 APC, 1613-14, p. 60. He assiduously attended the 1614 Parliament, but missed the first sitting on 5 April. In total he attended at least 27 of the 29 sittings. (No attendances were marked on the 7th). He was named to five of the nine committees established by the House, including those to consider the bill to punish Sabbath breakers and to confer with the Commons about the same measure. He made no recorded speeches.40 LJ, ii. 692b, 694a, 697b, 708b, 713b.

It was probably shortly after the dissolution of the 1614 Parliament that Darcy initiated proceedings in Star Chamber against his Nottinghamshire kinsman, Gervase Markham; Darcy’s bill does not survive, but Markham’s answer is dated 14 July 1614. The dispute arose the previous January at the home of Sir Gervase Clifton^‡, a Nottinghamshire adherent of the earl of Shrewsbury and friend of Darcy’s brother-in-law, Sir Peter Frescheville^‡. Markham had come to blows with one of Darcy’s servants, and was angry because Darcy, who had separated the combatants, declined to punish his employee. The following month Markham scattered copies of an open letter to Darcy around Aston, giving Darcy the lie. He concluded: ‘if you [Darcy] be desirous that I should hear from you, send only your footman with your letter and he shall be received without prejudice. Let mine in like manner be free from you and yours’. Darcy alleged that this last passage was intended to invite him to challenge Markham to a duel, contrary to the king’s proclamation of 4 Feb. 1614 against issuing and accepting challenges. The matter did not come to trial until November 1616, when the court accepted that Markham had not known of the proclamation when he distributed his letter. However, it condemned the letter as a libel intended to provoke Darcy to challenge Markham to a duel and fined Markham £500.41 STAC 8/127/4; Stuart Royal Proclamations I: Jas. I ed. J.F. Larkin and P.L. Hughes, 302-8; HP Commons, 1604-29, iii. 547-8; APC, 1616-17, p. 71-2; Harl. 3638, ff. 50-2; Harl. 6807, ff. 170-3v; Letters and Life of Francis Bacon ed. J. Spedding, vi. 103-14; Eng. Reps. ed. A. Wood Renton et al., lxxx. 270.

By the time Darcy won his case his patron, Shrewsbury, had died. It was probably Darcy, rather than Thomas Darcy^*, 3rd Lord Darcy of Chiche (later 1st earl Rivers), who assisted at Shrewsbury’s funeral at Sheffield on 12 Aug. 1616.42 J. Hunter, Hallamshire, 102. The earl was succeeded by his brother, Edward Talbot^*, who died in February 1618, whereupon the Shrewsbury title passed to a cousin and the estates were divided between the 7th earl’s daughters. Darcy was employed by the Privy Council to secure evidence concerning the estates and to ensure that it was conveyed to London.43 APC, 1617-19, p. 207.

By 1620 Darcy had transferred his allegiance to his first cousin and neighbour, the young Sir Thomas Wentworth^*, subsequently 1st earl of Strafford. He worked hard to ensure the election to the third Jacobean Parliament of Wentworth and his running mate, Secretary of State Sir George Calvert^‡, as knights of the shire for Yorkshire. However when, in late March, he approached Wentworth for a seat for the recently enfranchised borough of Pontefract for Sir Richard Wynn^‡, whose wife was related to Darcy, he was unsuccessful.44 Strafforde Letters (1739) ed. W. Knowler, i. 10, 13, 14.

Before the Easter recess Darcy reportedly attended 38 of the 44 sittings of the upper House, 86 per cent of the total. However, he did not resume his seat until 9 May. He subsequently missed only one sitting, on 24 May, before the session was adjourned for the summer. In total he attended 20 of the 27 sittings between Easter and the long adjournment.

In 1621 the Lords Journal, when recording committee appointments, frequently fails to distinguish between Darcy himself and Thomas Darcy, 3rd Lord Darcy of Chiche, probably because the latter was generally absent. In several cases where the Journal is ambiguous the peer is clearly identified as Darcy in the committee book. In others, it can be safely assumed that it was Darcy who was being referred to because he appears in the correct position in the listing of the committee’s members, which were strictly organized by rank. On this basis, it is reasonably certain that Darcy received at least ten committee appointments before the summer recess (out of a total of 74 or 75) and that he was probably named to a further four. Darcy was certainly appointed to the committee for privileges on 5 Feb., and to consider a bill to improve the navigation of the Thames a fortnight later. In addition, on 8 Mar. he was named to a fresh bill to punish breaches of the Sabbath. The same committee was also ordered that same day to consider a measure concerning writs of certiorari, and instructed on 24 May to confer with the Commons about those bills, although Darcy was absent on the latter occasion.45 LJ, iii. 10b, 22b, 39b, 130b; PA, HL/PO/CO/2/1, pp. 2-4, 29.

Darcy was probably the ‘Lord Darcy’ who, on 15 Feb., proposed, without success, that Henry de Vere^*, 18th earl of Oxford, Ludovic Stuart^*, earl (and subsequently duke) of Richmond, and William Herbert^*, 3rd earl of Pembroke, be added to the committee to confer with the Commons about the petition against recusancy, as Darcy of Chiche was absent that day. If so, then this was his only recorded speech of the Parliament.46 ‘Hastings 1621’, p. 16. In November Darcy was dispensed from attending the Parliament, which resumed on the 20th of that month. He granted his proxy to Wentworth’s kinsman, Thomas Wentworth^*, 4th Lord Wentworth (later earl of Cleveland), and was not recorded as present for the rest of the session. Nevertheless, he was included in the Journal’s committee list for a new bill to improve navigation on the Thames, which in the clerk’s scribbled book is recorded as having been referred to the ‘former committee of the former bill’.47 SO3/7, unfol. (Nov. 1621); LJ, iii. 4b, 171a; Add. 40086, f. 21.

By the time the 1624 Parliament sat, Darcy’s only son, John Darcy^‡, was in his early twenties and described by Chamberlain as ‘a very proper and hopeful young gentleman’.48 Chamberlain Letters ed. N.E. McClure, 555. It seems likely that Darcy wanted his heir to sit in the Commons as part of his education. Certainly John applied for a seat at Nottingham and, when this bid proved unsuccessful, he was nominated at East Retford by Sir Gervase Clifton, high steward of that borough, where he was elected after a hard-fought contest.49 HP Commons, 1604-29, iv. 23. Darcy himself initially attended the upper House assiduously, missing only five sittings before 21 Apr., on which day his son died suddenly from smallpox. He received leave of absence and was not recorded as attending the Parliament again.50 LJ, iii. 314b. Darcy granted his proxy to the earl of Pembroke, who had married one of the daughters and coheirs of the 7th earl of Shrewsbury and inherited much of the Talbot political interest.51 Ibid. 212b; HP Commons, 1604-29, ii. 86, 311, 316, 368.

Prior to the death of his son, Darcy was named to 24 committees. These included the committee for privileges, and committees to consider bills on monopolies and concealed lands.52 LJ, iii. 215a, 267a; Add. 40088, f. 38. On 11 Mar. he was named to confer with the Commons about the statement of the king’s finances presented to both Houses that day. The following day he was appointed to a further conference, this time to agree proposals to vote subsidies on condition that James I broke off his treaty negotiations with Spain.53 LJ, iii. 256a, 258b. On 9 Apr. Darcy presented to the House a petition from a servant of Edward Stafford^*, 4th Lord Stafford for parliamentary privilege, his only known speech of the Parliament.54 PA, HL/PO/JO/5/1/3, f. 17.

The Caroline parliaments and later life, 1625-35

In 1625 Darcy attended the prorogation day meetings on 17 May and 13 June, held before the formal start of the first Caroline Parliament. Thereafter he was recorded as being present at 16 of the 31 sittings, 52 per cent of the total, last attending on 9 July. However, he may also have been present on the morning of 6 July, despite not being shown as such, as he was appointed to a committee. He was named to nine of the 17 committees appointed before the session was adjourned to Oxford on 11 July, but made only one recorded speech, when he excused Henry West^*, 4th Lord De La Warr on 7 July. On 23 June he was reappointed to the privileges committee and also instructed to confer with the Commons about petitioning the king to hold a general fast. He was named to the subcommittee for privileges four days later. Among his legislative appointments was the committee for another bill to enforce observation of the Sabbath.55 Procs. 1625, pp. 43, 45-6, 59, 72, 78, 89, 97, 102. He did not attend the Oxford sitting but instead again appointed Pembroke as his proxy.56 Ibid. 590.

Darcy did not attend the coronation of Charles I on 2 Feb. 1626, and eight days later George Villiers^*, 1st duke of Buckingham, procured licence for him to be absent from the forthcoming Parliament. Darcy did not reappoint Pembroke as his proxy, possibly because he feared the earl would support attacks on Buckingham, widely anticipated before the 1626 Parliament. Instead, he initially gave his proxy to Buckingham himself. However, after the duke agreed to restrict the number of proxies he held, he transferred it to William Cavendish^*, Viscount Mansfield (later 1st duke of Newcastle), a supporter of Buckingham and executor of the will of the 7th earl of Shrewsbury. Despite his absence, Darcy was listed in the Journal as a member of the committee for privileges, because the Lords agreed to reappoint the 1625 committee. At the call of the House that same day he was listed as absent due to sickness. There is no evidence that he ever attended the 1626 Parliament.57 Manner of the Coronation of King Charles the First ed. C. Wordsworth (Henry Bradshaw Soc. ii), p. l; SO3/8, unfol. (10 Feb. 1626); Procs. 1626, i. 11, 48-9; WILLIAM CAVENDISH, EARL OF NEWCASTLE.

Darcy paid £200 towards the Forced Loan, although not until 14 Mar. 1627.58 E401/1386, rot. 68. He was disturbed by the imprisonment of Sir Thomas Wentworth for non-payment in June, writing the following month to his cousin that he ‘cannot but grieve for your restraint and the rather because I fear the same may endanger your health’. He advised Wentworth to ‘employ … such means as that with speed you may gain your freedom’, by which he presumably meant that Wentworth should comply with the levy.59 Wentworth Pprs. ed. J.P. Cooper (Cam. Soc. ser. 4. xii), 261-2.

Darcy attended 88 of the 94 sittings of the 1628 session, 94 per cent of the total, and received 23 committee appointments (out of 52), but made no recorded speeches. As in 1610, a significant number of his appointments concerned religion. These included a committee to confer with the Commons about another petition for a fast (21 March). (The following day his name was evidently proposed in connection with presenting this petition to the king, but it was deleted from the clerk’s scribbled book.) They also included bills to maintain the ministry, allow parishioners to attend other churches if they had no preacher, and repress Catholics. Darcy was among those instructed, on 10 June, to take examinations from witnesses against Roger Manwaring^† (later bishop of St Davids), who was accused by the Commons of preaching in support of absolutism. His puritanism may have given him an interest in the committee for the bill to suppress alehouses, to which he was appointed on 20 June.60 Lords Procs. 1628, pp. 78. 89, 112, 389, 579, 612, 627, 678. His remaining committees included a private measure for Mansfield’s cousin, William Cavendish^*, 2nd earl of Devonshire, and the committee for petitions, to which he was added on 1 May.61 Ibid. 104, 367.

Darcy was excused attendance for the 1629 session for his ‘indisposition of body’. By now Sir Thomas Wentworth had been elevated to the peerage and, consequently, Darcy was able to confer his proxy on his cousin.62 SO3/9, unfol. (Jan. 1629); LJ, iv. 3a. He wrote to thank Wentworth ‘for honouring me in accepting my proxy’, and asked that ‘if anything in the style be mistaken, you will cause the same to be amended’.63 Sheffield Archives, WWM/StrP12/41. (This letter is dated 10 Dec. 1628, almost certainly in error, as Darcy addressed his cousin as ‘viscount’, a title Wentworth did not receive until the 13th of that month). Darcy was appointed in his absence to the committees for privileges and petitions on 20 January. He was recorded as absent and as having sent his proxy when the House was called on 9 Feb., but was marked as present three days later, and again on 2 March. He left no further trace on the parliamentary records.64 LJ, iv. 6a-b, 25a.

In June 1629 Darcy wrote to Wentworth on behalf of the puritan Robert Greville^*, 2nd Lord Brooke, who, he claimed, had been cheated out of a reversion of the secretaryship to the council in the Marches of Wales by an unfaithful trustee. Darcy asked Wentworth to intervene with the lord treasurer, Richard Weston^*, Lord Weston (subsequently, 1st earl of Portland), to bring the case to the king’s attention, but he was apparently unsuccessful, and the office went instead to George Goring^*, Lord Goring (subsequently 1st earl of Norwich).65 Sheffield Archives, WWM/StrP12/58+1; Coventry Docquets, 174; CSP Dom. 1629-31, p. 553.

Darcy made his will on 23 Jan. 1634, confirming it on 25 Mar. following. In it he gave John Angell, a puritan minister who had formerly been his chaplain, £20, and granted an annuity of £10 to one of Angell’s sons, Darcy’s godson. He also bequeathed money to the parson of Aston and his assistant, and appointed his fourth wife, Elizabeth, as his executor. Darcy died at Aston in July 1635, where he was buried in the chancel of the parish church. Angell preached at his funeral. As Darcy lacked male heirs his peerage died with him, but Conyers Darcy^†, Sir Arthur Darcy’s grandson, was restored to the late medieval Darcy barony in 1641.66 Borthwick, will of John Lord Darcy, Aston (Doncaster), bundle for August 1636-7; Oxford DNB, ii. 149; HEHL, HA1906; Coll. of Arms, I.8, f. 48v; J. Angell, The Right Government of Thoughts (1659), 199; Hunter, S. Yorks. ii. 164; CP, iv. 67.