Descendants of John Dackombe of Steepleton

published in SDNQ September 2011

by Dr. Geoffrey Mann

Steepleton Iwerne lies three miles north of Blandford Forum. The Dackombe family acquired the manor there before 1378, and remained in possession for two hundred and thirty years ¹.

Motcombe lies nine miles north of Steepleton. Here, Richard Dackombe had a son, John born c1570 who became secretary to Robert Cecil, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and knighted in 1616. The life of Sir John was described in a previous note ², but any connection with the Steepleton family was not then known. The surname may be spelled Daccom, Dackham etc. Dackombe was used by Sir John and is used in this note except for quotations

The pedigree of the Steepleton family derived from the Visitations of Dorset ³ and other sources ⁴ begins with John of Steepleton who died 1517 and shows he had two sons both named Thomas and a third son named John. It is now proposed that John, the third son, was the grandfather of Richard of Motcombe. It is also suggested that the second son Thomas headed the Dackombe family of Corfe Castle and that there was a fourth son Henry who gave rise to families in Dorset and Lincoln as shown in Fig.1.

Fig.1 Descendants of John Dackombe of Steepleton

John-m-Sibyl Steepleton

bc1430 |

d1517 |

_____________|___________________________

| | | | |

Thomas Thomas John Christian Henry

|Steepleton |Corfe |Blandford |m Christian

|d1514 |Castle |and Horton |

| | | |

John of Horton John of Fishtoft

| Bryan of W’borne

Richard of Motcombe Kingston

|

Sir John

John, 3^rd son of John of Steepleton

In a previous note it was shown from a variety of sources that the father of Richard of Motcombe was John Dackombe of Horton, eight miles from Blandford ⁵. He was listed as an archer at Horton in the 1540 muster roll and assessed there for £8 in the subsidy of 1545. In that year he was called a “most comberous wilful & seditious person” in a law suit ^6. He was injured by an arrow in the wars against the rebels c1550 during the brief reign of Edward VI ⁷ and died between 1555 and 1558 ⁸. His wife was named Jane who may have been Jane Halswell of Goathurst in Somerset ^9. Details of their six children including Richard of Motcombe were described in the previous note ¹⁰.

John’s father was also named John ¹¹. John the elder leased the farm at Horton in 1527 from the priory there ¹². Before that he was at Pimperne, two miles from Blandford Forum, where he was assessed for £40 in the subsidy of 1525. He and his wife Johanna obtained the manor of Littleton near Mapouder in 1519 ¹³, possibly at the time of their marriage. He died between 1538 and 1544 ¹⁴ and was then married to Elizabeth, who was the executor of his will ¹⁵.

A number of records show that this Horton/Blandford family was related to the Dackombe family of Steepleton: (1) A pedigree in the 1623 Visitation of Dorset states that (unnamed) Dackomb of Steepleton and Dackomb of Horton were brothers. (2) Robert Dackombe, son of John the younger of Horton referred in his will to James Dackomb of Steepleton as his cousin ¹⁶. (3) James Dackombe, the last of the Steepleton line to hold the manor, referred in his will to Robert Dackombe, vicar of Horton, as his kinsman ¹⁷. The vicar was the grandson of John the younger of Horton ¹⁸. (4) A later John Dackombe of Steepleton who died in 1571, was godfather to Sir John Dackombe, grandson of John the younger of Horton ¹⁹. (5) Although it does not prove a relationship, it is noteworthy that Robert Dackombe, son of Richard of Motcombe, acquired Steepleton before 1600 from James of Steepleton ²⁰.

Each of these points is satisfied if John the elder of Horton were the third son of John of Steepleton. Moreover, their estimated birth dates, calculated as follows, are within the same time frame. Thomas, the eldest son of John of Steepleton, died in 1514, three years before his father ²¹. If the father were no more than 80 at death therefore Thomas would have been born after c1457. Thomas’ second son was a collector of books and obligingly annotated one with his date of birth, 1496 ²². Thus Thomas, eldest son of John of Steepleton, was born between c1457 and c1473. So John, the third son, was born after c1460 and probably within that decade.

John the elder of Horton died c1540 and his son John the younger was born c1500, Assuming John the elder was no more than 80 at death, he was therefore born between c1460 and 1480 similar to the estimated birth date of the third son of John of Steepleton.

It is concluded that John the elder of Horton was the third son of John Dackombe of Steepleton, probably born between 1460 and 1470.

Thomas, 2^nd son of John of Steepleton

The 1623 visitation of Dorset has a pedigree of the Dackombe family of Corfe Castle, 20 miles from Steepleton, headed by Thomas Daccomb who acquired the property there by marrying the heiress Elizabeth Clavell. This family was said to be a younger branch of the Steepleton family ²³. Was Thomas the second son of John of Steepleton?

The arms of the family strongly support this suggestion. Burke’s General Armory describes the arms of the Steepleton family as a silver griffin on a green background, while the Corfe Castle family has the same arms with an added crescent. The addition of a crescent is the sign of a second son ²⁴. Burke and the Visitations also give the arms of the Steepleton family as three roses and three steeples but Hutchins states that the griffin was the original Dackombe emblem, the rose and steeples coming from families they had married ²⁵.

Dates of marriage and death of Thomas of Corfe Castle are also consistent with the age of the second son. Thomas of Corfe married Elizabeth Clavell who was born 1488, and their daughter Johanna married John Stanter before 1529 ²⁶. Therefore if neither Elizabeth nor Johanna were younger than 20 at marriage, Thomas married c1508. He died in 1541. In the discussion above, it is shown that the eldest son of John of Steepleton was born between about 1457 and 1473, so his second son Thomas would have been born after c1460 and probably before 1475. If he were Thomas of Corfe Castle, he would have been aged between 33 and 48 at marriage (1508) and between 66 and 81 at death (1541).

These are very plausible ages, so it is probable that Thomas of Corfe Castle was the second son of John of Steepleton. This conclusion remains unconfirmed however as it is not made by Hutchins in his History, nor in the Visitations nor in any other known source.

Was there a fourth son named Henry?

The pedigrees from the Visitations of Dorset name only three sons of John of Steepleton. A number of records however suggest there was a fourth son named Henry. John’s wife Sibyl was the daughter of Henry Pole, and a fourth son could have been named for him.

1. In his will of 1514, John’s eldest son Thomas left 20 sheep to his brother John and 20 sheep to Henry Dackham ²⁷. John is named as a brother in the will, as also is his other brother, Thomas, whereas no relationship is stated for Henry. However it was necessary to distinguish his brothers John and Thomas from his sons John and Thomas because all four are mentioned in the will. Thomas had no son named Henry, so no confusion arose. Clearly there could have been no doubt in the minds of his executors as to who Henry was, and the fact that he received the same bequest as brother John, supports the proposal that he was another brother of Thomas.

2. The inquisition post mortem held in 1517 after the death of John of Steepleton shows that he had given his property including the manor of Steepleton in trust for his son and heir ²⁸. The trust included Henry Daccombe and it is not improbable that he included his youngest son in the trust to ensure that it did not fail because of the death of its members before it had achieved its purpose.

3. Other members of the trust included three members of the Morgan family of Chitterne in Wiltshire 25 miles from Steepleton. In 1504 Henry Daccombe and his wife Christian sold land in Chitterne ²⁹. Possibly Henry’s wife was Christian Morgan of Chitterne, and the sale may have been made on their marriage. Two children of Thomas of Steepleton later married members of this Morgan family ³⁰.

4. Henry Daccombe was assessed for £2 in the Corfe Castle subsidy of 1525 and was named as an archer with 6 arrows in the 1539 muster of the Knoll tithing (Church Knowle two miles from Corfe Castle) but was not mentioned in the 1544 subsidy so probably died c1540. It might be expected that these references are to a member of the Corfe Castle Daccombe family, but although this family is well documented, no Henry of suitable age is recorded.

There is no confirmation that all these documents refer to the same Henry Dackombe. On the other hand, the dates do not preclude the possibility that they all refer to the Henry shown on the tree above, born c1470, married c1504, died c1540 having connections with both the Steepleton and Corfe Castle branches of the Dackombe family.

Descendants of Henry

There remain two other Dackombe pedigrees in the Visitations besides the Steepleton, Corfe Castle and Horton pedigrees. A Dackombe family at Winterborne Kingston, 8 miles from Steepleton, was headed by Bryan in the 1623 Dorset Visitation. Bryan had a brother John who headed the other family which was at Fishtoft in Lincolnshire ³¹ from at least 1528 ³².

These families are branches of the Steepleton family since the arms of the Lincoln family are the rose and steeple arms of Steepleton ³³. The eldest son of Bryan, and the second son and heir of John of Fishtoft were both named Henry. It is proposed therefore that they were sons of Henry Dackombe, the fourth son of John of Steepleton, as shown in Fig.1.

John of Fishtoft had a son bc1541 ³⁴. His widow remarried and had a son bc1539 ^35.. These are approximate dates but sufficient to show that John died c1540. Since he had five children, he was therefore married before c1530 and born before c1510, consistent with the marriage c1504 of his proposed parents Henry and Christian.

The pedigree derived from the Visitation of Northampton however places John of Fishtoft as the son of John, the 3^rd son of John of Steepleton ³⁶. The pedigree is clearly in error when it states that the son and heir of John of Fishtoft was John Dackombe married to Dorah Hall since a Lincolnshire pedigree ³⁷ and other sources ³⁸ confirm that the son and heir was Henry Dackombe married to Dorothy Hawley. It is concluded therefore that it is also in error in assigning the descent of John of Fishtoft to the 3^rd son John, who, as shown in this note, founded the Horton branch of the family.

Conclusions

All the Dackombe pedigrees given in the Visitations have been related to the sons of John of Steepleton who were probably born around the decade 1460/70. The first son Thomas, remained at Steepleton. The second son Thomas headed the Corfe Castle family. The third son John founded the family at Horton, leading to Sir John Dackombe. A fourth son Henry founded the families in Lincolnshire and Winterborne Kingston in Dorset.

1. G. Mann and D. Williams, ‘Sir John Dackombe 1570-1618 (Part One)’ SDNQ vol. 33, 363

2. G. Mann and D. Williams, ‘Sir John Dackombe 1570-1618 (Part Two)’ SDNQ vol. 33, 408

3. F. Colby and J. Rylands (eds) ‘Addenda to the Visitation of Dorset 1623’, 23

4. Mann and Williams, SDNQ vol. 33, 368

5. Mann and Williams, SDNQ vol. 33, 369

6. TNA E321 13/7 Court of Augmentation, Daccombe v Derby

7. TNA DL4/14/18 Deposition 1572

8. TNA REQ2 50/34 Gardiner & Mownsell v Dackham 1558

9. Somerset Record office DD\S\WH/5 ‘Records of the Kemeys-Tynte family 1533

10. Mann and Williams, SDNQ vol. 33, 369

11. TNA C1 1046/28-30 1538-1544 Peter v Dackham

12. TNA E321 21/46 Court of Augmentation Derby v Dackham

13. J. Hutchins ‘History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset’ 3^rd edition 1863. vol. 3, 726

14. TNA C1 1046/28-30 Peter v Dackham

15. TNA E321 21/46 Derby v Dackham

16. Will of Robert Dackombe, proved 1606 PROB11/109

17. Will of James Dackombe, proved 1628 PROB 11/153

18. Mann and Williams, SDNQ vol. 33, 369

19. Will of John Dackcombe, proved 1572 PROB 11/54

20. Mann and Williams, SDNQ vol. 33, 366

21. Will of Thomas Dackham, proved 1514 PROB 11/17

22. A. Watson ‘A Sixteenth-Century Collector: Thomas Dackomb’, The Library, vol. 18, 204

23. Hutchins, ‘History and Antiquities of Dorset’, vol. 1, 509

24. B. Burke ‘The General Armory of England Scotland Ireland and Wales’ 1884, xii. In the Visitations, the Corfe Castle arms are quartered into six parts: parts one and six contain the griffin with a crescent; part two contains the steeples, part four contains the roses.

25. Hutchins ‘History and Antiquities of Dorset’ vol. 1, 299

26. Hutchins ‘History and Antiquities of Dorset’ vol. 1, 510

27. Will of Thomas Dackham, proved 1514 PROB 11/17

28. TNA, E150 905/15, Inquisition post mortem

29. TNA CP25(1) 257/66/41 Foot of Fine 1504. The Victoria County History of Wiltshire suggests that Christian was the daughter of Roger Newburgh, but this cannot be correct; Christian Newburgh married John Lord Marney.

30. Colby and Rylands (eds) ‘Addenda to the Visitation of Dorset 1623’ 23

31. Lincolnshire Notes & Queries, vol. 8, 233

32. C. W. Foster (ed), ‘Lincoln Wills’ vol. 2, 73

33. Lincolnshire Notes & Queries, vol. 8, 233

34. A. Maddison (ed) ‘Lincolnshire Pedigrees’, Harleian Society, vol. 50, 285

35. A. Maddison (ed), ‘Lincolnshire Pedigrees’, Harleian Society, Vol. 51, 631

36. Lincolnshire Notes & Queries, vol. 8, 233

37. Maddison (ed) ‘Lincolnshire Pedigrees’, Harleian Society, vol. 50, 285

38. (1) Inquisition post mortem, Sleaford 1574, The Genealogist, vol. 14, 65; (2) G. Turner (ed) ‘Calendar of Feet of Fines Huntingdon 1194-1608’ 1560, 1566, 1567; (3) ‘Calendar of Patent Rolls’, 1561, Elizabeth vol. 2, 203