Family and Education

b. by 1531, s. of George Daniell. educ. Eton c.1540-5; King’s, Camb. adm. 1545. m. (1) by 1557, Alice, da. of Robert Bithway of Marlborough, s.p.; (2) by 1558, Elizabeth, da. and coh. of William Whittocksmead of Beanacre, 2s.; (3) Cecily, da. of William Hyde^† of Denchworth, Berks. 2s.1

Offices Held

J.p. Wilts. 1573/74-92.

Biography

William Daniell, son of an obscure scion of an ancient Cheshire family, owed his connexion with Marlborough to his uncle Geoffrey Daniell. In February 1553 Geoffrey Daniell was licensed to alienate St. Margaret’s priory and its appurtenances in the town and in the neighbouring parish of Preshute to William Daniell and his heirs; although a further licence was granted for this property to go to other recipients three years later, Daniell was to be assessed for subsidy in 1576 on lands in Preshute worth £20, and the mansion of St. Margaret’s was to pass to his descendants. He strengthened his local ties by marriage, first to the daughter of a leading townsman, then to an heiress who brought him the manor of Beanacre, and finally into a prominent Berkshire family.2

It is possible that Daniell sat for Marlborough in 1558 and 1559 on the nomination of his uncle but he may also have enjoyed the patronage of William Herbert I, 1st Earl of Pembroke, with whom he was later associated and who retained influence in the borough throughout the minority of the Protector Somerset’s heir Edward Seymour, later Earl of Hertford. In 1558 Daniell himself may have been responsible for the choice of his fellow-Member William Fleetwood, an Etonian with no obvious stake in Wiltshire. On 28 Feb. 1558 the Marlborough Members were licensed with others to attend the assizes in Wiltshire ‘for great business’.3

Daniell died on 17 Sept. 1604.4

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: T. F.T. Baker

Notes

• 1. Date of birth estimated from education. Wilts. Vis. Peds. (Harl. Soc. cv, cvi), 42; PCC 28 Wrastley; CPR, 1557-8, p. 344.
• 2. Wilts. Vis. Peds. 42; CPR, 1553, p. 116; 1555-7, pp. 243-4; Two Taxation Lists (Wilts. Arch. Soc. recs. br. x), 104; Wards 7/27/21; VCH Wilts. vii. 99.
• 3. Wilts. Arch. Mag. xviii. 129; Wilts. N. and Q. iv. 205; Marlborough corp. chamberlains’ accts. 1573, f. 5; CJ, i. 50.
• 4. Wards 7/27/21.