Family and Education

bap. 3 Jan. 1632, 2nd but 1st surv. s. of Sir Edward Duke, 1st Bt.†, of Benhall by Ellenor, da. and coh. of John Panton of Westminster.  educ. Emmanuel, Camb. 1649; travelled abroad 1657.  m. by 1670, his 3rd cos. Elizabeth, da. of Edward Duke, MD, FRCP, of London, 1s. 5da.  suc. fa. Jan. 1670.1

Offices Held

Portman, Orford ?–d., mayor 1677–8; alderman, Dunwich June–Oct. 1688; freeman, Aldeburgh by 1690.2

Biography

In the 1690 election Duke stood down at Orford in favour of Thomas Felton*, and he continued a strong supporter of the Whig faction in the town, so strong a Whig indeed that in 1695 he vehemently denounced the electoral compact between Thomas and his brother Sir Adam Felton, 3rd Bt.*, saying of the latter that ‘they had taken in one to cut their throats’. When Sir Adam developed a fatal illness early in 1697, Duke was soon busy in Orford, making an interest. One local Tory observed, ‘I thought there must be something more than ordinary, otherwise he would not have ventured his old, rotten, porky carcase . . . in such weather.’ Thomas Felton, however, was anxious to bring in a Whig from outside. His efforts to do so turned Duke against him. At first Duke gave his support to the Tory candidate sponsored by Lord Hereford, but when the Tories in desperation asked him to stand himself as the only way to defeat Felton’s nominee he accepted, after some hesitation, ‘he having professed himself to be so much at my lord’s devotion could not deny him and other friends that request’. After his return, Felton’s man having backed down before the poll, Duke was reported to have declared that ‘he is sensible what party in the House all our calamities are owing to, and he will oppose them while he lives, and will never forsake my lord’. ‘This is a wonderful change’, commented a Tory, ‘and, if it holds, there will good use be made of it.’ Another was less sanguine: ‘I hope a great use can be made of him, if his quicksilver can be fixed.’ He made little impression in Parliament, and on 28 Feb. 1698 was granted leave of absence to recover his health. Probably because of illness he did not put up for re-election in 1698, being listed in about September as a member of the Country party left out of the new Parliament. At Orford, however, he split his votes between (Sir) Thomas Felton (4th Bt.) and the Tory William Johnson, and as late as 1704 seems to have occupied a neutral position between the party factions in the borough.3

Duke was buried at Benhall on 24 July 1705, aged 73. His son Sir Edward, 3rd Bt., sat for Orford 1721–2.4

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: D. W. Hayton

Notes

• 1. Add. 19127, ff. 243–4, 253, 255.
• 2. W. Suss. RO, Shillinglee mss Ac.454/890, 897, [–] to Sir Edward Turnor*, Sept. [1704], Aldeburgh poll 1690; HMC Var. iv. 269; vii. 104.
• 3. Shillinglee mss Ac.454/902, 904, 906, 911, 965, 969, 1009, 1013–5, 1020, 1159, 890, Edward Pratt to Turnor, 16 Aug., 12 Nov. 1692, 1 Oct. 1693, 2 Mar. 1696[–7], Nathaniel Gooding to same, 3 Nov. 1695, 27 Jan. 1696[–7], Theophilus Hooke to same, 4 Nov. 1695, 2, 5, 13 Mar. 1696–7, John Hooke to same, 6 Mar. 1696–7, Orford poll 1698, Thomas Palmer to Turnor, 8 May 1704, [–] to same, Sept. [1704]; Add. 22186, f. 99.
• 4. Add. 19127, ff. 243–4.