DAUNDY, Robert (by 1500-58), of Ipswich, Suff.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

b. by 1500, 2nd s. of Edmund Daundy. m. Joan, da. of William Rede of Beccles, 2s. ?5da.2

Offices Held

Chamberlain, Ipswich 1521-2, j.p. 1524-5, 1530-7, 1541-5, 1547-50, 1554-6 bailiff 1524-5, 1530-1, 1536-7, 1541-2, 1543-4, 1548-9, 1554-5.3

Biography

Robert Daundy was a wealthy merchant of Ipswich who for much of his career was associated with Henry Tooley. Both men embarked reluctantly upon municipal careers: elected as the two chamberlains of the town in 1521, they refused to serve and were fined, Daundy to the tune of £8 and Tooley half that sum. Unlike Tooley, Daundy finally agreed to serve, and had part of his fine remitted.4

Daundy maintained his father’s connexion with the Wolsey family and was associated with the cardinal’s building of a new college for Ipswich. He was an importer of miscellaneous goods including salt and tallow. In 1530 he combined with Tooley and others in freighting three ships to the Whitsun market at Bergen-op-Zoom; he sent 184 cloths ‘without grain’ receiving in return wood, soap and battery ware. In 1533 he shared with Tooley the cargo of a ship of Rouen which had come from La Rochelle laden with salt, and in the same year the two partners employed the Mary Imperial for trade with Iceland. Late in 1537 Daundy became involved in a dispute with the abbot of Furness over the seizure by the abbot’s men of wines belonging to him, brought to Ipswich in an ‘outlandish vessel’; Cromwell intervened to get the cargo restored to Daundy. By 1542 William Daundy, Robert’s son, was acting for Tooley at Bordeaux, and by 1547 Tooley again partnered the elder Daundy in exporting cloth. Thomas Gresham was another well-known merchant associated with Daundy in commercial dealings.5

On Tooley’s death in 1550 Daundy was appointed an executor with William Daundy, John Southwell and Richard Bryde alias Byrde*. Robert Daundy’s share in a bequest of wood, iron and other goods added to the considerable wealth which he had accumulated in trade and which he was to bequeath by his own will, dated 25 June 1557, principally to his wife and his eldest son John. Joan Daundy was given a life interest in her husband’s dwelling house and other properties in Ipswich, lands elsewhere, and the profits, goods and payments of his ship from Danzig. Further bequests to her were conditional on her not re-marrying, and on her devoting them to the relief of Tooley’s children and grandchildren, and to the Ipswich poor. John, the heir, received a house in Ipswich and lands elsewhere in Suffolk, sharing with his brother William a ship with its contents. Three of Daundy’s daughters were bequeathed sums of 100 marks, and the husband of a fourth was left a debt of £51 owing to Daundy from a local man. The executors were the widow and the two sons, with Richard Smart and John Smith alias Dyer* as supervisors. William Cordell (who received a 40s. annuity) and Thomas Seckford were to deal with any problems arising from the will. Daundy died on II Apr. 1558, and the will was proved on 26 Oct. in the same year.6

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: John Pound

Notes

  • 1. N. Bacon, Annals Ipswich, 212.
  • 2. Date of birth estimated from first reference. Add. 19126, ff. 113, 117, 120.
  • 3. Bacon, 196-243 passim.
  • 4. Ibid. 196-7.
  • 5. E122/53/19, 25, 33; J. G. Webb, Great Tooley of Ipswich, 52, 94, 101, 137, 139; LP Hen. VIII, x.
  • 6. Webb, 151; PCC 41 Wrastley.