Family and Education

bap. 29 June 1626, 1st s. of William Daniel of St. Margaret’s by Frances, da. of William Wilmot of Wantage, Berks. educ. Magdalen Coll. Oxf. 1642. m. (1) lic. 25 Apr. 1648, Catherine, da. of John Southby of Carswell, Buckland, Berks., s.p.; (2) 5 Nov. 1649, Rachel (d.1667), da. of John Ernle of Whetham House, Calne, Wilts., 4s. (3 d.v.p.) 3da.; (3) lic. 4 Oct. 1672, Susanna, da. of Matthew Nicholas, DD, dean of St. Paul’s, 1s. d.v.p. suc. fa. by 1648.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Wilts. 1649-52, 1657, Jan. 1660-80, j.p. Mar. 1660-d., commr. for corporations 1662-3.2

Biography

Daniel was descended from a younger son of the Cheshire family who migrated to Wiltshire under Henry VIII, acquired a former Gilbertine monastery just outside Marlborough, and sat for Devizes in 1545. Nothing is known of his father or himself during the Civil War, but Daniel was nominated to the Wiltshire assessment committee by the Rump shortly after his first marriage into a prominent radical family. He continued to serve throughout the Interregnum, but his views may have changed under the influence of his second wife, the sister of John Ernle, and he probably welcomed the Restoration. He was returned at the top of the poll for Marlborough in 1660 and marked by Lord Wharton as a friend. An inactive Member of the Convention, he was appointed to only seven committees, including those to insert the excise clauses in the bill for the abolition of the court of wards and to consider rules for disbanding the army.3

Daniel was again top of the poll in 1661, but he was not recorded as attending the Cavalier Parliament until 26 Nov., when he was named to the committee for restoring the dukedom of Somerset to the Seymour family. Charles Seymour sent him a barrel of oysters for Christmas, which he found ‘indifferently good’. A moderately active Member, he was appointed to 192 committees. As a magistrate he interested himself locally in the plight of the industrious poor, and he was appointed to the committees for the additional poor relief bill in 1663 and 1664. Presumably an Anglican, he helped to consider the conventicles bill in 1664 and the bill to repress the insolence of Popish priests in 1666. His estate was valued at £700 p.a. about this time. In 1670 he was teller for a motion to postpone consideration of supply until the House had heard the report of the public accounts commission, and he was appointed to the committees to consider the second conventicles bill and the bill to prevent the transportation of English subjects overseas. He was also among those instructed to examine the deficiencies in the Conventicles and Militia Acts. He may, therefore, have been in opposition during the Cabal, and his third marriage, which brought him into the loyal Nicholas family, did not immediately strengthen his links with the Court. In the spring session of 1675 he was named to the committees to prevent illegal exactions and to hinder Papists from sitting in Parliament, and he was twice appointed to committees to prevent the growth of Popery. He acted as teller with (Sir) Giles Hungerford for denying parliamentary privilege to the court supporter, Sir Roberty Holte, in 1677. Shaftesbury marked him ‘doubly worthy’, but altered it to ‘doubly vile’, perhaps because he suspected the influence of Danby’s lawyer, George Johnson, noted in the working lists. But he was not mentioned on either list of the court party in 1678. His last committee was on 20 June, and he may not have attended the final session of the Cavalier Parliament.4

Daniel did not stand again, although he was present at the second Marlborough election of 1679. He died on 22 Apr. 1681 and was buried at Preshute. The trustees named in his will included Ernle and Sir Henry Goodricke. His son William sat for Marlborough as a Tory from 1695 till his death in 1698.5

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: M. W. Helms

Notes

• 1. Coll. Top. et Gen. v. 346, 349; Wilts. Vis. Peds. (Harl. Soc. cv), 43; London Mar. Lic. ed. Foster, 374; Bromham par. reg.; PCC 103 Drax; information from Mr. M. G. Rathbone, Wiltshire County Archivist.
• 2. Hoare, Wilts. Salisbury, 444.
• 3. Wilts. Arch. Mag. xxxiv. 253, 264.
• 4. Add. 32324, f. 162; HMC Var. i. 147; Hoare, Repertorium Wiltonense, 16; CJ ix. 124, 411.
• 5. J. Waylen, Marlborough, 335; Coll. Top. et Gen. v. 349; PCC 103 Drax.