Philip Darnall

Philip Darnall
Personal details
Born Essendon, Hertfordshire
Children John Darnall, Henry Darnall
Occupation barrister
Religion Roman Catholic

Philip Darnall (born 1604), was an English barrister. His son Henry Darnall, (1645–1711), emigrated to North America, where he became the Proprietary Agent of George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, (1579–1632), and George Calvert's son, Cecilius Calvert, second Lord Baltimore, (1605–1675) and the founder of Maryland.

Early life

Philip Darnall was a son of Henry Darnall (1564–1607) and Mary Tooke of "Bird's Place" in Essendon, Hertfordshire, England.[1][2] Henry Darnall's memorial stone in the parish church was described in 1826 as bearing the following inscription:

Here resteth the bodies of Henry Darnall, of Bird's Place, in this Parish, Esq., Councellor at Law, of Gray's Inn, and of Mary his Wife, Daughter of William Took, Esq; one of the Auditors of his Majesty's Court of Wards and Liveries, by whom he had Issue, John, Henry, Anne, Thomas, Susan, Philip and Ralph Darnall, all living at the time of his Decease. Mary, Philip and Ralph dyed in his life-time; which Henry dyed in the 43d year of his Age, in Febr. anno 1607 and the said Mary his Wife, dyed the 7th of May, 1632, in the 59th year of her Age.[3]

Henry Darnall's son Philip (apparently the second of that name, the first Philip having died) became a barrister like his father.[2] His wife was Mary (surname unknown),[4] with whom he had at least two sons. He is said to have been secretary to George Calvert, and to have converted to Catholicism along with Calvert while the two were on an extended diplomatic mission to France, but this is doubtful.[5] According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Calvert converted in 1624. The mission to France took place in 1610, when Darnall was still a child.[6]

Legacy

Darnall's son, Col. Henry Darnall.

Philip Darnall's brother Ralph, also a barrister, was Clerk to the Parliament during the Protectorate.[7] Ralph Darnall's daughter Mary married Charles Calvert, son and heir of the Proprietor of Maryland, Cecil Calvert, 2nd Lord Baltimore.[8]

Philip Darnall's son, Colonel Henry Darnall (1645–1711) emigrated to Maryland, where he received political appointments including Deputy Governor under Charles Calvert, third Lord Baltimore, (1637–1715), and large grants of land from the Calverts, and thus amassed a large fortune.

Philip Darnall's son John Darnall also emigrated to Maryland, where he married a daughter of Richard Bennett. His will, proved 18 February 1684, named brother Col. Henry Darnall as executor.[9]

References

Notes

  1. ↑ 'Parishes: Essendon', A History of the County of Hertford: volume 3 (1912), pp. 458–462. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=43641 Date accessed: 22 January 2012. "Near Essendon Place was an old house called Bird's Place, pulled down in 1833, (fn. 9) which at the beginning of the 17th century belonged to Henry Darnall, who died in 1607. (fn. 10) His wife was Marie daughter of William Tooke (second son of William Tooke, lord of the manor of Essendon), one of a Hertfordshire family of whom several members are buried in Essendon Church."
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Duhamel, Elizabeth, "Col. Henry Darnall and His Family", Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., Vol. 26 (1924), pp. 129–145
  3. ↑ Chauncey, Henry, The Historical Antiquities of Hertfordshire, 1826
  4. ↑ Her given name is shown as Mary in Maryland records. (Skinner et al, Abstracts of the Testamentary Proceedings of the Prerogative Court of Maryland, 1686–1689, 1692–1693, p. 201) She is sometimes said to have been Mary Calvert, sister of George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, but dates make such a marriage improbable: Mary Calvert was born about 1586 and would have been grown and marriageable before Darnell was born; she is said to have married Isaac Chapline, R.N., but this too has been disproved. (Ransome, David R., '"Shipt for Virginia": The Beginnings in 1619–1622 of the Great Migration to the Chesapeake', The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 103, No. 4 (Oct. 1995), pp. 443–458)
  5. ↑ Roark, Elisabeth Louise (2003). Artists of colonial America. Greenwood Press. p. 78. ISBN 0-313-32023-3. Retrieved 22 February 2010. No source is cited in the book either for the claim that Darnall was secretary to Calvert, nor for the claim that he accompanied Calvert on his 1610 mission to France. The latter claim is demonstrably incorrect, since Darnall was still a child at the time of Calvert's mission to France. It seems likely that the author unwisely relied on claims made in a family history book, The Darnall, Darnell family, written by Harry Clyde Smith and lithoprinted in Baltimore in 1979; this work is included in Roark's bibliography.
  6. ↑ Catholic Encyclopedia
  7. ↑ 'House of Commons Journal Volume 7: 25 February 1660', Journal of the House of Commons: volume 7: 1651–1660 (1802), pp. 852–853. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=24941 Date accessed: 23 January 2012. "Ordered, That it be referred to the Council of State, and the Council of State are hereby authorized and required to give Order for the present Payment of the Sum of Three hundred Pounds of lawful Money of England, for one Year and a Half's Arrears of the Salary of Two hundred Pounds a Year due to Ralph Darnall Esquire, as Clerk-Assistant to the Parliament, on the 25th Day of December 1659, unto the said Ralph Darnall, or his Assigns; and also to pay and satisfy the said yearly Salary unto the said Ralph Darnall, or his Assigns, as ClerkAssistant to the Parliament, by quarterly Payments, as the same shall, from time to time, become due and payable: And the Acquittance and Acquittances of the said Ralph Darnall, testifying the Receipt thereof, shall be a sufficient Discharge in that behalf."
  8. ↑ Dorman, John Frederick, Adventurers of Purse and Person, 4th ed., vol. 1, p.473.
  9. ↑ Abstracts of the Testamentary Proceedings of the Prerogative Court of Maryland, p.92