Philip Darnall Explained

Philip Darnall
Birth Place:Essendon, Hertfordshire
Spouse:Mary Breton
Children:Elizabeth Darnall, John Darnall, Henry Darnall, Calvert Darnall
Occupation:Barrister
Signature:Phillip Darnall cut.jpg

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 the 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:

Career

Philip Darnall became a barrister like his father.[2] 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.[3] According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Calvert converted in 1624. The mission to France took place in 1610, when Darnall was still a child.[4]

Family life

Philip Darnall's brother Ralph, also a barrister, was Clerk to the Parliament during the Protectorate.[5] Ralph Darnall's daughter Mary married Charles Calvert, son and heir of the Proprietor of Maryland, Cecil Calvert, 2nd Lord Baltimore.[6]

Philip Darnall's wife was Mary Breton, daughter of Sir Henry Breton (or Britton) by his wife, Anne Yate, daughter of Edward Yate of Buckland, Berkshire, England.[7] [8] Philip and Mary had at least two sons:

References

Notes and References

  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. Duhamel, Elizabeth, "Col. Henry Darnall and His Family", Records of the Columbia Historical Society, Washington, D.C., Vol. 26 (1924), pp. 129–145
  3. Book: Artists of colonial America. Roark, Elisabeth Louise. 78. 2003. Greenwood Press. 0-313-32023-3. 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.
  4. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03192a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia
  5. '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."
  6. Dorman, John Frederick, Adventurers of Purse and Person, 4th ed., vol. 1, p.473.
  7. The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, (2010), (bio. of Britton, Henry, of Slyfield, Great Bookham, Surr. and Drury Lane, Westminster).
  8. 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)
  9. Richardson, Douglas. Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families, (2011), Vol. II, 2nd ed., p. 457.
  10. Abstracts of the Testamentary Proceedings of the Prerogative Court of Maryland, p.92