Francis Duncombe (c. 1653–1720), of Broughton,

Newport Pagnell Newport Pagnell is a town and civil parish in the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The Office for National Statistics records Newport Pagnell as part of the Milton Keynes urban area. It is separated from the rest of the urban ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, was an English Tory politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1708 to 1713.

Early life

Duncombe was the eldest son of Thomas Duncombe of Broughton and his first wife Mary Edmonds, daughter of Charles Edmonds of Preston, Northamptonshire. In 1672, he succeeded to the estates of his father. He married Mary Chester, daughter of

Sir Anthony Chester, 3rd Baronet ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English language, English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist i ...

, MP, of Chicheley, Buckinghamshire on 26 April 1683. She died in 1686 and he married as his second wife by licence dated 13 February 1688, Frances Baron, daughter of James Baron, linen-draper and alderman of London. He was a deputy-lieutenant and JP of the Buckinghamshire in 1684. Around 1702, when his wife inherited money from her uncle, he acquired the manor of North Crawley, near Newport Pagnell which gave him electoral interest.

Career

Duncombe stood unsuccessfully for Buckinghamshire at a by-election in 1704. At the

1708 British general election The 1708 British general election was the first general election to be held after the Acts of Union had united the Parliaments of England and Scotland. The election saw the Whigs finally gain a majority in the House of Commons, and by November ...

he was returned as Tory

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

Amersham Amersham ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills, northwest of central London, from Aylesbury and from High Wycombe. Amersham is part of the London commuter belt. ...

. On 23 December 1708, he was named to the drafting committee on the bill to improve army recruitment. He also voted against the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell in 1710. However with other Duncombes in the House, it is impossible to distinguish some of his contributions. He was returned again at the

1710 British general election The 1710 British general election produced a landslide victory for the Tories. The election came in the wake of the prosecution of Henry Sacheverell, which had led to the collapse of the previous government led by Godolphin and the Whig Junto. ...

and was listed as a ‘Tory patriot’ who opposed the continuation of the war, a ‘worthy patriot’ who helped to detect the mismanagements of the previous administration, and a member of the October Club. On 2 May 1713, he told in favour of a bill suspending the duties on French wines, which was an essential prerequisite for the French commerce bill, which he voted for on 18 June. In May 1713, he presented the Amersham address to the Queen on the ‘glorious peace’. He did not stand at the

1713 British general election The 1713 British general election produced further gains for the governing Tory party. Since 1710 Robert Harley had led a government appointed after the downfall of the Whig Junto, attempting to pursue a moderate and non-controversial policy, b ...

Later life and legacy

In September 1714, Duncombe was a signatory to an agreement to split the Buckinghamshire representation between a Whig and a Tory, in preparation for the expected general election. It was said he was omitted from the Buckinghamshire bench in February 1716. Duncombe died on 31 January 1720. His daughter by his first marriage predeceased him, and he had a son and daughter by his second marriage.

References

1653 births 1720 deaths 18th-century English people Politicians from Buckinghamshire Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1708–1710 British MPs 1710–1713 {{England-GreatBritain-MP-stub