Sir Thomas Darnell, 1st Baronet (died ) was an English landowner, at the centre of a celebrated state legal case in the reign of

Charles I of England Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649) was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until Execution of Charles I, his execution in 1649. He was born into the House of Stuart as the second son of King James VI of ...

, often known as the 'Five Knights' Case' but to the lawyers of the period ''

Darnell's Case The ''Five Knights' case'' (1627) 3 How St Tr 1 (also Darnel's or Darnell's case) (K.B. 1627), is a case in English law, and now United Kingdom constitutional law, fought by five knights (among them Thomas Darnell) in 1627 against forced loans p ...

''.

Life

Darnell was a landowner with estates in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

. He was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

, of Heyling in the County of Lincoln, at

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...

on 6 September 1621. He was committed to the Fleet Prison in March 1627, by warrant signed only by the attorney-general, for having refused to subscribe to the forced loan of that year. Application for a ''

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

'' having been made on his behalf, the writ was issued returnable on 8 November 1627. The case came on for argument on 15 November. Meanwhile, a warrant for Darnell's detention had been signed by two privy councillors, in which, however, no ground for confinement was alleged except the special command of the king. Darnell was represented by

Serjeant-at-law A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writ ...

John Bramston, but asked for time to consider his new position, which being granted, he was remanded. The cases of his four comrades, John Corbet,

Walter Earle Sir Walter Erle or Earle (22 November 1586 – 1 September 1665) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1648. He was a vigorous opponent of King Charles I in the Parliamentary c ...

John Heveningham Sir John Heveningham (c. 1577 – 17 June 1633) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1628 to 1629. Life Heveningham was the son of Sir Arthur Heveningham, of Heveningham, Suffolk and was baptised there on 26 March 1577. ...

, and Edmund Hampden, were proceeded with, Bramston,

William Noy William Noy (1577 – 9 August 1634) was an English jurist. He was born on the family estate of Pendrea in St Buryan, Cornwall. He left Exeter College, Oxford, without taking a degree, and entered Lincoln's Inn in 1594. From 1603 until his dea ...

, William Calthorpe, and

John Selden John Selden (16 December 1584 – 30 November 1654) was an English jurist, a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law. He was known as a polymath; John Milton hailed Selden in 1644 as "the chief of learned ...

being for the applicants, and the attorney-general,

Robert Heath Sir Robert Heath (20 May 1575 – 30 August 1649) was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1621 to 1625. Early life Heath was the son of Robert Heath, attorney, and Anne Posyer. He was educated at Tunbridge ...

, representing the crown. On 22 November Chief-justice

Nicholas Hyde Sir Nicholas Hyde (c. 1572 – 25 August 1631) was Lord Chief Justice of England. Origins Hyde was born at Wardour, in Wiltshire, a son of Lawrence Hyde (d. 1590) of West Hatch, Wiltshire, MP for Heytesbury in 1584, by his second wife Anne ...

gave judgment, in which his colleagues

John Doddridge Sir John Doddridge (akas: Doderidge or Dodderidge; 1555–1628) was an English lawyer, appointed Justice of the King's Bench in 1612 and served as Member of Parliament for Barnstaple in 1589 and for Horsham in 1604.Fuidge He was also an antiquarian ...

, Jones, and

James Whitelocke Sir James Whitelocke SL (28 November 1570 – 22 June 1632) was an English judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1610 and 1622. Early life Whitelocke was the younger of posthumous twin sons of Richard Whitelocke, a Londo ...

concurred, to the effect that the returns to the writs were sufficient. The prisoners remained in custody until 29 January 1628, when they were released. Darnell was living in 1634, and died before 1640. By his wife Sara, daughter of Thomas Fisher, and sister of Sir Thomas Fisher, bart., he had no male issue.

References

* ;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Darnell, Thomas Baronets in the Baronetage of England 1630s deaths 17th-century English people English landowners Year of birth missing