Thomas D'Oyly (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1585) was an English antiquary.

Life

D'Oyly was the second son of Sir Henry D'Oyly, knight, of Pondhall in the parish of

Hadleigh, Suffolk Hadleigh () is an ancient market town and civil parish in South Suffolk, East Anglia, situated, next to the River Brett, between the larger towns of Sudbury and Ipswich. It had a population of 8,253 at the 2011 census. The headquarters of Bab ...

and his wife Jane, daughter and sole heiress of William Ellwyn of Wiggenhall St. Germans, Norfolk, was born in or about 1530. He was admitted a member of

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

in 1555. In 1559 he is found acting as steward to Archbishop

Matthew Parker Matthew Parker (6 August 1504 – 17 May 1575) was an English bishop. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder (with a p ...

. He soon rose into favour with the archbishop, and had the degree of D.C.L. conferred on him D'Oyly appears to have lived variously at Croydon, Surrey; at

Layham Layham is a small village and a civil parish in southern Suffolk, England, situated between the town of Hadleigh and the neighbouring village of Raydon. The civil parish contains the villages of Upper Layham and Lower Layham, separated by the ...

, Suffolk; and at

St Dunstan-in-the-West The Guild Church of St Dunstan-in-the-West is in Fleet Street in the City of London. It is dedicated to Dunstan, Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is of medieval origin, although the present building, with an octagonal ...

, London. He was still alive in 1585.

Works

He became a member of the Society of Antiquaries. Two of his contributions to the society are preserved in Thomas Hearne's ''Collection of Curious Discourses'' (ed. 1771, i. 175–6, 183–4), from transcripts made by Dr. Thomas Smith from the Cotton manuscripts. The subject of one is ''Of the Antiquity of Arms'', the other (written in French) treats ''Of the Etymology, Dignity, and Antiquity of Dukes''.

Family

He was married twice: first, when scarcely seventeen, to Elizabeth, only child of Ralph Bendish of Topsfield Hall in Hadleigh, Suffolk, who died 2 August 1553; and, secondly, at Hadleigh, 11 February 1565, to Anne Crosse of that place. By both marriages he had issue. The eldest surviving son of the second marriage, Thomas D'Oyly, married Joane Baker, niece of

Archbishop Parker Matthew Parker (6 August 1504 – 17 May 1575) was an English bishop. He was the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England from 1559 until his death in 1575. He was also an influential theologian and arguably the co-founder (with a p ...

References

* ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:D'oyly, Thomas 1530 births Year of death missing English antiquarians 16th-century English writers 16th-century English male writers People from Hadleigh, Suffolk 16th-century antiquarians