Lincoln's Inn
Although the date of Danby's birth is unknown, he is most probably the William Danby who enteredCoroner of The Queen's Household
In 1589 Danby apparently took over the role of Coroner of The Queen's Household from Richard Vale. The first time Danby's name appears in this capacity (in the Middlesex records held at the London Metropolitan Archives) was for an inquest held in October 1589—in Shepperton, Middlesex—when he presided together with a county coroner, John Chalkhill, at the inquest on one Robert Wrote. Unfortunately for Danby, this case was later declared "insufficient" because Chalkhill had not said in his report that Shepperton was within the verge, which was legally required to explain Danby's presence there. We know that Danby's predecessor as the Royal coroner, Richard Vale, was also one of the coroners for Middlesex Unfortunately only a very few (and irrelevant) Kentish inquests survive from that time to provide direct evidence that Danby similarly combined his royal responsibilities with those of a county coroner, and if he had, it should have been noted in his report of Marlowe's inquest, which it was not. On the other hand, two other pieces of evidence suggest that he may have nevertheless also been a coroner for Kent. The first is that it would have been illegal for him to have presided on his own over the Marlowe inquest, as he did, ''unless'' he was also a coroner for Kent, as Deptford was both in Kent and, at the time, within the verge. The other is that Leslie Hotson said that he had found a William Danby in Woolwich (in Kent, four or five miles east of Deptford) at that time, and, although Hotson gave no reference for this claim, William Urry was prepared to acknowledge it as quite likely.The Marlowe inquest
Had there been no doubts about Danby's report of the inquest jury's verdict on Marlowe's death, the name of William Danby would have probably disappeared by now. Some biographers still accept the story told at the inquest as a true account, but the majority of the more recent ones find the verdict of a killing in self-defence difficult to accept, and think that it must have been a deliberate murder, even though there is no agreement as to who was behind it or just what their motive might have been for arranging it.See, for example, , , , , , , and – all of whom offer different explanations. TheNotes
References
* * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Danby, William British coroners People of the Elizabethan era Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown