DAKINS, George (by 1515-79), of Foulbridge and Linton Grange, Yorks.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558, ed. S.T. Bindoff, 1982
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Mar. 1553

Family and Education

b. by 1515. m. (1) Cecily; (2) Clara; at least 2s. 1da. prob. by 1st w.1

Offices Held

Servant of Richard Cromwell alias Williams by 1536; commr. benevolence, Yorks. (E. and N. Ridings) 1544/45, sewers, Yorks, 1545, (E. Riding) 1570, relief (E. Riding) 1550; j.p. Yorks. (E. Riding) 1547, 1569-73/74, 1577, (N. Riding) 1558/59, 1569-d.; bailiff and collector, former lands of Kirkham abbey in Northumb. and Yorks. Feb. 1545.2

Biography

George Dakins was a cousin of Arthur Dakins of the family of Chelmorton, Derbyshire, but his own parentage has not been discovered. He was in the service of Richard Cromwell alias Williams when indicted in 1536 of the murder of a servant of Sir Ralph Eure at New Malton, Yorkshire; the intervention of Cromwell’s uncle to prevent his arraignment was to become one of the grievances aired by the northern rebels later that year, and his kinsman John Dakins, rector of Kirkby Ravensworth, Yorkshire, and vicar-general of the diocese, then claimed that the connexion put his own life in danger.3

As Richard Cromwell’s servant Dakins had probably been employed as a monastic visitor before October 1538, when he witnessed the election of the abbot of Whitby, Yorkshire; Thomas Cromwell’s right of presentation had been challenged and Dakins was doubtless there as his agent. Like Richard Cromwell himself, Dakins was unaffected by the minister’s fall and after he had served as captain of 100 men on the Scottish expedition of 1544 it was as the King’s servant that he was appointed bailiff of the lands of Kirkham abbey; at about the same time he began to appear on local commissions. He had also started to acquire, by lease or purchase, a Yorkshire estate including the manor of Settrington and Linton Grange in the parish of Wintringham, and it was as of Foulbridge, York and Linton Grange that he was to sue out a pardon at the beginning of Mary’s reign.4

His residence at Foulbridge gave him a local standing at Scarborough and he did not lack patrons there for his return to Edward VI’s second Parliament. One of the influential Constable family married at about this time a daughter of John Dakins of Brandesburton, Yorkshire, and the constable of Scarborough castle, Sir Richard Cholmley, whose mother was a Constable, had served with Dakins in 1544. The John Dakins whose safety the episode of 1536 had threatened, although later to be a leading figure in the Marian reaction, had become archdeacon of the East Riding in 1551 and may have influenced both his kinsman’s return to this Parliament and John Tregonwell’s to the next. As a Protestant himself, Dakins was acceptable to the Duke of Northumberland, and it may have been for his attitude in the subsequent contest for the throne that he judged it prudent to sue out a pardon at Mary’s accession. He was not to be retained on the commission of the peace during her reign but was restored to it under Elizabeth. In 1564 he was described as a ‘favourer’ of the religious settlement.5

By his will of 1 Mar. 1579 (to which he added codicils on 6 and 7 Mar.) Dakins provided for his son Arthur, already resident at Cowton, Yorkshire, and for the children of another son George and of his daughter Mary. He named his son Arthur executor and his cousin Arthur Dakins (to whom he had sold Linton Grange in 1565) supervisor. The will was proved on 23 Mar. 1579.6

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Author: Alan Davidson

Notes

  • 1. Date of birth estimated from first reference. Yorks. Arch. Soc. rec. ser. ii. 203, 309; Yorks. Arch. Jnl. xvii. 73n; Glover’s Vis. Yorks. ed. Foster, 511.
  • 2. LP Hen. VIII, xi, xx; CPR, 1547-8, p. 92; 1553, p. 353; 1569-72, pp. 221, 224.
  • 3. Yorks. Arch. Jnl. xvii. 72 seq.; LP Hen. VIII, xi, xii, add.
  • 4. LP Hen. VIII, xiii, xiv, xvi, xix-xxi; HMC Bath, iv. 66; CPR, 1553-4, p. 446.
  • 5. Glover’s Vis. Yorks. 146; A. G. Dickens, Marian Reaction in the Diocese of York, i (Borthwick Pprs. xi), 7-8; Cam. Misc. ix(3), 71.
  • 6. Yorks. Arch. Jnl. 73n; Diary of Lady Margaret Hoby, ed. Meads, 5.