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DALTON, Roger (d.c.1597), of Kirby Misperton, Yorks. and Knockmoan, Co. Waterford, Ireland.
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Family and Education
1st s. of Roger Dalton of Kirby Misperton by his 3rd w. Anne, da. of William Swinborne of Capheaton, Northumb. educ. Trinity Coll. Camb. 1570; L. Inn 1573, called 1583. m. Alison, 3s. 4da.
Offices Held
J.p. Yorks. (N. Riding) c.1587.
Biography
The Daltons were minor gentry connected with the Hattons, possibly through Dalton’s wife. There was also a connexion with the Cecils, since in 1592 or 1593 Dalton was appointed justice of assize for Yorkshire at the suit of William Cecil, a position he relinquished when Sir Thomas Cecil wanted to appoint another. Dalton appears to have been engaged in some kind of secret service work in 1589, for on 20 Oct. Walsingham’s agent Thomas Fowler wrote to Lord Burghley from Edinburgh mentioning Dalton, who, by 8 Nov. was due to return to London. This connexion with the secret service may explain how Dalton obtained his seat at Lancaster, where Walsingham was chancellor of the duchy, and at Scarborough, where Walsingham was related to the borough patrons, Sir Henry and Edward Gates. Although he is not mentioned by name in the extant records of the Commons, as Member for Scarborough in 1593 he was eligible to attend committees concerning cloth (23 Mar.) and weirs (28 Mar.).
In 1594 Dalton sold Kirby Misperton, and settled on his Irish estates, consisting of about 10,000 acres which came to him through Sir Christopher Hatton, who in turn derived them from the attainted Earl of Desmond. Dalton made his will in Ireland, 9 Oct. 1595, appointing his wife and three sons as his executors. He left his wife an annuity of 100 marks and his castles and lands of Knockmoan and Balycourtie. He provided for each of his four daughters and left money and lands to his sons Richard and John. His third son Roger received lands in England, his father’s signet ring, his best gown and his books. To his brother Francis he left his great book of arts and monuments, which suggests that he may have had artistic tastes, and also his Tremellins Bible. He died about 1597.
Vis. Yorks. (Harl. Soc. xvi), 87; Lansd. 71, f. 160; 121, f. 71; HMC Hatfield, iii. 442-3; D’Ewes, 507, 512; Yorks. Fines (Yorks. Arch. Soc. rec. ser. v), 10, 96, 136; E. St. J. Brooks, Hatton, 320, 322; PCC 25 Cobham.
