Family and Education

1st s. of William Daniel, Haberdasher, of Southwark by Mary, da. of John Delanoy of Southwark. m. 1659, Elizabeth, da. of William Greene, merchant, of London, 3s. 2da. suc. fa. 1678; kntd. 13 Apr. 1684.1

Offices Held

Member, Haberdashers’ Co. 1656, master 1683-4, 1689-90; common councilman, London 1672-3, deputy 1674-82, alderman 1682-d., sheriff 1683-4; commr. for assessment, Surr. 1679-80, 1689-90, j.p. 1681-d., sheriff 1681-2; dep. lt. London 1681-9; committee, E. I. Co. 1683-5; gov. Irish Soc. 1687-8; col. blue regt. of militia ft. London 1687-9, 1692-d.2

Biography

Daniel’s maternal uncle, Peter Delanoy, an alderman of London, had represented Southwark in the 1656 Parliament. His father fined for alderman in 1670. Daniel was put in nomination as alderman for Bridge ward, where he lived, by Sir William Pritchard, the Tory lord mayor, and was elected in December 1682. On 5 Sept. 1683 Pritchard nominated him as sheriff, ‘the Whig party not appearing’. After the seizure of the London charter, he was reappointed to both offices by royal commission, and as sheriff attended the execution of Algernon Sidney in December 1683. He had substantial holdings of East India stock, usually buying and selling £500 worth at a time, and was admitted to the governing body of the company at this time.3

Daniel was returned for Southwark to James II’s Parliament. A moderately active Member, he was among those ordered to estimate the yield of a tax on new buildings and to consider bills to encourage woollen manufactures and to relieve poor debtors. In 1686 he subscribed £2,500 to a government loan on the security of the linen duty. He must have supported James’s policy of religious toleration, since he survived the purge of Tory aldermen in March 1687 and was appointed governor of the Irish Society, which administered the City’s plantation in Ulster. In October 1688 he presented to James a loyal address from the London lieutenancy, pledging their lives and fortunes to the King’s defence. After the Revolution, though the senior alderman below the chair, the Whigs three times effectively blocked his election as lord mayor after bitter contests. In 1690 he subscribed £500 to a government loan. He died on 9 May 1700 and was buried at Clapham. No other member of the family sat in Parliament.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

• 1. Vis. London (Harl. Soc. xlii), 48; Vis. Surr. (Harl. Soc. lx), 71; PCC 70 Noel.
• 2. J. R. Woodhead, Rulers of London, 56; Luttrell, i. 278, 283; ii. 610; HMC Lords, iii. 45.
• 3. Verney Mems. ii. 340; CSP Dom. July-Sept. 1683, pp. 373-4.
• 4. Cal. Treas. Bks. viii. 2176; ix. 2007; HMC Lords, ii. 69; Luttrell, ii. 46-47, 569, 578, 581; iv. 432-3; Lysons, Environs, iv. 586.