Family and Education

bap. 30 Nov. 1617, 6th s. of Conyers, 4th Baron Darcy (d.1654) by Dorothy, da. of Sir Henry Belasyse, 1st Bt., of Newburgh Priory; bro. of Conyers, later 1st Earl of Holdernesse, and Hon. Marmaduke Darcy. m. by 1650, Isabel, da. of Sir Marmaduke Wyvill, 2nd Bt., of Burton Constable, 3s. 4da.1

Offices Held

Commr. for militia, Yorks. Mar. 1660; j.p. Yorks. (N. Riding) July 1660-6, commr. for assessment Aug. 1660-d.; receiver of free gift, Yorks. 1661-5, commr. for corporations 1662-3, loyal and indigent officers 1662.2

Master of the stud 1661-d.3

Biography

Darcy inherited under a family settlement a small estate of his own at Patrick Brompton, but preferred to live on his wife’s property, three miles from Richmond. Having taken no part in the Civil War, he was eligible to stand for the borough on the family interest at the general election of 1660, and was returned with his brother-in-law, Sir Christopher Wyvill. He was classed as a friend by Lord Wharton, who entrusted him with the management of a dozen Yorkshire Members; but if he took any part in the Convention it was doubtless as a court supporter. He does not seem to have stood for re-election, but in June 1661 he was appointed master of the royal stud at £200 p.a., under contract to supply 12 horses a year for £800. His salary was abolished in the Household reforms of 1668, and his contract was reduced to £500 for five horses of his own breeding. His will, dated 13 Oct. 1673, was proved on 5 Feb. 1674. His son James sat for Richmond under William III and Anne, and was given an Irish peerage in 1721.4

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Authors: M. W. Helms / P. A. Bolton / Paula Watson

Notes

• 1. Clay, Dugdale’s Vis. Yorks. ii. 81.
• 2. Cal. Treas. Bks. i. 666; HMC 8th Rep. pt. 1 (1881), 275.
• 3. CSP Dom. 1660-1, p. 606; Cal. Treas. Bks. iv. 564.
• 4. Royalist Comp. Pprs. (Yorks. Arch. Soc. rec. ser. xx), 7; VCH N. Riding, i. 79-80; Cal. Treas. Bks. i. 303, 445; ii. 239, 528; iii. 220; York Wills (Yorks. Arch. Soc. rec. ser. lxviii), 31.