Family and Education

bap. 25 Oct. 1682, o. surv. s. of Sir Thomas Davall I*.  m. c.1713, Lydia Catherine, da. of John Van Hatten, of St. Swithin’s, London, 2s.  suc. fa. 1712; kntd. 17 June 1713.1

Offices Held

Biography

Davall’s career was very much overshadowed by that of his father, and little is known about his early life, or the extent of his involvement in business ventures, although it may have been he who built a wharf for the family’s lime kiln at Grays Thurrock. His father had hoped to secure a Harwich seat for him as early as 1704, but it was not until he had inherited the manor of Dovercourt, and been knighted in 1713 for having presented an address of thanks for the peace, that he was successful at the polls. Although three candidates had in fact been returned on two indentures, Davall’s name was common to both and on 6 Apr. 1714 the House confirmed his election. He had been marked as a Tory on the Worsley list, but died later the same month leaving no trace of any activity in the Journals. He bequeathed £4,000 to his mother, all his Essex estates passed to his eldest son, Thomas, and all other property to a new-born infant; but, perhaps because he had married his first cousin, the two boys were sickly, the younger dying soon after his father and the elder being buried in June 1718. The deaths of all Davall’s direct heirs gave rise to a legal suit over the terminology of his will, in which he, or an amanuensis, had used a confused form of words. The case was heard in Chancery between 1719 and 1722, and judgment was given in favour of Sir Thomas’ cousin, Daniel Burr, who thereby gained the Essex and Middlesex properties, though a subsequent settlement gave Davall’s widow her jointure of £800, as well as her late husband’s personal estate. This was enough to attract the attention of her second spouse, the Duke of Chandos (Hon. James Brydges*) though she was considered to have married above herself, often being ‘reproached with her being bred in Burr Street, Wapping’.2

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Author: Mark Knights

Notes

• 1. IGI, London, and Berks.; The Gen. n.s. xxxi. 237–8.
• 2. VCH Essex, viii. 43, 45; Add. 28927, f. 176; London Gazette, 16–20 June 1713; Boyer, Pol. State, vii. 412; Folger Shakespeare Lib. Newdigate newsletter 29 Apr. 1714; PCC 65 Aston; Morant, Essex, i. 492; Swift Corresp. ed. Williams, iv. 476.