Henry Danvers, 1st Earl of Danby

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This article is about the 17th-century English soldier. For the 17th-century Baptist insurrectionary, see Henry Danvers (Baptist).

Henry Danvers, Earl of Danby in a portrait of the 1630s by Anthony van Dyck.

Henry Danvers, 1st Earl of Danby,

Knight of the Garter.[1]

Life

He was the second son of

siege of Rouen in 1591, and was there knighted for his services in the field by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, in command of the expedition.[1]

His father died on 19 December 1593, and on 4 October 1594 Henry Long, son of Robert Long and brother of Sir Walter Long, was killed. A feud had existed between the Long and Danvers families for some time past. According to one account, Henry Long was dining in the middle of the day with a party of friends in Corsham, when Danvers, followed by his brother Charles and a number of retainers, burst into the room, and shot Long dead on the spot. The brothers then fled on horseback to Whitley Lodge, near Titchfield, the seat of Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton. With Southampton's assistance, they succeeded after some days in making their way out of the country. A coroner's inquisition was held, and the brothers were outlawed. Another version of the story asserted that Henry Long was killed by Sir Henry Danvers in defending his brother Sir Charles against Long and his company.[1]

The brothers joined the French army, and became known to

expedition of that year to the coast of Spain.[1]

Arms of Sir Henry D'Anvers, 1st Earl of Danby, KG

After Henry IV had interceded with

Essex's insurrection.[1]

On 14 November 1607, Danvers was appointed

governor of the isle of Guernsey for life.[1]

By Charles I he was created Earl of Danby on 5 February 1626, and on 20 July 1628 was sworn a member of the privy council. In 1630, Danby succeeded to the estates of his mother, who after her first husband's death had married Sir Edmund Cary. He was made a councillor of Wales on 12 May 1633, and was installed a knight of the Garter on 7 November in the same year. He was included in a number of commissions by Charles I, formed one of the councils of war appointed on 17 June 1637, and acted as commissioner of the regency from 9 August to 25 November 1641. He never married, and upon his death the barony of Danvers and the earldom of Danby became extinct.[1] Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, best known to history as the Earl of Danby, was his great-nephew.

Towards the close of his life, he suffered from bad health and lived principally in the country. He died at his house in

John Drury, has, however, questioned the accuracy of the attribution.[3]

The Danby gateway to the University of Oxford Botanic Garden built in 1633.

On 12 March 1622 Danvers conveyed to the university of Oxford five acres of land, opposite

Oxford Botanic Garden, designed by Nicholas Stone, a master mason who frequently worked with Inigo Jones, still bears the following inscription, 'Gloriae Dei Opt. Max. Honori Caroli Regis, in usum Acad. et Reipub. Henricus comes Danby DD. MDCXXXII.' By his will, he left the rectory of Kirkdale in Yorkshire towards the maintenance of the gardens.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barker, George Fisher Russell (1888). "Danvers, Henry" . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 14. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 37–39.
  2. ^ John Nichols, Progresses of James the First, vol. 2 (London, 1828), p. 628.
  3. ISBN 9781846142482
    . Herbert was the stepson of Danvers' younger brother, John. See Drury pp.188–9
Peerage of England
New creation Earl of Danby
1626–1644 		Extinct
Baron Danvers
1603–1644
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