Charles Duncombe

Sir Charles Duncombe (November 1648 – 9 April 1711) of Teddington, Middlesex and Barford, Wiltshire, was an English banker and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1685 and 1711. He served as Lord Mayor of London from 1708 to 1709. He made a fortune in banking and was said to be worth £400,000 later in life, and the richest commoner in England on his death.

Early life Duncombe was baptized on 16 November 1648, the second son of Alexander Duncombe of Drayton Beauchamp, Buckinghamshire, and his wife Mary Pawley, daughter of Richard Pawley of Whitchurch, Buckinghamshire. He was apprenticed to the London goldsmith Edward Backwell in 1665 and became in 1672 a member of the Goldsmiths' Company. He was tipped off by Lord Shaftesbury to withdraw a large sum of money from the Treasury before the Government suspended payment, and when Backwell was ruined because of the suspension, Duncombe took over his premises in Lombard Street at the sign of the Grasshopper. In 1684 he was appointed Commissioner for tin coinage 1684 until 1687, and Cashier of hearth-tax at a salary of £400 p.a. in return for a £50,000 loan to the King at five per cent interest, holding the post until November 1688. At the 1690 English general election he transferred to Yarmouth (Isle of Wight) where he was again returned unopposed. At the 1695 English general election he transferred again to Downton, supporting the Tories. During this period he opposed the establishment of the Bank of England. In 1694 he bought the 40,000 acre Helmsley estate, now Duncombe Park.

In 1698, Duncombe was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London, and subsequently expelled from the House of Commons, for "contriving and advising the making of false Indorsements of several Bills, made forth at the Receipt of Exchequer, commonly called Exchequer-Bills", in other words a tax fraud. He was expelled from the House of Commons on 1 February 1698. However, at his trial, he was acquitted through a mistake in the information. He was knighted on 20 October 1699.

In May 1709, he endorsed the candidacy of Dr Henry Sacheverell for the chaplaincy of St Saviour's, Southwark and later showed Tory partisanship by reportedly giving only £50 for the relief of the Palatine refugees, and only for the sake of his office. Though generally known for support of charitable causes and praised by the poor debtors of the Wood Street compter for his help while Mayor, the Palatines were a Whig cause. He opposed the impeachment of Sacheverell in 1710, later entertaining him at his home in Teddington. He was returned as MP for Downton at the 1710 British general election, and was later cited as one of the ‘worthy patriots’ who in the first session of the 1710 Parliament helped to detect the mismanagements of the previous administration'. However Harley was disappointed that he was unforthcoming in providing any financial support for the administration. His brother, Anthony Duncombe, was also MP for Hedon, died before him. His nephew and heir, also called Anthony, was later ennobled as Lord Feversham. His sister Ursula Duncombe inherited half of Duncombe's fortune and was the ancestor of the present-day Barons Feversham.