Journal 52, fos. 158, 158b; Repertory 102, fo. 49; Luttrell, iv, 313, 314.
Luttrell, iv, 720.
Id., v, 10.
Journal House of Commons, xiii, 351, 352; Luttrell, v, 20, 29.
Journal 53, fos. 123, 149; Luttrell, v, 94, 95, 96, 97, 99. The address is printed in Noorthouck, "Hist. of London" (p. 287, note).
Luttrell, v, 100.
Evelyn (Diary, 11 June, 1696) writes of him as having been formerly a "mean goldsmith" and become rich by extortion. He had purchased an estate at Helmsley, co. York, once the property of the Duke of Buckingham, a transaction which drew forth the following lines from Pope (Imitation of Bk. ii, Satire ii, of Horace sub fine):—
"And Helmsley, once proud Buckingham's delight,
Slides to a Scrivener or City Knight."
He had received a commission as alderman from James II in 1685, was discharged the following year, and in 1700, when he was sheriff, got himself elected alderman of Bridge Ward (Repertory 90, fo. 71; Id. 91, fo. 83b; Id. 104, fo. 345). The city Journals of the period are very imperfect, and there are no Common Hall books of the day, but Luttrell gives us the result of the mayoralty election of 1700, when Duncombe promised to lay out £40,000 for the good of the city, or build a Mansion House for future mayors, and set up a brass statue of King William upon the Conduit in Cheapside, if only he were elected (Diary, iv, 660, 692).