DUNCOMBE, SIR CHARLES (c. 1648-1711), English politician, was a London apprentice, who became a goldsmith and a banker; he amassed great wealth in his calling and was chosen an alderman of the city of London in 1683. Duncombe’s parliamentary career began in 1685, when he was elected member of parliament for Hedon, and he was afterwards one of the representatives of Yarmouth in the Isle of Wight and of Downton in Wiltshire. He was made receiver of the customs, and upon the flight of James II. from England in 1688 refused to forward to him the sum of £1500 as requested; accordingly his name alone was excepted from the pardon issued by the exiled king in 1692. A strong Tory, Duncombe held for a short time the office of receiver of the excise, and in this capacity he profited slightly by a transaction over some exchequer bills which had been falsely endorsed. Consequently he was imprisoned by the House of Commons, and expelled from parliament; and having been released by order of the House of Lords, where his friends were more powerful, he was again imprisoned by the Commons. Tried before the court of king’s bench he was found “not guilty” on two occasions and the matter was allowed to drop. Duncombe made three unsuccessful attempts to enter parliament as member for the city of London, and then represented Downton a second time from 1702 until his death. In 1699 he was knighted, and in 1709 he served as lord mayor of London. Upon retiring from business in 1695 Duncombe caused some stir by giving the representatives of the duke of Buckingham a high price for an estate at Helmsley in Yorkshire, where he built a magnificent house.
He died at his residence at Teddington on the 9th of April 1711, and much of his great wealth passed to his sister, Ursula, wife of Thomas Browne, who took the name of Duncombe. Ursula’s great-grandson, Charles Duncombe (1764-1841), was created Baron Feversham in 1826, and in 1868 his grandson, William Ernest, the 3rd baron (b. 1829), was made earl of Feversham. Sir Charles Duncombe’s nephew, Anthony Duncombe (c. 1695-1763), who was made a baron in 1747, left an only daughter, Anne (1757-1829), who married Jacob Pleydell-Bouverie, 2nd earl of Radnor, by whom she was the ancestress of the succeeding earls of Radnor.
A celebrated member of the Duncombe family was Thomas Slingsby Duncombe (1796-1861), a Radical politician, who was member of parliament for Hertford from 1826 to 1832 and for Finsbury from 1834 until his death. Duncombe defended Lord Durham’s administration of Canada; he sought to obtain the release of John Frost and other Chartists, whose immense petition he presented to parliament in 1842; and he interested himself in the affairs of Charles II., the deposed duke of Brunswick. He showed a practical sympathy with Mazzini, whose letters had been opened by order of the English government, by urging for an inquiry into this occurrence; and also with Kossuth. He died at Lancing on the 13th of November 1861.
See Life and Correspondence of T.S. Duncombe, edited by T.H. Duncombe (1868).
DUNDALK, a seaport of Co. Louth, Ireland, in the north parliamentary division, on the Castletown river near its mouth in Dundalk Bay. Pop. of urban district (1901), 13,076. It is an important junction on the Great Northern railway, by the main line of which it is 54 m. N. from Dublin. The company has its works here, and a line diverges to the north-west of Ireland. Dundalk is connected with the port of Greenore (for Holyhead) by a line owned by the London & North-Western railway company of England. The parish church is an old and spacious edifice with a curious wooden steeple covered with copper; and the Roman Catholic chapel is a handsome building in the style of King’s College chapel, Cambridge. There are ruins of a Franciscan priory, with a lofty tower. Adjacent to the town are several fine parks and demesnes. Until 1885 a member was returned to parliament. A brisk trade, chiefly in agricultural and dairy produce, is carried on, and the town contains some manufactories. Distilling and brewing are the principal industrial works, and there are besides a flax and jute-spinning mill, salt works, &c. The port is the seat of a considerable trade, mainly in agricultural produce and live stock. It is also the centre of a sea-fishery district and of salmon fisheries. Dundalk was a borough by prescription, and received charters from Edward III. and successive monarchs. Edward Bruce, having invaded Ireland from Scotland in 1315, proceeded south from his landing-place in Antrim, ravaging as he came, to Dundalk, which he stormed, and proclaimed himself king here. In this neighbourhood, too, he was defeated and killed by the English under Sir John de Bermingham in 1318, and at Faughart near Dundalk, near the ruined church of St Bridget, he is buried.
DUNDEE, JOHN GRAHAM OF CLAVERHOUSE, Viscount (c. 1649-1689), Scottish soldier, was the elder son of Sir William Graham and Lady Madeline Carnegie. Of his youth little record has been kept; but in the year 1665 he became a student at the university of St Andrews. His education was upon the whole good, as appears from the varied and valuable correspondence of his later years. Young Graham was destined for a military career; and after about four years he proceeded abroad as a volunteer in the service of France. In 1673 or 1674 he went to Holland, and obtained a cornetcy, and he was soon raised to the rank of captain, as a reward for having saved the life of the prince of Orange at the battle of Seneff. A few years later, being disappointed in his hopes of obtaining a regiment, Graham resigned his commission. In the beginning of 1677 he returned to England, bearing, it is said, letters of strong recommendation from the prince to Charles II. and the duke of York. In 1678 he became a lieutenant, and soon afterwards captain of a troop, in the regiment commanded by his relative the marquis of Montrose. The task before him was the suppression of the Covenanters’ rebellion. To this he brought, over and above the feelings of romantic loyalty and the cavalier spirit, which in his case was free from its usual defects, a hatred of the Covenanters which was based largely on his hero-worship of the great Montrose. Further, his uncompromising disposition and unmistakable capacity at once marked him out as a leader upon whom the government could rely. But the difficulties of his task, the open or secret hostility of the whole people, and the nature and extent of the country he was required to watch, were too great for the leader of a small body of cavalry, and in spite of his vigorous and energetic action, Graham accomplished but little. He entered, however, upon his occupation with zest, and interpreted consistently the orders he received. There is evidence, also, that his efforts were appreciated at headquarters in his appointment, jointly with the laird of Earlshall, his subaltern, to the office of sheriff-depute of Dumfries and Annandale in March 1679, with powers—specially narrated in his commission—anent “separation,” conventicles, “disorderly baptisms and marriages,” and the like.
For some years thereafter the position of Graham was in the highest degree difficult and delicate. In the midst of enemies, and in virtue of the most erroneous but direct orders of his government, he combined the functions of soldier, spy, prosecutor and judge. Shortly after the murder of Archbishop Sharp (1679), he was summoned to increased activity. There were reports of rebels gathering near Glasgow, and Graham went in pursuit. On the 1st of June, the Covenanters being in a well-protected position upon the marshy ground of Drumclog, Graham advanced to the attack. Hindered by the ground, he had to wait till the impatience of his adversaries induced them to commence an impetuous attack. The charge of the Covenanters routed the royal cavalry, who turned and fled, Graham himself having a narrow escape. This was the only regular engagement he had with the Covenanters. The enthusiasm raised by this victory was the beginning of a serious and open rebellion.