John Duckett

Who was John Duckett?

John Duckett was an English gentleman and landowner who sat in the House of Commons from 1621 to 1624.

Duckett was the son of Stephen Duckett, a Wiltshire gentleman and a member of the Company of Mercers. He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford, on 15 December 1592, aged 12. In 1621, he was elected Member of Parliament for Calne. He was re-elected MP for Calne in 1624. He was fined for refusing a knighthood at the coronation of Charles I, In 1628 he was High Sheriff of Wiltshire.

Duckett was a Royalist colonel in the English Civil War. He lived at Calstone House until it was destroyed by fire during the war and thereafter at another property, Hartham House, Corsham. On one occasion he escaped the wrath of parliamentary forces by escaping in a hearse.