Sir John Duckworth
(1809-1887)
14 June 1861

Volume 4, page 79, sitting number 4385.

Sir John Thomas Buller Duckworth was the son of the naval commander Admiral John Thomas Duckworth by his second wife, a daughter of Bishop Buller of Exeter. He was born at Crediton in Devon in 1809 and educated at Eton and at Oriel College, Oxford, where he graduted BA in 1829. In 1817 he succeed his father as 2nd Baronet of Topsham in the County of Devon.

From 1845 to 1857 he was the Member of Parliament for Exeter. He was appointed Major of the 1st Devon yeomanry cavalry in 1844. His residences were 63 St James’s Street, London, and Wear House near Exeter in Devon.

He died, aged 78, on 29 November 1887 at Wear House near Exeter.

'Born in 1809, Sir John Thomas Buller Duckworth was the second baronet, and son of Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth, GCB, a distinguished officer, who for his valuable service in several Naval engagements was raised to a baronetcy. Admiral Duckworth died in 1817, and his son succeeded to the title at eight years of age. Sir John, the subject of this notice, was educated at Eton and at Oriel College, Oxford, taking his BA degree in 1829. He sat as MP for Exeter from 1845 to 1857. In 1865 he became Lieutenant-Colonel of the Royal Devon Yeomanry Cavalry; he was a Deputy-Lieutenant and Magistrate for the County, having occupied the later position for close upon sixty years, and in 1861 was High-Sheriff of Devonshire. He was married in 1850 to Mary Isabella, daughter of John Buller, Esq., of Morval, by whom he had three daughters and one son. He was initimately connected with County business and finance, being a Chairman of Quarter Sessions and Chairman of the Finance and other Committees. [...] He was the oldest magistrate in Devon, having been admitted to the Commission of the Peace on 20th April, 1830.  [...] In politics Sir John was a staunch Conservative. In 1845 he was returned as member for Exeter [...] was again returned in 1846 and 1852, but did not seek re-election in 1857. [...] Only one child — a daughter — survives him. He is succeeded by Sir Richard Duckworth King, Bart., but as the King baronetcy is the oldest [sic] the title will lapse. Four or five years since, Sir John was the victim of a serious carriage accident. The horses attached to his carriage ran away on the Topsham-road, the vehicle was upset, and the occupants thrown out, Sir John sustaining a fractured limb' (Western Times, 30 November 1887).