Samuel Dunch (1593–1668) was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

in 1621 and 1653. Dunch was the son of Edmund Dunch of

Little Wittenham Little Wittenham is a village and civil parish on the south bank of the River Thames, northeast of Didcot in South Oxfordshire. In 1974 it was transferred from Berkshire to the county of Oxfordshire and from Wallingford Rural District to the d ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Be ...

(now Oxfordshire). He matriculated at Magdalen College, Oxford on 11 November 1608, aged 15 and was awarded BA on 23 January 1612. He was a student of

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wa ...

in 1611. 'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Disbrowe-Dyve', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714: Abannan-Kyte (1891), pp. 406-439. Date accessed: 25 November 2011
/ref> In 1621 he was elected MP for Wallingford. He was also a Justice of the Peace and served as

High Sheriff of Berkshire The High Sheriff of Berkshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'. The title of High Sheriff is therefore much older ...

in 1629. He lived at Pusey in Berkshire (now Oxfordshire). Dunch was an uncle of

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...

. In 1653, he was nominated to the

Barebones Parliament Barebone's Parliament, also known as the Little Parliament, the Nominated Assembly and the Parliament of Saints, came into being on 4 July 1653, and was the last attempt of the English Commonwealth to find a stable political form before the ins ...

as MP for

. Dunch married Dulcibella Moore, daughter of John Moore, Serjeant-at-law, by licence dated 28 May 1617. Through her, he inherited

North Baddesley North Baddesley is a large village and civil parish in Hampshire, England. It is situated east of the town of Romsey and north of Southampton. It occupies an area of approximately , and is home to a population of just over 10,000 people, reduci ...

Manor. Amongst their children was John Dunch MP. Dunch's brother,

Sir William Dunch Sir William Dunch (1578–1611) of Brightwell, Berkshire was an English politician during the reign of King James I. He was the son of Sir Edmund Dunch (1551–1623) and graduated from Balliol College, Oxford in 1595 before entering Gray's Inn. ...

was also MP for Berkshire.

Notes

References

* Annells, P. (2006)
The Berkshire Dunches
'. * Hedges, J.K. (1881) ''Wallingford History'', Wm Clowes, London

External links

Wallingford History Gateway
1593 births 1668 deaths People from Little Wittenham People from Vale of White Horse (district) High Sheriffs of Berkshire English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1653 (Barebones) Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Oliver Cromwell Members of the Parliament of England for Berkshire {{17thC-England-MP-stub