John Dove MP (bef. 1600 - abt. 1665)

Born before 1600 in Wiltshire, England

Husband of Elizabeth (Biggs) Dove — married 21 Jan 1619 in St Edmund's, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England

Died about 1665 after about age 65 in Wiltshire, England

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Biography

John Dove is often listed among the regicides of King Charles I, but he does not fit the criteria, as he never voted for the king's conviction or signed his death warrant.

John Dove was the eldest son and heir of brewer Henry Dove of Salisbury Wiltshire and his first wife Anne. Based on Henry Dove's Will, he was apparently born shortly before 1600, as he was not yet seventeen years of age when it was dated on 19 August 1616. ^[1]

On 10 September 1613, along with his younger brother Francis, he was apprenticed as a brewer to his father. ^[2]He was successfully engaged in the trade of a brewer by 1626. ^[3] In 1635, he was named mayor of Salisbury, a position his father had held in 1616, dying in office. ^[4]

Marriage and Children

On 21 January 1618/9, John Dove married Elizabeth Bigge at St Edmund's, Salisbury. ^{[5] [6]} Surviving children of the marriage, as named in John Dove's 1664 Will ^[7] were:

Daughter Elizabeth Bellchamber - bp. 6 August 1626; m. Richard Belchamber November 1658

Unmarried daughter Mary Dove - bp. 1630

Son and heir Thomas Dove - bp. 1628

Son John Dove - bp. 1635

Also named in the parish registers of St Edmunds and St Thomas, Salisbury were:

Daughter Anne - bp. 24 February 1621, "daughter to John Dove Brewer"

Daughter Sara - bp. 1 May 1633; bur. 21 February 1634 /5 "daughter to Mr Jo. Dove Maior (mayor)"

Parliamentarian

Accounts of John Dove's life, such as they are, ^[8] say little to address his decision to join the side of Parliament against King Charles I during the Civil War, but his motives were likely religious. He was named among the "puritan element" in Salisbury before the war and opposed the royalist and established church parties. ^[9] He would have witnessed the difficulties experienced by his wife's father Rev Jeffrey Bigge and Rev Peter Thacher, rector of St Edmund's in Salisbury, by the authorities of the established church, particularly during the ascendency of royalist Archbishop William Laud.

During the war, he was among those whose property was pillaged by royalist forces. ^[9] In 1645, he was recruited to take a vacated seat as MP for Salisbury as a colleague of Edmund Ludow. ^[10] Perhaps as a colleague of Ludow, he was sufficiently trusted by the radical faction in Parliament as to be chosen in 1648/9 as one of the judges to try the king. ^[11] This honor he mostly declined, taking no active part in the trial.

During the Commonwealth decade, Dove was more active in local government, particularly in the repression of royalist uprisings. In 1650, he was named Colonel of Foot in the Wiltshire militia ^[12] In 1655, he was serving as Sheriff of Wiltshire when Penruddock's Uprising broke out. Dove was seized in his bed and might have been executed; he was spared, but later declined to return the favor to the captured royalists. ^[13]

Throughout this period, as Goodwin notes, ^[8] he acquired a number of properties confiscated from royalists and bishops, ^[14] but it is not clear that his acquisitions were particularly more contemptible than those of others in his position. He lost the bishops' properties at the restoration of the monarchy.

Because he had not signed the death warrant of Charles I, he was able to save himself from the charge of treason by making a petition of submission. ^[15] He was allowed to retire to his estate at Ivy Church, near Salisbury. In July 1662, he was one of 32 aldermen ejected from the Corporation of Salisbury. ^[16]

John Dove wrote his Will ^[7] on 20 October 1664, and it was proved on 9 March 1665 by his son Thomas, named executor. In it, besides his children, he named the children of his "daughter Bellchamber", the wife and children of his son John; grandsons Thomas, John and Edward Dove; loving brother Mr Francis Dove, overseer. To his dearly beloved wife (Elizabeth) he left a generous jointure and goods “in case she be minded to live and reside at Ivy Church aforesaid ... provided she continue a widow in my name and unmarried I having made a sufficient joynture already to her hoping she will be both helpful and loving to my dear Children ..."

Neither his burial nor that of his wife have been discovered.

Research Notes:

In his Will ^[7], John Dove did not identify his "daughter Bellchamber" by name. (The name was more likely "Belchamber".) In 1658 there was a chancery case Belchamber v Dove in regard to a marriage contract involving Richard Belchamber and John Dove, for the marriage of his daughter Elizabeth. ^[17]

An Elizabeth Belchamber widow was buried at Cliddesden Hampshire on 1689, but not otherwise identified. ^[18]

Sources

1. ↑ "Will of Henry Dove, Gentleman of Salisbury, Wiltshire", proved 21 May 1617 PROB 11/129/556
2. ↑ Wiltshire Social & Institutional Records 1123-1968 FindMyPast
3. ↑ Haskins, Charles Homer. The Ancient Trade Guilds and Companies of Salisbury Salisbury : Bennett Bros, 1912. p. 324. p. 324
4. ↑ A Correct List of the Mayors of Salisbury, p. 17. 2nd Edition, 1826. p. 17
5. ↑ Salisbury, St Edmund Parish Registers 1559-1653 Acestry UK
6. ↑ "England Marriages, 1538–1973", database, FamilySearch : John Dove, 1618
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} "Will of John Dove of Ivychurch Wiltshire" PROB 11/316/264
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 15 Dove, John (d.1665?) by Gordon Goodwin DNB
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} "Parliamentary history : 1629-1660." A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 5. Eds. R B Pugh, and Elizabeth Crittall. London: Victoria County History, 1957. 132-154. British History Online. Web. 11 October 2023. VCH
10. ↑ Ludow, Edmund. Memoirs, vol. 1, p. 134, n. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1894. C H Firth, ed. p. 134
11. ↑ "January 1649: An Act of the Commons of England Assembled in Parliament, for Erecting of a High Court of Justice, for the Trying and Judging of Charles Stuart, King of England." Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642-1660. Eds. C H Firth, and R S Rait. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1911. 1253-1255. British History Online. Web. 11 October 2023. High Court of Justice
12. ↑ "Militia Commissions." Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum, 1650. Ed. Mary Anne Everett Green. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1876. 504-513. British History Online. Web. 11 October 2023. August 10
13. ↑ "Volume 97: May 1655." Calendar of State Papers Domestic: Interregnum, 1655. Ed. Mary Anne Everett Green. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1881. 148-195. British History Online. Web. 11 October 2023. May 8
14. ↑ "June 1649: An Act for removing Obstructions in the Sale of Bishops Lands and Dean and Chapters Lands." Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, 1642-1660. Eds. C H Firth, and R S Rait. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1911. 152-154. British History Online. Web. 11 October 2023. Act
15. ↑ "House of Commons Journal Volume 8: 9 June 1660." Journal of the House of Commons: Volume 8, 1660-1667. London: His Majesty's Stationery Office, 1802. 59-61. British History Online. Web. 11 October 2023. Dove's Petition
16. ↑ "Parliamentary history : 1660-1689." A History of the County of Wiltshire: Volume 5. Eds. R B Pugh, and Elizabeth Crittall. London: Victoria County History, 1957. 154-169. British History Online. Web. 11 October 2023. note # 13
17. ↑ C 10/52/41 Belchamber v Dove (File downloaded from National Archives)
18. ↑ Cliddesden Register 1636-1758 Ancestry UK