Richard Duke was baptised in 1575 at Otterton and was the second son of Richard and Martha [Parker] Duke of Otterton. His education both locally, and County wide, enabled him to gain access to Lyons Inn, one of the London Inns of Court, before being admitted to the Inner Temple in 1593. [ This education of sons of gentry gave them a good training in basic legal and law aspects as well as providing a polish to their character and their social graces. It was here that they met sons of other socially equivalent families, established friendships, and family links resulting perhaps in 'favourable marriages]. 

He married Margaret, 2nd daughter of Sir Arthur Bassett, Knight of Heanton Punchardon in Devon, and from this union 12 children were born. In what was now a tradition their first son [his twin sister died an infant] was baptised Richard at Otterton in October 1599 and a second son Robert was born in December 1600. [More will be written of these two brothers in later pages as the normal inheritance of the Estates had to be revised !] 

Richard inherited the Hayes and Otterton estates in 1606 and spent his life being Lord of the Manor. The state of agriculture was still depressed as by 1640 food prices were six times those of 1500. There was extreme wetness at the 1609 harvest time, and in 1610/11 there were plague outbreaks across the County whereby 30 people died. In 1607 he gave a deed of 'house and garden' in East Budleigh for use as a Poor House, and in 1621 and 1625 he was Patron to the Otterton vicars, Isaia Farington and Richard Venne. A date stone of 1627 at Hayes records the refurbishment and extensions carried out at this house. 

He died in April 1641 and was buried in Otterton Church. A brass wall plate in Otterton Church records 'In Sacred Memory of Richard Duke. Died 19th April 1641 leaving 5 sons and 2 daughters’.  The plate shows the Duke arms impaling those of the Bassett family. This plate has been moved from previous location(s). 

In his Will he left £450 to his eldest daughter Elizabeth; £400 to his youngest daughter Frances; £5 to his eldest son Richard; £80 to son Humphrey; £150 to son Thomas; £5 to son John, and the residuary to his second son Robert, who was his heir and sole executor. [You can tell who was in, or out of, favour.!] 

This is one of a series of related articles on the Duke family. Click forward or back to move to the next.

Compiled and researched © Harry Lane, 2009

Reference Documents. 

1. Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica. Pedigree of the Devonshire Branch of the Family of Duke to Illustrate the Descent of Poerhayes and Otterton Estate.

2. The Age of Plunder. (The England of Henry VIII: 1500-1547) W.G.Hoskins. 1976

3. Devonshire Men at the Inner Temple.  TDA source.

OT-B-00007 Biography any