House of Docwra

EDMUND DOCWRA, of Chamberhouse Castle, Crookham, Berkshire, was a younger son of Martin Dockwra, of Chamberhouse, by his wife Isabel, daughter of William Danvers.

This gentleman, MP for Aylesbury, 1571, New Windsor, 1572, had a son,

SIR HENRY DOCWRA (1564-1631), Knight,

A distinguished soldier in the Irish wars during the reign of ELIZABETH I, who landed with a force of 4,000 foot and 200 horse troops at Culmore, County Londonderry, on the 16th May, 1600. 

His mission was to quell the rumblings of discontent in Ulster and, on the 22nd May, he marched into Derry without resistance and occupied and fortified the town. From this base Sir Henry was able to harass the Irish clans in such as a way as to make them sue for peace with him.

He married Anne, daughter of Frances Vaughan, of Sutton-upon-Derwent, and had issue,

THEODORE, his successor;

Henry;

Frances; Anne; Elizabeth, m Sir Henry Brooke, governor of Donegal.

Sir Henry was elevated to the peerage, in 1621, in the dignity of BARON DOCWRA, of Culmore, County Londonderry.

His lordship, Treasurer at War, Privy Counsellor, Governor of Lough Foyle, received a grant  of 2,000 acres of land in County Wicklow in 1628.

He was succeeded by his elder son, 

THEODORE, 2nd Baron (1606-47), who died unmarried, whereupon the title became extinct.

First published in February, 2012.  Docwra arms courtesy of European Heraldry.