Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/D'Oyly, Thomas
D'OYLY, THOMAS (fl. 1585), antiquary, the second son of Sir Henry D'Oyly, knight, of Pondhall in the parish of Hadleigh, Suffolk, by his wife Jane, daughter and sole heiress of William Ellwyn of Wiggenhall St. Germans, Norfolk, was born in or about 1530. Electing to follow the profession of the law, he was admitted a member of Gray's Inn in 1555 (Harl. MS. 1912, f. 27 b). In 1559 he is found acting as steward to Archbishop Parker (Strype, Life of Parker, 8vo ed. i. 116; Memorials of Cranmer, 8vo ed. i. 565). He soon rose into high favour with the archbishop, had the degree of D.C.L. conferred upon him, doubtless by the archbishop himself, and on the institution of the Society of Antiquaries by Parker, about 1572, became a member of it (Archæologia, i. ix, where he is confounded with Thomas D'Oylie, M.D. [q. v.]). Two of his contributions to the society are preserved in Hearne's ‘Collection of Curious Discourses’ (ed. 1771, i. 175–6, 183–4), from transcripts made by Dr. Thomas Smith from the Cotton MSS. The subject of one is ‘Of the Antiquity of Arms;’ the other (written in French) treats ‘Of the Etymology, Dignity, and Antiquity of Dukes.’ D'Oyly appears to have lived variously at Croydon, Surrey; at Layham, Suffolk; and at St. Dunstan's-in-the-West, London. He was alive in 1585. He was twice married: first, when scarcely seventeen, to Elizabeth, only child of Ralph Bendish of Topsfield Hall in Hadleigh, Suffolk, who died 2 Aug. 1553; and, secondly, at Hadleigh, 11 Feb. 1565, to Anne Crosse of that place. By both marriages he had issue. The eldest surviving son of the second marriage, Thomas D'Oyly, married Joane Baker, niece of Archbishop Parker (Parker Pedigree in Strype's Life of Parker, vol. iii., Appendix; Correspondence of Archbishop Parker, Parker Soc., p. xiii).
[Bayley's Account of the House of D'Oyly, pp. 102, 169–71; Nichols's Collectanea, v. 220; authorities cited.]