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Charles D'Oyly, Esq., Colonel in the Army, the first who resided at Southrope, was fourth son[414] of Sir Cope D'Oyly of Greenland House, by his wife Martha Quarles, and was baptized at Stadhampton, co. Oxon., in Dec. 1610. he was brought up to a learned profession; is described in 1634 as student of Wadham College, Oxford;[415] and, selecting the law not long after, became a member of Gray's Inn in Feb. 1641; the record of his admittance describing him of Chislehampton.[416] —According to the prevailing custom, however, he soon quitted his profession for the army; became an officer under Cromwell; and through the promotion of his personal friend, the celebrated General Fairfax, annexed to his own merits, attained rank and distinction. The first public notice of this Charles D'Oyly was in Nov. 1644, when a Captain-Lieut.; for, having been shortly before "severely wounded in the Parliament's service," he received payment of part of his arrears, and was soon after appointed successor of Col. Bulstrode, as Governor of Henley and Phyllis Court, co. Oxford.[417] In June 1645 he was at the battle of Naseby, so celebrated for deciding the fate of Charles I., and commanded General Fairfax's own Life Guard on the occasion.[418] Whitelock relates the following incident in this event: -— Fairfax soon having his helmet beaten off his head, rode about the field of battle heedless of danger, to find what advantage might be taken of the enemy. At last, gallopping up to Capt. D'Oyly, the latter, shocked to witness the danger he was exposing himself to, remonstrated with him, and offered him his own helmet, commenting on the risks he ran by riding about bareheaded, while bullets were flying about in all directions. Fairfax thanked him for his solicitude, assuring him he was safe enough; and soon after perceiving a party of the King's foot standing unbroken, he asked D'Oyly whether he had charged that body. D'Oyly told him he had done so twice, but was unable to break them. Fairfax then desired him to charge them once more in the front, while he himself would take a commanded party and beset them in the rear, so that they might meet in the middle. D'Oyly pursued his General's orders; and charging that body together, they threw them into utter confusion, broke them completely, and actually met in the middle, Thereupon Fairfax killed the ensign; but one of D'Oyly's troopers grasping the colours from the dying man, bragged of the service he had done in "slaying the ensign, and taking the chief colours," D'Oyly, indignant at the insult offered to his General, immediately rebuked the man for his boasting and lying, telling him how many persons were eye-witnesses that the General himself slew the ensign; but Fairfax told D'Oyly to let the trooper alone, saying to him, "I have honour enough, let him take that honour to himself."[419]—It was such matters as these that provoked D'Oyly's soldiers at Henley-on-Thames against him; for sure it is that he soon after became so unpopular there, that they would have killed him, dared they.[420] There were symptoms of their dislike of him some time before; and thus on the 8th of June 1645, Sir Thomas Fairfax, his great patron, wrote from Sherrington to his friend Sir Thomas Widdrington, then in Parliament, recommending that the Governorship of Newport Pagnel, in Bucks, should be conferred on Charles D'Oyly; but the matter was delayed till August. On 12th Aug. however, D'Oyly was appointed Governor of Newport Pagnel; but, his removal not taking place at once, Phyllis Court garrison mutinied against him the following day, and would have murdered him, had not Major-General Browne gone down to pacify the soldiers.[421] D'Oyly was then removed to Newport Pagnel as speedily as possible, and within a week after (Aug. 1645) was appointed colonel of the regiment, late Sir Samuel Luke's, and had a commission granted accordingly.421 Of Newport Pagnel Colonel D'Oyly remained Governor more than a year and a half; and in the possession of his descendant, Mrs. Astley, there is still a thin MS. paper folio volume, legibly written, apparently in Colonel D'Oyly's own handwriting, containing the Councils of War, and the Resolutions passed at them, holden at Newport Pagnel from Oct. 1645 to July 1646. The book is illuminated with silver, gold, and vermilion, now much faded, though the whole is in general good preservation; but it contains nothing illucidating Colonel D'Oyly's biography, beyond the constant occurrence of his name as President of the Councils. A "Captain" (—) D'Oilie was present at two of them, and was no doubt either Edward D'Oyly, afterwards Governor of Jamaica, or Robert or Michael D'Oyly, both of whom went to Ireland.—It is to be noticed, also, that there is now in Mr. Serjeant D'Oyly's possession an original "pass" from Newport Pagnel to London, for Sir Henry Osborne and another, dated Nov. 1645, containing not only Colonel Charles D'Oyly's autograph, but his seal of arms of two bendlets, undifferenced, with the demi-dragon crest; ornamented with a helmet, and a profusion of mantling. His signature spells his name "D'Oilie."
In March 1646-7, Parliament appointed Col. Charles D'Oyly Governor of the fort and castle of Bristol,[422] which Fairfax had taken from Prince Rupert the preceding September; and in December 1647, Col. C. D'Oyly presented a petition to Parliament [423] evidently praying for office, or remuneration for his services; but it was thrown aside, and, after several postponements for its reading, we hear no more of it. About the period of the Restoration he retired from military life, and then resided, it appears, at Turville,[424] co. Bucks; but before 1665 settled at Southrope[425] near Lechlade, in Gloucestershire; a spot probably selected from his late associations at Bristol, not far distant. At Southrope he acquired a pretty estate. His chief dwelling-house was a genteel sort of country residence standing on an eminence, with a cheerful view over meadows;[426] the river Lech flowing past it on the north-east.—He married — dau. of — Eyre,[427] of the fine old Eyre family of Wiltshire, elevated to the peerage of Ireland as Lord Eyre; which bore, "Argent, on a chevron sable, three quatrefoils or:" and in the possession of his descendants is an old book with these MS. entries in it;— " The gift of Madam Dorothy Eyre to Margaret D'Oyly;" and "Mrs. Goddard, wife of Edward Goddard:" thus showing that Mrs. Colonel D'Oyly was a friend or connection of her husband's relations the Goddards, (see D'Oyly of Chislehampton), and probably grand-daughter of Thomas Eyre, of Box, co. Wilts, the parish in which the Goddards resided, brother of Giles, ancestor of the Lord Eyre.[428]—Col. Charles D'Oyly was a man of versatile talent, and attained high distinction as a soldier. He died æt. 84, and was buried at Southrope, January 1694, having had two sons and one daughter by his said wife,
