DORMER, Charles (1668-1728)

As a Roman Catholic (the Dormers’ Catholicism had been noted in a 1678 recusancy return and a 1706 episcopal visitation), Dormer was disabled from taking his seat in the House of Lords. VCH Bucks. i. 334; Bucks Dissent and Parish Life 1669-1712 ed. J. Broad (Bucks. Rec. Soc. xxviii), 236, 239, 253. A cadet branch of the family, the Dormers of Lee Grange, sent two members to the Commons: Robert^‡ and Fleetwood Dormer^‡, but there is no indication that he had any influence over them.

During his lifetime, Dormer added to his family estates in Buckinghamshire when he acquired property in Hughenden as a legatee of Thomas Gregory. VCH Bucks. iii. 60, 94–95; ii. 265, 350. He also held property in Hampshire, Warwickshire and Oxfordshire, acquiring the manor of Swincombe when he married into the armigerous Fettiplace family. VCH Hants. iii. 106; VCH Warws. iii. 66–68; Vis. Oxon 1669 and 1675, ed. Squibbe, 7. He died on 2 July 1728 in London’s Drury Lane and was buried at Great Missenden. At least four of his sons became Jesuit priests, including his son and heir, Charles^† (from his first marriage), who entered the novitiate in September 1709.