John Dunkin (1782 -1846) : Printer and Historian

The following is based on an item about John Dunkin in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

John Dunkin was born at Bicester, Oxfordshire on 16 May 1782. He was a son of John Dunkin (d. 1823) of Bicester and his wife, Elizabeth, widow of John Telford and daughter of Thomas and Johanna Timms. While attending the local free school, he suffered a severe accident and for many years it was feared he would remain disabled for life. While recovering he tried his hand at verse but contrived also to pick up some knowledge of history and archaeology. At the age of twenty he was apprenticed to a carpenter or house decorator at Stony Stratford, whom he left to take up employment in Oxford. At twenty-three he was in London, working for the clerk of works at Kensington Palace.

On 11 December 1809, at St Mary's, Islington, Dunkin married Ann, daughter of William Chapman, a civil engineer from Lincolnshire. They had a son, Alfred John Dunkin (born 1812 in Islington) and a daughter, Ellen Elizabeth (born 1814 in Bromley).

Dunkin took up printing, served an apprenticeship in London, and set up at the age of thirty as a bookseller, stationer and printer in Bromley, Kent. Here he published his first work, “Outlines of the History and Antiquities of Bromley in Kent” (1815). It was followed by “The History and Antiquities of Bicester” (1816). The Bicester history attracted the attention of Sir Gregory Turner, a local proprietor. In 1819 Turner encouraged Dunkin to work up the extensive collections Dunkin had made for “The History and Antiquities of the Hundreds of Bullingdon and Ploughley”, which was eventually published in 1823. The work (limited to 100 copies, of which 70 were for sale at 5 guineas) is based on thorough topographical investigation, and draws on Dunkin's superintendence of excavations at Ambrosden and Bicester. He was an original member of the British Archaeological Association.

Dunkin moved to Dartford in 1835, where, with his son, he set up a bookshop at 13 High Street, and started to build a printing business. Shortly afterwards he opened a branch business at Gravesend. The address of John Dunkin at 13 High Street, Dartford (near One Bell Corner), is currently occupied by “Prime Linens”.

13 High Street Dartford in 2018

The premises have changed substantially since Dunkin occupied it. A photo in the 2018 Dartford Historical & Antiquarian Society newsletter shows 13 High Street in c 1892.  The building then had four stories, as compared to two now. The columns and pediments either side of ground floor frontage can be seen then as now. 

13 High Street, Dartford c 1892

(from the collection of the late Pat Stevens, courtesy of Dartford Historical & Antiquarian Society).

  

The 1841 census shows John Dunkin, a printer, his wife Ann and daughter Ellen living in High Street, Dartford with two apprentices and a servant. 

Mr and Mrs Dunkin were attacked on Dartford Heath in 1842 (1). They were driving their phaeton from Bexleyheath to Dartford on a dark evening, when a man rushed up to them and attempted to drag Mr Dunkin to the ground. The only weapon he had was an umbrella which he repeatedly tried to to push into the felon's face. Mrs Dunkin was driving and kept urging the horse to carry on. Eventually they escaped, although the villain pursued them for some distance. 

In 1844 Dunkin published his “History and Antiquities of Dartford”. Copies of this book are in the reference section of Dartford Library. 

Picture of John Dunkin, from the 1844 edition of his “History and Antiquities of Dartford”.

Dunkin died on 22 December 1846 aged 64, and by his own desire was buried on the eastern side of the lich-gate of St Edmund's Cemetery, Dartford, as near as possible to the ancient burial-ground of Noviomagus which he had described in his last book. Most of the gravestones in the cemetery have been cleared away with some of them (including Dunkin’s) placed against the outside wall. The inscription reads

Beneath this mound lie the remains of JOHN DUNKIN who died suddenly Dec 22 1846. A brass tablet is erected inside the ladye chapel Dartford Church.

John Dunkin’s gravestone

The brass tablet that was erected to his memory in Holy Trinity Church, Dartford reads

On the Eastern side of the lich gate of St Edmunds Cemetery, Dartford, reposes the mortal part of JOHN DUNKIN born at Bicester Co. Oxon, May 16^th 1782, died at Dartford, Co. Kent, Dec 22^nd 1846. A good citizen and most industrious antiquary. His memory lives in his works, as his histories of Dartford, Bromley, Oxfordshire, Bicester &c testify, but lest one of the remembrance of others might seem to suffer undeserved neglect, his family have erected this memorial of their affection.

He was the son of John Dunkin, gentleman (who died suddenly November 12^th 1823 in the 84^th year of his age and is interred at Bromley Co. Kent), who was the second son of Thomas, great grandson of John Dunkin of Merton, Co. Oxon, gentleman, whose loyalty and integrity, obtained from King Charles II, Letters Patent dated Oct. 14^th 1662 confirming the Title and Tenure of his estate in that parish, together with a Grant of the Manor of Merton to trustees for the benefit of Dame Katherine Harrington and her children after the attainder and confiscation of the property of her husband Sir James Harrington Bart., one of the judges in the memorable trial of King Charles I.

Dunkin’s brass tablet in Dartford Church

After his death, censuses show that John Dunkin’s family continued to run a stationery business at 13 High St, Dartford until at least 1861. His wife Ann died at Dartford on 12 March 1865, aged 77. His son Alfred John died in 1879 aged 66, his daughter Ellen Elizabeth in 1890 aged 76, both unmarried. The three of them are buried in the same grave in East Hill Cemetery, Dartford.

Dunkin's collections were presented to the Guildhall Library by his daughter in 1886. Those relating to Oxfordshire have been in the Bodleian Library, Oxford since 1954.

Reference 1. Wilmington, A Village in North Kent page 161, by Jean Radford (2008).