Alexander Daniell

Alexander Daniell (12 December 1599 – 12 April 1668) was the sole proprietor of the Manor of Alverton, Cornwall from 1630 until his death in 1668.

He was born in Middelburg[1][2] in Walcheren, the son of Richard Daniel, clothier and citizen of London,[3] and on coming to Cornwall in 1632, lived in rented accommodation until 1639, when a new house was built at Larigan, between Penzance and Newlyn.[4] His notebook gives his income and expenditure (actual years not stated in The Cornishman article). In the first year his income is £43 and expenditure £156; the following year his income was £206 and he spends £246; and in the third year income was £181 and expenditure £219. It appears that excess of expenditure over income was the norm.[5] He was interested in the history of the manor and made copies of rent-rolls preserving information on the parishes of Madron, St Buryan, and St Levan as well as Alverton. One of Daniell's manuscripts, known as the Rawlinson MSS, class C No 789 is preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.[6]

He died at his residence on 12 April 1668 and is buried at Madron. The following is inscribed on his tomb:–[7]

Belgia me Birth, Britain me Breeding gave,
Cornwall a wife, ten children, and a grave.[8]

Daniel's tomb, along with members of his family, is in the churchyard at Madron.[9]